iBerkshires Election Roundup 2011
Alford
Town Meeting - May 10, 7 p.m., Town Hall (Town meeting warrant)
Town Election - May 17, from 8 to 8.
Cheshire Votes in Slate of Unopposed Candidates
Staff Reports
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Barely 5 percent of registered voters turned out for the town election on Monday, May 2, for a ballot that had no races. Re-elected or elected unopposed were Selectman Paul Astorinio, Moderator Stanley Zarek, Water Commissioner Donald Rueger, Cemetery Commissioner Neil Baker, Planner Bernard Bator, Board of Assessors member Laurie Charon, Board of Health member Jeffrey Warner and Reginal Hill as Adams representative and newcomer Edmund St. John IV as Cheshire representative to the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District Committee.
The annual town meeting will be held June 13.
Clarksburg
Town Meeting - Wednesday, May 18, 7 p.m. at the school (Town meeting warrant)
Town Election - Tuesday, May 17, noon-7 at Senior Center
Becket
Town Meeting - May 14, 7 p.m.
Town Election - May 21
Dalton
Egremont Approves Police Station, Selectboard Seat Still Up in the Air
By Nichole Dupont
iBerkshires Staff
EGREMONT, Mass. - The town passed an article to approve $415,000 for a new police station as well related articles to purchase a new highway truck for $145,000 and a new police cruiser for $30,000. According to Town Clerk Jennifer Goewey, the police station issue was a bit of a struggle for residents feeling the pinch of a very tight budget.
"This is the second time it was brought to town meeting," she said in a phone interview. "It wasn't an easy go but people know that it is necessary at this point."
The town also gave the red light to the Southern Berkshire Regional School District's proposed 2012 budget.
Town elections, which were held on Tuesday, May 10, resulted in an initial win for Charles B. Flynn for a Selectboard seat, but according to Thursday's Berkshire Eagle, Flynn's opponent Laura Allen will ask for a recount due to her supposed loss by one vote (234 to 235). While the town waits for the official results of a second tally, Goewey said that the voter turnout was "impressive" with 475 of the town's 924 registered voters turning in a ballot.
Great Barrington
Hinsdale
Lanesborough
Town Meeting - June 14, 7 p.m. at the school
Town Election - June 21 in the Community Room
Lee
Town Meeting - May 12, 7:30, high school (Warrant in pdf form)
Town Election - May 16
Lenox Has New Selectman, Tight Budget
By Nichole Dupont
iBerkshires Staff
LENOX, Mass. — Voters turned out one its selectmen in the town election on Monday, May 9. Challenger David Roche unseated Chairwoman Kimberly Reopell Flynn but John McNinch was re-elected to a second term. Eric Vincelette, a member of the Finance Committee, was shut out of the four-way race for two seats on the board.
Also elected were Joseph Kellog (town assessor), Donald Fitzgerald and Jeremiah Aimes (School Committee), Mark Smith (Planning Board) and Holly Higgins (housing committee). The election follows on the heels of the annual town meeting, which was held on Thursday, May 5, at the Lenox Memorial Middle School.
The town voted to pass a school budget (Article 4) of $10,506,029 as well as using Chapter 90 funds for town repairs (Article 11) and a property tax exemption for qualified seniors (Article 16). Article 21, a petition article requesting $860,000 in contingency funding for a new sidewalk was voted down. According to Town Treasurer Marie Duby, the town has "reached a wall" in terms of finances.
"There are ramifications for different things," she said in a phone interview. "It's not that people don't want to do things it's that there simply isn't any money. It's not just about paying the taxes, it's how much it costs to fill your oil tank or to fill up your car for the drive to work. Everybody's stretched in every way imaginable."
Monterey Passes School Budget, $3M School Bond
Berkshire News Network
MONTEREY, Mass. — Voters approved on Saturday, May 7, the Southern Berkshire Regional School District's proposal to borrow $3 million for school building improvement and the 2012 school budget assessment. (The $3 million capital bonding requires approval by all five district towns; Sheffield rejected the measure on Monday, May 2.)
About 100 voters also approved changing the town election from the same day as town meeting to the Tuesday following the annual town meeting. There were 42 articles on the town warrant, and 14 unopposed candidates were elected to office.
Mount Washington
New Marlborough Says No to School Budget, Yes to New Selectman
By Nichole Dupont
iBerkshires Staff
NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — The town voted against an additional $193,000 to fund the increase of the operating and transportation budget for the Southern Berkshire Regional School District at the annual town meeting held on Monday, May 2.
According to Town Clerk Kathy Chretien (who was just voted in to her second term), "everything passed" except for the school budget agreement. This approval includes a vote in favor of the $3 million district bond, which will be used to pay for the costs of remodeling and revamping the district's information technology systems and buildings, an article which Sheffield voted down.
"We had a good turnout this year," Chretien said of the town elections, which were held on Monday, May 9. "We had 433 voters out of 933 show up this year. It is an exceptional number for us."
She attributed the above-average turnout to the contested seat for a place on the Selectmen. Nathaniel Yohalem won over Peter Marks by 28 votes for the seat. As for the continually contested school budget, Chretien said clearing that hurdle is up to the School Committee.
"This is the first time in a long time that the budget's been voted down," she said. "The School Committee is going to have to work together and come back to the towns with different numbers. We're in the thick of some very hard times."
Otis
Town Meeting - May 17, 7 p.m.
Town Election - May 24
Peru
Richmond
Town Meeting - May 25, 7:30 p.m., at the school
Sandisfield
Town Meeting - May 14, 10 a.m.
Town Election - May 16
Sheffield Not in Favor of School Budget, Bond
By Nichole Dupont
iBerkshires Staff
SHEFFIELD, Mass. — At the annual town meeting held on Monday, May 2, voters shot down 298-149 an override that would have allotted funds for the town's portion of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District's operating budget of $12.8 million.
The vote will, in all likelihood, require the town to hold a special town meeting in order to cut $98,000 from its services. Additionally, the school district's budget was defeated in a narrow vote as was another override question that would have allowed for a nearly $3 million district bond to be used for overhauling information technology systems and for other building updates. The bond question received a resounding 'no' in a 257-158 vote as roughly 20 percent of the town's 2,245 registered voters turned out to cast their ballots.
The town elections, which were held on Monday, May 9, resulted in a close vote for library board of trustees as Jane Nye won over John Wightman by 36 votes. Selectwoman Julie Hannum and Moderator Bruce Person ran unopposed while James Collingwood Jr., a write-in, won the Planning Board seat with 169 votes.
Stockbridge
Tyringham
West Stockbridge
