Adams Annual Town Meeting Will Have 36 Warrant Articles

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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ADAMS, Mass. — Town meeting members will decide 36 warrant articles at Tuesday's annual town meeting at C.T. Plunkett School.

Articles 1 through 4 are annual articles to choose all town officers not previously chosen on the ballot, to hear the reports of the Board of Selectmen and other town officers, to hear the reports of any committee, and to fix the salary and compensation of all elective officers of the town.

Article 5 will see if the town will accept the fiscal 2016 operating budget of $5,659,440 for personnel and $2,047,591 for operating expenses.

Article 6 will see if the town will accept the capital budget of $625,071, which includes various technology upgrades in the town and debt service.

Article 7 will see if the town will vote to approve capital infrastructure and equipment purchases of $108,000. This includes a new police cruiser for $36,000 and a pickup plow truck for $50,000. This will be paid for by free cash

Article 8 will see if the town will accept the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District assessment of $5,521,469. The Cheshire assessment was recently rejected when a Proposition 2 1/2 override failed.

Article 10 will see if town meeting voters will allow $580,000 from free cash to be used to offset the tax rate and keep it under the levy limit.

Article 11 will see if the town vote to transfer the balance of the FY15 Reserve Fund, as of June 30, 2015, to the Stabilization Fund. The present balance is $43,108.

Article 12 will see if the town will appropriate $175,000 to be put in the reserve account for extraordinary and/or unforeseen expenditures and to see if the town will vote to appropriate $1,500 from the Cemetery Investment Fund to reimburse the Cemetery Maintenance Account for emergency repairs made to the stone wall that separates the cemetery from Valley Street.

Article 13 through Article 18 will give the Selectmen permission to apply for and receive funds from the Community Development Block Grant Program, to apply for and receive funds from the U..S. Department of Agriculture under the Community Facilities Grant program, and to see if the town will vote to accept $4,120 from certain perpetual care funds for the care and maintenance of the cemetery lots.

Article 19 will see if the town vote to authorize revolving funds.

Article 20 will see if the town will vote to amend the Compensation Plan as established by Section 10-5 of the town of Adams Code of Laws.

Article 21 will ask town meeting members will allow the town to appropriate $85,000 from free cash to perform a 10-year revaluation of the properties in Adams. The state recommends that Adams does this every 10 years.  

Article 22 will see if the town will reimburse the Adams Retirement Fund $30,402.94 from free cash for expenses and back taxes incurred by the Adams Retirement System.

Article 23 will see if the town will vote to establish an Other Post Employee Benefit (OPEB) Trust Fund to fund benefits and services for retired or disabled employees.

Article 24 will increase the Local Option Room Occupancy Tax percentage collected from 2 percent to 6 percent and Article 24 will see if the town will adopt a .75 percent local meals sales tax for restaurants.

It is anticipated that these new revenue streams will bring the town nearly $80,000 yearly to be used for economic development.

Article 27 will see if Adams will accept a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with Clean Energy Collective for the solar project at 215 East Road. The 1.5-megawatt array agreement will give Adams $15,000 annually.

Article 28 is a vote to adopt the “Stretch Energy Code” in accordance with the Green Communities Program. This energy code will commit Adams to lowering its energy use baseline by 20 percent and adopt new building codes focused on efficiency.

Towns in the program that meet the qualifications will receive a minimum of $125,000. Communities receive more money depending on the qualifications they have already met and population. After the first year, communities can apply once a year for up to $250,000 to fund continued work on energy efficiency.

Article 29 will see if Adams will use $30,000 from free cash to purchase laptops for the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District. These laptops will be used to prepare students for the possible upcoming standardized PARCC test that is taken on computers.

.Article 30 will see if town meeting will vote to transfer $16,500 of unused funds from Town Hall repairs in 2013, $16,500, appropriated to the Adams Visitors Center.

The Finance Committee recommended all of these articles.

Article 31 and 32 will see if the town will eliminate plastic non-reusable bags and Styrofoam from local businesses and establishments. The Board of Health and the police will be in charge of enforcing this and violators can be issued fines and have their establishments closed for a decided amount of time. These articles were placed on the warrant via citizen's petition.

The Finance Committee did not recommend these two articles.

Article 33 was also placed on the warrant via citizen's petition will ask the town to give the Agricultural Fair $5,000.00 to purchase new bleachers, and to make repairs on the old bleachers.

The finance committee did not recommend this article.

Article 34 will see if the town will take Kingsmont Lane as a town road. This article was placed on the warrant via citizen's petition  

The Finance Committee took no recommendation on this article.

Article 35 will see if the town will amend its charter to have the town assessor, town clerk and town treasurer/collector appointed by the Selectmen instead of elected.

The Finance Committee took no recommendation on this article and this was placed on the warrant via citizen’s petition.

Article 36 will be to transact any other business that may legally come before the meeting.

Town meeting starts at 7 p.m.in the Plunkett School auditorium.

The town warrant in full can be found on the town website. 


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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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