Letter: Lynette Bond Represents Change

To the Editor:

I am a new resident, having lived here part time for almost 10 years prior. I'm honored to have started a small business (www.thestudio-atbeavermill.com) to provide a much needed service to our community. If the COVID era has produced one positive thing, it's that I now proudly call North Adams my home.

I am what many here would describe as an "outsider." I did not grow up in this town, state or part of the country. I did, however, grow up in a very small town with little to no economy in a very conservative state. I know what lack of change looks like. I know what it feels like to have no vision and to experience little to no progress. I know what communities can become if nothing changes. I know the narrative, and in some ways, I once played a part in that story.

Eventually, I figured out that to change my life I needed to change the story I told myself about myself. I needed different conversations focused on solving problems rather than lamenting the past. I wanted a better life, so I created one. The first step was the hardest, and that was identifying the things in my control that I could change — today.

I hear a lot of amazing people in this community craving change, telling themselves a similar tired, outdated story. I feel the weight of the past in their words and see it clearly in their actions. Decades of stagnation drives the local narrative, yet clearly change is desired. Lynette Bond represents change. She has improved this community in her past work while proudly raising her family here. She has a vision for the future that begins with different conversations towards different outcomes. Her expertise and vision speak to the very thing I hear people wanting: change.

As an outsider who sees not only the potential but the current beauty in North Adams; as a small-business owner who understands the difficulty in thinking differently to live better; I encourage you to vote for Lynette Bond, the representative of change.

Michael Eagle
North Adams, Mass.

Clarksburg OKs $5.1M Budget; Moves CPA Adoption Forward

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
08:44PM / Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Newly elected Moderator Seth Alexander kept the meeting moving. 

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The annual town meeting sped through most of the warrant on Wednesday night, swiftly passing a total budget of $5.1 million for fiscal 2025 with no comments. 

 

Close to 70 voters at Clarksburg School also moved adoption of the state's Community Preservation Act to the November ballot after a lot of questions in trying to understand the scope of the act. 

 

The town operating budget is $1,767,759, down $113,995 largely because of debt falling off. Major increases include insurance, utilities and supplies; the addition of a full-time laborer in the Department of Public Works and an additional eight hours a week for the accountant.

 

The school budget is at $2,967,609, up $129,192 or 4 percent over this year. Clarksburg's assessment to the Northern Berkshire Vocational School District is $363,220.

 

Approved was delaying the swearing in of new officers until after town meeting; extending the one-year terms of moderator and tree warden to three years beginning with the 2025 election; switching the licensing of dogs beginning in January and enacting a bylaw ordering dog owners to pick up after their pets. This last was amended to include the words "and wheelchair-bound" after the exemption for owners who are blind. 

 

The town more recently established an Agricultural Committee and on Wednesday approved a right-to-farm bylaw to protect agriculture. 

 

Larry Beach of River Road asked why anyone would be against and what the downside would be. Select Board Chair Robert Norcross said neighbors of farmers can complain about smells and livestock like chickens.