Adams Selectmen Advise Dog Limits, OK Forest Sale
 The Selectmen on Wednesday also were given assignments to look into different aspects of town government and projects and report their progress to the full board. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen doesn't want dogs in the cemeteries.
The board voted Wednesday to recommend to the Cemetery Commission to keep the ban on dogs in place.
The question was brought to the board by Town Administrator Jonathan Butler a few months earlier after working with Mass In Motion to developing walking routes around town.
The issue was whether people would be allowed to walk with their dogs through the graveyards. Butler said the canines would be limited to walkways.
The Selectmen initially planned discussion for a workshop meeting but the Cemetery Commission had quickly noted the issue fell under its purview.
Chairman John Duval, however, asked the board to render its opinion on the matter.
"I think a cemetery is a place where people are put to rest, and they should rest without dogs," Selectman Joe Nowak said, mirroring fellow board member Michael Ouellette's comment when the question was first raised.
Selectman Richard Blanchard agreed, saying the town has a difficult time getting residents to clean up after their pets on Park Street and a cemetery would be worse.
In other business, the Selectmen approved Topia Arts' request to hold a swing dance and live music event in front of the Topia Inn on Pleasant Street on Sunday, June 9, from 2 until 5 p.m. The board rejected, however, the application to hold the event nearly every weekend throughout the summer because the road would have to be closed.
Interim Police Chief Richard Tarsa said closing the street every weekend would cause traffic backups and thin the police staffing.
"Personally, I have a problem with numerous events in the summer. It will create a hardship," he said.
Topia board member John Worth asked for only the portion in front of the inn to be blocked but Tarsa said that wouldn't be possible. The entire road would have to be detoured, restricting access to two businesses and a few residences.
The Selectmen agreed to a one-time event, which Tarsa said he could staff, and promised to work with the group to find another location — possibly the Adams Visitors Center.
"It is consistent with what we are trying to do. If it was a one-time event we could work it out but I have concerns over it being reoccurring," Butler said.
Butler said the Visitors Center has everything the group would need to hold these types of events. The Selectmen and Tarsa said there were additional benefits the group would reap by using that property.
"It's not the event, it's the location," Selectman Arthur "Skip" Harrington said.
The Selectmen also signed off on the state taking over about 300 acres of land — two parcels known as the Fritz and Burke properties. Those acres will be added to the Savoy State Forest. The town will get unpaid taxes of about $98,000 with the purchase as well as rid themselves of a liability regarding access to the land.
Duval also revealed Selectmen assignments but said the list is a "working document." The assignments create "point persons" to have greater oversight on projects and issues facing the town and to report back to the board. The assignments range from dealing with the future of the Adams Middle School to budgeting to tax collection and assessments.
Nowak, however, complained that he had not been given any of the assignments he'd requested. Nowak said he felt "belittled" by assignments that did not have anything to do with his expertise in land use.
Duval responded by saying that "it is not a dictatorship" and called for a discussion at a future workshop meeting to sort out the newly created structure and change assignments if needed.
Tags: cemetery, dogs, state forest,
