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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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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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