Williamstown Chamber Executive Director Departing

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Jennifer Civello, right, seen at a Williamstown Chamber event in July, is leaving as the chamber's executive director at the beginning of the year.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Chamber of Commerce is in the market for a new executive director.

Jennifer Civello notified the chamber's president earlier this month that she would be stepping down from the post she assumed in  August 2012.

"I just feel like in the past 2 1/2 years, I've really helped the chamber transform into something great," Civello said this week.

"It's time for somebody else who wants to take that over to do so."

Williamstown Chamber President Jason Dohaney said the organization's executive committee will create a search committee that will identify candidates to replace Civello, who will stay on the job through Jan. 6.

"We are very grateful to Jen for her time and service to the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce," Dohaney said in response to an email seeking comment. "Her good work has resulted in growth and strength for the chamber and for the entire community."

Civello said her charge over the last few years has been to put the chamber to work for that community, not just the businesses that are the core of any chamber of commerce.

"At the [Nov. 12] annual meeting, we talked about the three constituencies that are most important to the chamber: business members, visitors and residents," she said. "The chamber does a lot of things that benefit Williamstown residents, including special events. The holiday decorations fall under the auspices of the chamber. We organize Holiday Walk."

Civello introduces herself to the Selectmen in 2012.

The 31st annual holiday celebration, the annual Fourth of July parade and the Summer Sundays street fair on Spring Street are chamber-driven enterprises that target all three of the group's constituencies.

One of Civello's points of emphasis in her tenure has been boosting the chamber's external communications. Twice during the last 2 1/2 years, the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce has redone its website. She also has used weekly email blasts and social media to help promote the town.

She also pointed to the chamber's role in working with the town's cultural institutions to create a Massachusetts Cultural District and maintain the seasonal information booth at the bottom of Spring Street in the summer.

Looking beyond the town line, Civello notes that Williamstown is not the only place where chamber-related services are in transition. In September, Veronica Bosley left North Adams' Office of Tourism. This month, Adams lost its first tourism director, Samantha Talora, after about eight months on the job.

"The time is ripe to talk about regionalization — particularly when talking about tourism," Civello said. "The three [Northern Berkshire] communities should look at why this is happening. Together, we're much stronger than we are individually."

Civello said she did not know if chamber consolidation was the solution, but she would not rule it out. Either way, she advocated for collaboration among the region's municipalities.

"We should be looking at shared resources in terms of looking at regionalization," she said. "That means looking at the role of 1Berkshire and the Berkshire Visitors Bureau in making these things happen."


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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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