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Andrew Hogeland conducts Tuesday's meeting as Scott McGowan, right, takes minutes.

Williamstown Public Safety Committee Opts to Study Former Bank, Grand Union

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Columnist
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The committee charged with finding locations for a public safety building are looking at two Main Street sites as possible police stations.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The committee charged with looking for a home for the town's public safety departments is turning its attention to two sites that may be suitable for a new police station only.
 
With its efforts in regard to the so-called Lehovec property on Main Street in limbo, the Public Safety Building Study Committee decided on Tuesday evening to ask its consultant to evaluate the suitability of two commercial properties as potential new police stations.
 
The Lehovic site, which previously was targeted for acquisition by the town's Fire Department, is thought to be the only property on the market with the size and location that could accommodate a joint police-fire facility.
 
But the committee hit a road block this summer when it sought permission from the estate of Kurt Lehovec to do test borings on the property to see if it was suitable for a public safety building. The estate wanted money up front in return for permission to do the test; the town is unwilling to make a financial commitment to the property without knowing if it will suit the town's needs.
 
The committee previously decided to develop a request for proposals for other suitable properties in town, but on the advice of the town manager, on Tuesday it made a slight adjustment in course.
 
"[Peter Fohlin] suggested that if we wanted to initiate further due diligence on one or two properties with existing buildings, an existing building might be attractive," said committee member Andrew Hogeland, who ran Tuesday's meeting in place of Chairwoman Jane Patton.
 
Specifically, the committee wants to investigate the suitability of the vacant former Williamstown Financial Center (296 Main St.) and the former Grand Union (430 Main St.), currently home to Developer Finance Corp.
 
"The proposal tonight is not to do an RFP until we do some 'pre RFP work,' " Hogeland said. "We could still do an RFP for either a police station or a joint facility ... but let's do a little due diligence on the [existing] buildings. If it turns out they're unique enough for our purposes, we could go forward on them."
 
Hogeland said that as far as he knew, there had been no change in the position of the Lehovec estate.
 
"So rather than just do nothing, let's do something," he said. "I think the message to the Lehovecs, through their attorney, if they're listening tonight is we're interested [in the property], but we can't do it on the terms we've heard so far."
 
Committee member Charles Fox moved that the committee spend money to study the former Williamstown Financial Center, the former Grand Union and "any other properties that may come to light before the money is exhausted."
 
That motion passed 4-0 on a vote of the committee members present: Hogeland, Fox, Scott McGowan and John Notsley.
 
Notsley is chairman of the Prudential Committee, which oversees the Fire District, a separate governmental entity with its own taxing authority in the town.
 
"I personally think the Police Department is in dire need of something — much sooner than the Fire Department at this point," Notsley said. "If that's the direction we're heading in, I have no objection to it.
 
"I still think a joint facility is the way to go and Lehovec is the best option, no question about it, for a joint facility or either one or the other. But I agree with [Hogeland], we've been dilly-dallying for a year almost and nothing's been accomplished."

Tags: fire station,   police station,   public safety buildings,   

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Williamstown Select Board Awards ARPA Funds to Remedy Hall

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday allocated $20,000 in COVID-19-era relief funds to help a non-profit born of the pandemic era that seeks to provide relief to residents in need.
 
On a unanimous vote, the board voted to grant the American Rescue Plan Act money to support Remedy Hall, a resource center that provides "basic life necessities" and emotional support to "individuals and families experiencing great hardship."
 
The board of the non-profit approached the Select Board with a request for $12,000 in ARPA Funds to help cover some of the relief agency's startup costs, including the purchase of a vehicle to pick up donations and deliver items to clients, storage rental space and insurance.
 
The board estimates that the cost of operating Remedy Hall in its second year — including some one-time expenses — at just north of $31,500. But as board members explained on Monday night, some sources of funding are not available to Remedy Hall now but will be in the future.
 
"With the [Williamstown] Community Chest, you have to be in existence four or five years before you can qualify for funding," Carolyn Greene told the Select Board. "The same goes for state agencies that would typically be the ones to fund social service agencies.
 
"ARPA made sense because [Remedy Hall] is very much post-COVID in terms of the needs of the town becoming more evident."
 
In a seven-page letter to the town requesting the funds, the Remedy Hall board wrote that, "need is ubiquitous and we are unveiling that truth daily."
 
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