image description
Shira Wohlberg and Anne O'Connor ask the board to support a resolution opposing a planned natural gas pipeline.
image description
Selectman Hugh Daley said he was not sure the Selectman's Meeting Room was the place to decide the town's position on the pipeline issue.
image description
Auditor David Irwin reports a clean audit for the town.

Williamstown Selectmen Again Decline to Take Pipeline Stance

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story
The Board of Selectmen declined to vote on a resolution opposing the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen on Monday for a second time declined a request to approve a town resolution opposing the proposed natural gas pipeline.
 
But its members encouraged organizers to take the resolution to May's annual town meeting.
 
The three members of the board in attendance were clear that they did not necessarily disagree with petitioners Anne O'Connor and Shira Wohlberg.
 
However, Selectmen Hugh Daley and Andrew Hogeland questioned whether the board should be speaking for the entire town on issues of national and global importance, and Daley and Selectwoman Jane Patton indicated they don't feel sufficiently informed to speak for the town even if it was the kind of thing the board should address.
 
"I don't like spending our time on resolutions over which we have no control of the outcome," Daley said. "I'm happy to go on record and vote for things we're in charge of. To take a position on something like this strikes me as being a little presumptuous."
 
O'Connor and Wohlberg, who first approached the board on Jan. 12, reminded selectmen on Monday that since then there have been numerous public information sessions on the around the county, including sessions held by developer Kinder Morgan.
 
"What can we do to help you in the education process?" Wohlberg asked.
 
"I would say nothing," Patton answered. "My sense is that your education is going to be biased. And I'm OK with that. I have points of view about things, and I'm biased about them.
 
"I'm going about this in a way that when I look in the mirror, I'm comfortable that I've looked at both sides and my decision will be based on the information I've gathered."
 
Patton said that she was reading up on the hydraulic fracturing issue and seeking meetings with authorities on the subject.
 
Hogeland, who this fall argued against the board taking a position on a statewide bottle deposit initiative, stayed true to that philosophy.
 
"I don't mind doing things that are town centric," he said. "But the more it gets to be national policy and climate change, I have a hard time with three people saying the 5,000 people of Williamstown believe this."
 
Chairman Ronald Turbin and Selectman Thomas Sheldon did not attend Monday's meeting.
 
O'Connor said that with "pretty humble outreach efforts," the group had generated 100 signatures on a petition supporting the anti-pipeline resolution. The activists said a similar resolution has been passed in 40 towns and has the backing of members of Berkshire County's legislative delegation.
 
"If the select board doesn't act on this, we'll take it to town meeting," O'Connor said.
 
"I think that's great," Daley said.
 
"Either we have to become experts on this issue or we have to decide that however we feel about it as individuals reflects the opinion of the town.
 
"I don't have the band width to become an expert on this issue."
 
"That's why we've become the experts for you," Wohlberg said.
 
Wendy Penner of the town's COOL (Carbon Dioxide Lowering) Committee also spoke in support of the resolution and noted that two members of the board who joined a 3-0-2 vote in favor of the bottle bill resolution were absent on Monday night.
 
Wohlberg and O'Connor left the door open to taking another run at the board with the resolution but also inquired about what sorts of informational materials they can supply to town meeting voters at Williamstown Elementary School on May 19.
 
Much of Monday's meeting was spent hearing a report from David Irwin of Pittsfield's Adelson & Co., which conducted an audit of the town's fiscal 2014 finances.
 
Irwin gave the town high marks.
 
"The town's finances are in good order," he said.
 
"There are no issues with the audit, no audit adjustments to your internal accounting system. It was a very good audit. That's [Town Manager] Peter [Fohlin]."
 
Irwin praised the town for its collection rate, which was 98 percent for the period of the audit, and noticed that Williamstown currently has a modest debt and has the capacity to borrow "something like $30 million," given its land valuation.
 
The board also heard a presentation from one of the co-creators and the current manager of destinationwilliamstown.org.
 
Manager Sandra Thomas explained the mission of the information site.
 
"This is a site for the community and intended for the community to participate," Thomas said. "We define the community as North County, Southern Vermont and neighboring towns ... focusing on Williamstown as the epicenter.
 
"For people visiting Williamstown, we want to encourage them to stay longer. We wanted to convey to them everything going on."
 
The creators of the calendar-driven website are discussing its long-term sustainability with the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce, of which Thomas currently is interim executive director.
 
"Everyone needs to take ownership [of the site] because, as everyone knows, we want the town to have it be theirs," co-creator Carole Stegeman said. "We're all willing to put a lot of energy in it, but if people want it, we have to keep it sustainable."
 
In other business, the board in its capacity as the town's liquor licensing authority approved Greta Kipp as manager of the license at the Williams Inn.
 
"I've worked in the hotel industry for about 10 years," Kipp said. "Prior to that, I had six years in the Army. I studied international relations and finance in college.
 
"I have experience in housekeeping, marketing, sales and finance in the hospitality industry. This will be my first job overseeing this department."
 
The board also approved the appointment of Patricia Leach to the Historical Commission and accepted with regret the resignations of Judy Ensign (Northern Berkshire Cultural Council) and Bob Kavanaugh (Municipal Scholarship Committee).

Tags: appointments,   audit,   gas pipeline,   resolution,   town meeting 2016,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

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.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories