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 BRPC's Mackenzie Greer tells the Selectmen about hazard mitigation planning. |
Melville's Call for Past Glen Accounting Gets No BackingBy Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
01:22AM / Thursday, May 06, 2010
Michael Ouellette became chairman of the board while Arthur 'Skip' Harrington, the new vice chairman, and Jason Hnatonko took center stage. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen was reconstituted Wednesday with its new Chairman Michael Oullette and Vice Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington and welcomed newly elected members Scott Nichols and Paula Melville.
The nearly two-hour meeting was mostly updates, bringing the new members up to speed on a number of items, but Melville quickly butted heads with Town Administrator Jonathan Butler over past Greylock Glen spending.
Butler said the town should have a report on the progress of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review for the Greylock Glen by Friday.
"The biggest thing really is continuing to work with our consultants and as we get closer to having full MEPA clearance and the state basically giving us the green flag to move forward," he said, "we should be putting together the [requests for proposals].
The first will be to get the Web site going, then beginning soliciting for developers for the trail system and lodge. Town meeting voters are being asked to spend $150,000, which will be matched by the state, to begin that work.
Melville, however, wanted to know where the rest of glen money was — especially if taxpayers were going to be putting more into the project. "I think the town of Adams is entitled to it."
"Has the town been provided with a itemized listing of where that money went?" she asked. "Has the inspector general seen that list?"
The state had authorized some $8.5 million for development on the glen 25 years ago; nearly $10 million had been spent by 2000 "without having constructed anything," according to the old Save the Glen group that fought the development of a golf course and condos. The current agreement with the Department of Recreation and Conservation guarantees $3 million in matching state funds.
Scott Nichols and Paula Melville, elected Monday night, took their seats on the board Wednesday. |
Butler responded that "the money spent between 1986 and 2005 is not really worth the town wasting its resources right now ... those projects are gone by the wayside.
"I'd rather be moving forward with the money that we have."
Melville's colleagues at first seemed supportive of her request, but cooled to it when Butler said he and the Community Development Office would have to put aside what they were doing now — and tangle with the very departments now reviewing permits and providing funding.
"You have to be careful how you politically ally yourself for the town of Adams," he said. "It's a very delicate process."
Melville said she didn't want to rehash everything, "but the fact of the matter is a certain dollar amount was set aside for the economic development project at Greylock Glen. It's well below a third of what it should have been ... for nothing."
But her motion for an accounting of "every penny" died without a second. Ouellette suggested she talk with Butler later about her concerns.
A presentation was given the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's hazard mitigation planning process. Community planner Mackenzie Greer said Adams is one of 19 communities that will be included in the five-year plan, which will look at potential flooding, winter, atmospheric and geological hazards and actions that could be taken toward mitigation.
Issues explored could include structures built in flooding zones, inventorying dams or trimming trees to prevent downed wires during storms. The plan isn't expected to be completed and approved until 2012. Participation in the plan could qualify the town for grants toward any mitigation action.
The board also:
► Agreed to vote at its next regular meeting on May 19 whether it will continue its pursuit of a Green Communities designation. The Center for Ecological Technology will give a presentation of the stretch code, a building requirement that the board would have to adopt, at the workshop meeting on May 12.
► Approved a one-day beer and wine license for Bascom Lodge for a reception for state and local officials at its opening on May 14. Selectmen again expressed concern that the lodge did not have a signed lease from the state in hand. The lodge had been approved a seasonal license last month pending its lease, which it has yet to receive. On the assumption the lease is stuck in Boston, the board OK'd the single day license on the condition the town get a written statement verifying that a lease is extant.
► Four people have expressed interest in street vending; Butler provided the board with a draft of policy guidelines and requested input before going further with the regulations. |
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