Adams Selects Leaders; BArT Needs Bigger Signs

By Jen Thomas - May 08, 2008
iBerkshires Staff

ADAMS — The youngest member of the Board of Selectmen was selected as its leader at the organization meeting on Wednesday night. The board also was updated on the traffic problems on Commercial Street.

Joseph Solomon, 26, was elected to the board in 2006; Donald Sommer, elected last year, was chosen as vice chairman. Both votes were unanimous.

The chairman and vice chairman positions are based on a pre-determined rotation where the Selectman whose term next expires will become the chairman and newly-elected members are placed at the bottom of the rotation.

The board also welcomed its newest member, Michael Ouellette, who was elected on Monday to fill a vacant seat on the five-person board.

The lack of signs at the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School has been exacerbating issues on Commercial Street leading to traffic jams and concerns about safety.

The street is also a state highway, Route 8, and a major connector between Northern and Southern Berkshires. The school, located in a former inn, is near the intersection with Park Street and Route 116, next to the post office and across the street from a MacDonald's and C.T. Plunkett Elementary School.

The Traffic Commission's police Sgt. Richard Tarsa said several signs need to be placed at the entrances of the BArT school to help alleviate the congestion.

Tarsa said the commission recommended placing a bigger sign at the north entrance to the school that indicates the turn out of the parking lot onto Commercial Street is a right turn only.

"That sign is only on the right side and is about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide. In reality, that's too small," he said.

In April, Police Chief Donald Poirot reviewed a 2004 report from the commission that detailed the traffic issues that plague Commercial Street, during school drop-off and pickup times in particular. Vehicles attempting to exit or enter McDonald's and the post office create an even more complicated situation.

Tarsa said Plunkett had taken steps to alleviate the problem but BArT had failed to acquiesce to the commission's recommendations, which also included placing a "Do Not Enter" sign at one of the school's entrances.

"The one that's there needs to be more visible," said Tarsa.

Sommer said he had spoken to BArT Executive Director Julia Bowen this week and that she had agreed to send letters to parents that reminded them of the driving rules for the parking lot.

In other business:

When reviewing the action list, the board voted to readdress a warrant article that included several small items, including repairing Town Hall's clock tower and phone system.
 
Initially, the $98,240 proposal — to come out of free cash — was voted down by the Finance Committee because some of the items "looked frivolous," said Rosemarie Stachura, committee chairman.

"I'd rather have the Selectmen and the Finance Committee on the same page," said Sommer, former chairman of the committee.

The board voted to send the warrant article — with each individual item listed — to the committee for recommendations.

Community Development Director Donna Cesan informed the board that she has applied for a grant under the state 43D program for expedited permitting for the Greylock Glen project.