A Look Back, April 18

■The Northampton recreation commission will ask the City Council tonight to take the first step toward constructing a new field sports recreation area for the city on 15 acres of land on Burts Pit Road. Patrick Goggins, director of the recreation department, said that the commission will ask the council for $3,900 to finance engineering studies for the project.

■The chances of a cable television franchise being established in Northampton at any time in the near future were diminished last night when members of the City Council told Mayor Sean M. Dunphy that they considered cable to be a low-priority item.

25 Years Ago

■With the proceeds in hand from a small piece of land it sold to Smith College, work will begin soon on redesigning the parking lot at Forbes Library. The work on the parking lot will precede the final $1.2 million phase of renovations inside the West Street library.

■With about $100 million in construction, including four new buildings, slated at Smith College over the next five years, campus official will have their hands busy. One of the more challenging aspects may well be integrating the planned construction with the eclectic blend of architecture on campus and the more traditional colonial-style homes on streets surrounding the campus.

10 Years Ago

■Northampton residents will not see a change in water and sewer rates over the next year after the City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to freeze them. The council also voted unanimously to advance a measure that would ban single use plastic shopping bags.

■The Worthington School Committee has hired Gretchen Morse-Dobosz, of Shelburne, as principal of the R.H. Conwell Elementary School after interesting two finalists. Morse-Dobosz, 41, has a master s degree in educational leadership from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., and has taught in the Leyden and Hawlemont school districts.