Community Group Sets 'Save Hospital' Meeting

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A community meeting is being held tonight, Wednesday, from 5 to 7 at the American Legion Hall to plan steps to save North Adams Regional Hospital.

A growing coalition of community members, health-care workers and elected officials, as welll as the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will discuss immediate steps that they believe they can take together to the stop the hospital from closing.

"This is our community. This is our hospital. These are our health services," the organizers wrote.


The group is also encouraging residents to call Gov. Deval Patrick today at 617-725-4005 for action and to encourage him come to North Adams.

The save the hospital campaign has set up a Facebook group page.

 

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Williamstown Select Board Plans Off-Camera Evaluation of Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board plans to take extraordinary measures to avoid having its discussion of the town manager's performance recorded by the town's Public, Educational and Government cameras.
 
At its Sept. 28 meeting, the board decided to hold a special meeting in a room not covered by WilliNet cameras to complete its annual evaluation process of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.
 
Chair Peter Beck said that while the evaluation is "absolutely" to be conducted in an open meeting, the board could follow a process similar to the off site, unrecorded meetings that past Select Boards have characterized as "retreats," a term not contemplated by or included in the commonwealth's Open Meeting Law.
 
The current board met on June 29 for what it characterized as a "planning session" where no formal votes were taken. That meeting was held outside of Town Hall, at the new fire station on Main Street, in a room equipped with audio and video recording equipment that the Select Board chose not to use.
 
At the Sept. 28 meeting, one board member indicated that an unrecorded meeting was preferable to discuss the annual evaluation of the one town employee supervised by the board.
 
"I'd like to do it without all the Willinet stuff," Stephanie Boyd said in a discussion toward the end of a two-hour meeting. "I think it's more conducive to conversation."
 
With the board expected to meet just once in October — its "regular" meeting date coincides with Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 12 — Beck suggested that the panel could find a date for a special meeting, suggesting the third Monday of the month, Oct. 19.
 
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