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17-month-old Zinedine Doucette lends a hand to the MCLA Garden.

MCLA Community Prepares Garden

By John DurkaniBerkshires Staff
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Sophomore Felipe Aedo clears out brush to make space for the community garden.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A handful of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts community members took advantage of a lovely Friday afternoon by working on the community garden.
 
Sophomore Felipe Aedo, an environmental studies major, said the garden is in its fifth year of operation. The garden is managed by a group unofficially dubbed MCLA Garden.
 
The group plants a variety of fruits and vegetables, including yellow cherry tomatoes, garlic, radishes and kale, in the garden outside Smith House. The late-harvest plants are used for the annual sustainability themed Thanksgiving dinner, which Aedo said was highly attended last year.
 
"This year, we want to do this bigger and more local," Aedo said.
 
The MCLA Garden also works with eight other local community gardens by sharing its stockpile of seedlings that students manage in the greenhouse, Aedo said.
 
On Friday, they started work by raking out the leaves and clearing out debris. Richard Doucette, a junior and environmental studies major, said the new location of the admissions office will give the garden more exposure than before.
 
"It's definitely a priority to keep the garden tidy," Doucette said.
 
Caroline Scully, a part-time researcher with the environmental studies program, said having an established community garden is important for any college's sustainability program.
 
"Every college with a solid sustainability program has a community garden," Scully said.

Tags: gardens,   MCLA,   sustainable,   

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Clarksburg Gets 3 Years of Free Cash Certified

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Town officials have heaved a sigh of relief with the state's certification of free cash for the first time in more than three years.
 
The town's parade of employees through its financial offices the past few years put it behind on closing out its fiscal years between 2021 and 2023. A new treasurer and two part-time accountants have been working the past year in closing the books and filing with the state.
 
The result is the town will have $571,000 in free cash on hand as it begins budget deliberations. However, town meeting last year voted that any free cash be used to replenish the stabilization account
 
Some $231,000 in stabilization was used last year to reduce the tax rate — draining the account. The town's had minimal reserves for the past nine months.
 
Chairman Robert Norcross said he didn't want residents to think the town was suddenly flush with cash. 
 
"We have to keep in mind that we have no money in the stabilization fund and we now have a free cash, so we have now got to replenish that account," he said. "So it's not like we have this money to spend ... most of it will go into the stabilization fund." 
 
The account's been hit several times over the past few fiscal years in place of free cash, which has normally been used for capital spending, to offset the budget and to refill stabilization. Free cash was last used in fiscal 2020.
 
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