Adams and Cheshire 2015 In Review
ADAMS, Mass. — The town of Adams made national news in 2015 when a suspected terrorist was arrested by the FBI in town this summer.
In July the FBI stormed a 10 Murray St. apartment to apprehend 23-year-old Alexander Ciccolo, an estranged son of a Boston Police captain, who was suspected to be connected with a plot to engage in terrorism on behalf of ISIL.
A criminal complaint that led to Ciccolo's, aka Ali Al Amriki, arrest stated that he was delivered four firearms that he had ordered from a person who was cooperating with members of the Western Massachusetts Joint Terrorism Task Force, and who had been communicating with Ciccolo about Ciccolo's plans to engage in a terrorist act.
Ciccolo planned to place improvised explosives in places where large numbers of people congregate. He pleaded not guilty in July to charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and an assault charge.
This case will continue into the new year.
Another saga in the town of Adams and Cheshire was the drawn-out adoption of a fiscal 2016 budget for the Adams Cheshire Regional School District.
The school committee adopted a $19.4 million budget in April that represented a near $800,000 increase to the prior year's budget and would save nearly 28 staff positions. Although educationally solvent, the increase would mean either drastic cuts in both towns' budgets or proposition 2 ½ overrides.
The proposed budget would have cost Adams $5,143,382; this is an increase of $542,082. Cheshire would be responsible for $2,465,747; this is a $197,291 increase.
Prior to the school committee's official presentation of the budget to the Adams Selectmen, the selectmen voted to lock in a town budget which called for a regional school assessment of $4.8 million.
With some residents supporting an override to provide a more educationally sound budget and others demanding the school cut the positions, the town of Adams compromised by cutting three full-time positions to free up more money to support the school while keeping the town's budget under the levy limit in May.
The school committee voted to accept the compromised $19 million budget, which changed the total Adams assessment to $5,521,469 and Cheshire's to $2,586,477.
Although half of the 28 positions would be saved, the district would still lose services, teachers, and paraprofessionals and Cheshire's assessment still demanded the town to go for a $90,000 override.
Cheshire town meeting voted to put the override on the ballot in June, however when it came time to vote the override was shot down by 63 votes. The final tally was 174-237; only about 411, or 18 percent of the town's 2,248 voters made it out.
The failed vote meant the school would have to cut near $350,000 from the budget because it would change the ratio of the assessment from the two towns.
This confused the issue even more.
If the Cheshire Selectmen refused to hold another override vote and the school committee strong-armed the town with the original budget the budget would go back to town meeting. If declined, the vote would go to a districtwide vote
If the districtwide vote passes the budget, Cheshire would have been forced to raise the $90,000 somehow because the school budget will be officially approved. If the district did not have an approved budget by Dec. 31 the state can take over the school's finances, which could mean an even smaller budget.
However, because the Cheshire selectmen felt low turnout and confused voters did not accurately represent the town they decided to hold another override vote.
After the district sponsored many informational meetings, the budget was finally passed in August. The vote was 499-325 with more than a third of the town's registered voters casting ballots.
After the budget battle Adams along with the school district decided to double down and look for creative ways to lower educational costs. Out of this, the district decided to invite Lanesborough high school students into the district, which officials claimed could save both Adams and Lanesborough more than $1 million each.
Through September ACRSD made attempts to woo Lanesborough to join the district. Because Hoosac Valley has capacity for the amount of Lanesborough students that attend Mount Greylock Regional High school.
If Lanesborough joined Adams and Cheshire, it would have to dissolve their district with Williamstown. This triggered Mount Greylock administrators to make their own presentation to Lanesborough.
Even though Lanesborough could find savings by linking up with Adams-Cheshire, it would have to leave a high level school to join Hoosac Valley, a level four school. In the end Lanesborough decided to keep education as is and declined ACRSD in the fall.
Another continuing point of contention in Adams was the proposal to eliminate the town's dispatch services and regionalize with the Berkshire County Sheriff's Office. Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said it would save the town near $180,000 annually and services would remain the same.
Residents aired their concerns at public meetings through early winter and many felt that services would decline without the hometown touch of local dispatchers and felt the town should not lay off three longtime town employees.
Some residents understood the desire to eliminate the dispatchers and follow the state trend of regionalizing to save money, however felt town members should vote on the issue - not just the Board of Selectmen.
The switch is contingent on a state grant and the Selectmen plan to vote on the issue in the new year.
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