Adams Hires New Waste-Water Superintendent, Sets Budget Meetings

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco is encouraging residents to attend budget meetings at the Adams Visitors Center.

ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen ratified the hiring of new waste-water treatment plant Superintendent Robert Rumbolt on Wednesday.

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said Rumbolt was the obvious choice out of the three final candidates.

"Bob was definitely the better choice," Mazzucco said. "What impressed me is that he has literally worked every position in the waste-water treatment plant so we are getting someone that is ready to step up to the management role but also has the experience and knows the facility in and out."

Rumbolt will replace Joe Fijal, who retires this month.

"I would just like to thank Joe for all the work he did there," Selectman Joseph Nowak said. "Every year, the reports that came in from the state ... came in very positive and in matter a fact I think they got a reward for their excellence."

Mazzucco said joint budget meetings between the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen will start next week. The meetings will be held at the Visitors Center and departments will only present their budgets, there will be no vote. He said he urges residents to download the budget that is on the town's website and attend the meeting.

In his summary posted with the draft budget, the town administrator anticipates cutting three to four positions each year over the next five years to reduce costs.

"There exists within the municipal budget a structural deficit whereby increases in annual revenues are not growing fast enough to meet ongoing operations cost," he wrote, pointing to the town's recent reliance on reserves that has drained the stabilization account and "the lowest amount of free cash in nearly a decade."

Mazzucco said the town is continuing work on the Memorial School gym and a quote had been received from a vender who will inspect and repair the bleachers. Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School wants to use the gym for basketball games but, by law, the bleachers must be inspected. He said he will look for a better price before the town commits.

Mazzucco said issues may arise with the shower facilities that need to be brought up to code for full use.

"The plumbing that is available for the shower facilities off of the gym may not be able to be brought up to code or speed that easily so we are just looking at what options we have available to get the plumbing and shower facilities up," he said.

He said he is going to ask the board of health for help and may attempt to get a waiver.

Mazzucco said the town also has plans to change the facility request form for the Greylock Glen and the Memorial School. He said a lot of the requested uses are new to the town and said it would be more proactive for people to call the town administer directly.

"A lot of the event requests are new and have never been done before so by calling and starting with a discussion, it will let us figure out where we go from there rather than creating a separate form that is going to change," he said.

Mazzucco said he also looked into the tourist signage downtown that many found was too small and unreadable when people drive by. He said the signage was intended to only be usable to pedestrians walking or on bike, and the post could not handle a bigger sign.

"I don't know what they were originally conceived as but as a pedestrian sign or bicycle sign they provide good eye sight," he said. "I don’t know if they were designed for vehicular traffic, and I don't know if they would work if we made them bigger with all of that information on them."

Nowak said he went to the recent Adams-Cheshire Regional School District meeting at which the possible restructuring the schools was discussed. The district is considering turning Cheshire Elementary School into a dedicated early childhood school and C.T. Plunkett into an elementary school.

He said he thought the meeting was productive and commended the district for discovering creative alternatives to save money and strengthen the district

"I felt that it was a really good meeting and it proves to me that they did what we had asked them to do, think outside of the box," Nowak said. "I believe that is one way that they are showing it, and I think there is a long way to go before this is resolved."

Town Meeting member Jeffrey Lefebvre said he is collecting men's briefs and T-shirts for homeless veterans. Anyone willing to donate can drop items off at Town Hall or call Lefebvre at 743-5175. He asked that people do not donate hand sanitizer or mouth wash.

Adams Review Library, COA and Education Budgets