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Jean Vankin talks about a resolution in favor of the return of services at the former North Adams Regional Hospital.
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Town Manager Peter Fohlin addresses the Board of Selectman.
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Milne Library Chairwoman Rebecca Ohm said guinea fowl are fouling the library's lawn.

Williamstown Selectmen Endorse Hospital Resolution, Bottle Initiative

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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The Board of Selectmen evinced support for both a resolution on reopening the hospital and a state ballot question expanding the bottle bill.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved a resolution promoting the return of inpatient services at the former North Adams Regional Hospital and expressed the town's support for a "Yes" vote on the bottle deposits initiative on the Nov. 4 election ballot.

A group representing activists who have been working to reopen the shuttered hospital since its closure in March attended Monday's meeting, as did a representative of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, who told the board that inpatient facilities in North Adams would be economically sustainable.

Individual members of the board expressed sympathy with the plight of residents who have been affected by the loss of services at the North Adams facility, and the board unanimously passed a resolution expressing the town's support the expansion of services currently offered by the former hospital's new owner, Berkshire Health Systems.

"[T]he Williamstown Board of Selectmen encourages Berkshire Health systems to continue to expand the availability of financially sustainable, high quality, affordable and local emergency, out-patient and in-patient services at the former North Adams Regional Hospital campus. The Board also requests that the Governor, Assembly, Senate, Secretary of Health and Human Services and Berkshire Health Systems consider carefully new information that is forthcoming bearing on the question of fiscal viability of inpatient services at the North Adams Campus of BHS."

Williamstown resident Jean Vankin brought a similar resolution to the board two weeks ago, but it delayed consideration until all members were in attendance. A number of surrounding communities have supported the resolution, including North Adams.

The version it adopted on Monday night combines language developed by Selectmen Jane Patton and Thomas Sheldon, who added the second sentence after Monday's testimony from MNA representative Jim Gander of Amherst.

Gander said the union is working on a report that breaks down the financial impact of a return of inpatient services in North Adams — filling in information the MNA believes was missing from the recently released Stroudwater Associates report commissioned by the commonwealth.

"I think there's a lot of great data in the Stroudwater report," Gander said. "It's what's not in the report that matters. Stroudwater has clearly shown that 18-21 beds is what is needed to meet the health care needs in Northern Berkshire County. ... What it then says is it can only be achieved with Critical Access designation. That's the controversial part."

Critical Access hospitals have fewer than 25 inpatient beds and receive compensation from Medicare based on actual costs rather than fixed reimbursement rates. It is the federal designation that benefits facilities like Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington.

Gander said Critical Access designation would be nice in North Adams, but advocates for reopening are not counting on it. And in any event, it is not necessary to operate a sustainable hospital in the Steeple City, he said.

"Up to the day the hospital announced it was going to close, BHS and Northern Berkshire Healthcare were in talks to have BHS buy the hospital," Gander said. "At no time was there any consideration they would need Critical Access designation to buy and run a hospital."

NBH had tried but failed to achieve the designation a few years ago.

Unlike the hospital resolution, which was unanimous, the statement of support for expanding the commonwealth's bottle deposit program was adopted on a vote of 3-0-2.

The two selectmen who chose not to vote for or against a statement by the board did so because they were unsure whether the panel should be taking a stand on such issues at all.

Neither Andrew Hogeland nor Hugh Daley, who each abstained, said they were against the idea of expanding the state's bottle deposit program.

But before the board even took up the specific resolution, each expressed doubts that the Board of Selectmen should involve itself in issues that do not directly impact the town.


"My view is my role as a selectman is if someone wants to make a recommendation on town business, it makes perfect sense," Hogeland said. "I think I could stretch that to voting on regional issues where there's a particular effect on the town. The further you go in terms of statewide issues, national issues, the Affordable Care Act, going to war, etc., it's not our job.

Dr. Thomas Hyde again expressed his support for the bottle redemption initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot.

"Our insights and knowledge on those things is no better than anyone else's, so our opinion should have no weight. We probably won't spend time on things that aren't in our jurisdiction."

Daley agreed with the Hogeland but added that the board should welcome residents to come and use the twice-monthly meetings, which are telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet, as a forum to air such points of view.

Patton argued that the Selectmen have a responsibility to lead the community.

"I wouldn't anticipate people voting one way or the other based on what this group of people has to say," she said. "But I feel like we were elected to have opinions and show some leadership in areas that matter to the community in a significant way."

Dr. Thomas Hyde, who also addressed the board on the same issue at its Oct. 14 meeting, said the bottle deposit initiative is a local issue.

"The town has a direct benefit from a 'Yes' vote," Hyde said. "The town won't have to pay for recycling bottles that we pay to recycle now. It's estimated that towns across Massachusetts will save [a combined] $7 million per year. ... We'll save something.

"This does affect the town in a real way. It will save the town money. It will get litter off our streets. We'll have less litter on the streets, in the parks, on the trails."

Monday's vote by the Selectmen may be a confirmation of what their constituents already believe.

Wendy Penner, who chairs the town's COOL (Carbon Dioxide Lowering) Committee, said Williamstown residents support the bottle initiative more than voters statewide - a phenomenon she attributed to the ad campaign conducted by the beverage industry.

"Six or seven of us knocked on 300 doors on Saturday," she told the board. "Upwards of 98 percent of the people we talked to said they were in favor of this. ... That's not consistent with statewide polling, which is very discouraging."

Penner also noted that while large supermarket chains are campaigning against Question 2, the town's co-op, Wild Oats, has voted in favor of expanded deposits.

In other business on Monday, the Selectmen approved two one-day alcohol licenses for Berkshire Winery to sell its product at the Berkshire Grown Holiday Markets on Nov. 24 and Dec. 14.

And the Selectmen gave their tacit approval to Fohlin's plan to have the animal control officer issue a warning and, if necessary, tickets to a resident at 1075 Main St. who refuses to contain his guinea fowl on his property, as required by the town's bylaw, Chapter 10, Article 1.

Morris Raker's hens have been photographed roaming the grounds of the nearby David and Joyce Milne Public Library, where the animals have been leaving their droppings.

Several members of the library's Board of Trustees attended Monday's meeting.

"I completely support his right to have the fowl on his property," Chairwoman Rebecca Ohm said. "The problem is they're on the library's property."`


Tags: BMC North,   bottle bill,   council resolution,   election 2014,   hospital,   NARH,   

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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