Dalton Select Board Elects New Chair, OKs Stormwater Grant
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DALTON, Mass. — Monday's Select Board welcomed Bob Bishop as its newest member, and elected John Bartels its new chairman. Former Chairwoman Mary R. Cherry took the newly-elected position of vice chairman.
"John and I have worked very closely together this year," said Cherry. "John has been a good counsel to me, and I feel like we've been a good team, but I'm ready to hand over the reins ... I think it's time for 'new' but it's good to keep a team together."
Bartels agreed, accepting his new appointment and adding, "If I could only do half as well as [Mary Cherry] did, I'll be happy."
Melissa Provencher, of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, requested the Select Board approve a grant application from the Stormwater Commission for funding and a new permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP's pollution program, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase 2, is a new category that "is a regional program with Dalton participating [as well as] Adams, Cheshire, Lanesborough, and Pittsfield," explained Provencher.
"[It] affects small municipal systems: Dalton is one, that's been regulated under this since back in 2003 when they first came out with the permit, and that permit has been expired since 2008."
The category involves "investigating storm water utilities, but it also includes looking at regional opportunities — essentially looking at how to come up with a system and fund the compliance that you're required to have under the NPDES program."
The Stormwater Commission submitted an application to this DEP program a while back, outlining tasks such as "forming a new working group, researching storm water utility, analyzing existing practices and associated cost, estimating cost of compliance with the new permit, and identifying regional approaches and funding structure" as their expected use of grant funds.
The grant application due June 1, the commission was looking for the board's "partnership on this application, [its] support to submit it, and to be a part of the project if it is, in fact, funded," said Provencher.
Unlike other grants the commission has applied for in the past, this has a 40 percent match requirement. In-kind is a possibility: for instance, if a working group is formed and the town is represented, that time could serve as a match.
However, Provencher is trying to get credit for all of the annual town appropriations to the Stormwater Commission under the Wastewater Management account in Dalton since 2003. If the DEP will accept those appropriations, then none of the towns will have to provide additional funding to meet the match requirement.
Provencher assured the board that none of the towns will be asked to provide additional funding beyond what they, collectively, are already doing in terms of stormwater management.
"It is a bit of a puzzle because the 40 percent match is calculated based on the total project value," said Provencher, so if the cost or budget of the project changes and requires more or less grant funding, the 40 percent requirement would adjust as well.
In taking a vote, Cherry called it a "no-brainer" and the board unanimously approved the grant application.
The board also approved individual committee assignments, in particular recommending Bishop to serve on the Pipeline Working Group along with Bartels). Bishop has been the Conservation Commission chairman since 1991, so his experience was expected to be an asset to discussions related to the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline set to run through a section of Dalton.
Tags: gas pipeline, reorganization, stormwater,
