Williamstown Honors Greene, Turnbull at Town Meeting
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If you left Tuesday's marathon annual town meeting a little early, you were not alone, but you missed the best laugh of the night.
Way down toward the end of a 35-article agenda, the town was asked to revisit a plan it approved in May 2014 to put a ground-mounted solar array at Williamstown's capped landfill.
Town Moderator Adam Filson announced that he had a conflict of interest with the article and asked Town Clerk Marry Kennedy to take the gavel for one item.
"Mr. Moderator, I'm glad your conflict is with solar and not golf courses," Kennedy joked upon reaching the podium.
Golf courses — actually a particular golf course — dominated much of the night as the town conducted an elaborate and lengthy debate that ultimately produced a zoning bylaw to create an overlay district at Waubeeka Golf Course.
The evening's other big issue was the elementary school budget, the subject of considerable and, at times, ill-tempered discussion in and out of committee meetings since the superintendent of schools pitched his preliminary fiscal 2017 spending plan this winter.
In between and around those two contentious articles, the town managed to conduct its regular business — approving the town's FY17 budget, blessing the zoning changes that had the unanimous backing of the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen and, in the highlight of the evening, recognizing two women who have served the town in an exemplary fashion.
The League of Women Voters bestowed on Debra Turnbull its Outstanding Town Employee Award. A town committee recognized Carolyn Greene with the inaugural Scarborough Salomon Flynt Community Service Award.
"Your chairmanship of the [Mount Greylock Regional School] Committee has been marked with intelligence, grace, endless patience, calm, good will, acute attention to detail and open-mindedness towards difficult budget challenges," the citation honoring Greene reads. "And then there was your leadership of the years-long effort to win approval by not one, but two town votes for the renovation and construction of the school building.
"Your stewardship of this project has been truly something to behold. Most notably, you have set for all of us a timely example of how, in the face of disagreement to hang on to both our principles and our humanity."
Greene said it was "stunning" to receive the award, an honor bestowed since 1982 but renamed this year to recognize longtime civic leaders Edith and Adolph Salomon and Mary and Henry Flynt along with Faith R. Scarborough.
"They say that public service is a thankless job, but I have been thanked," Greene told the voters in the Williamstown Elementary School gymnasium. "Many of you have written to me, emailed me, thanked me on the street. You've all thanked me for my work on the Mount Greylock school building project.
"And while I have been on the front lines of an often heated political battle, I have not done it alone. We have all been part of the success. So I accept this award on behalf of the team. And, by that, I mean the project leadership, those who got out there and shared information, folks who lobbied for the vote and all who participated in the process."
Turnbull worked — usually behind the scenes — to help the town navigate an equally complicated process.
Her title is administrative assistant, but her impact on the town goes beyond even that critical function.
Turnbull was on the front lines of the closure of the Spruces Mobile Home Park, acting as advocate for and advisor to dozens of residents forced to leave their homes as part of a federal hazard mitigation grant issued for the flood-prone property.
"Three years ago, [Tropical Storm] Irene devastated the Spruces and the lives of over 200 residents," the League's citation reads. "In addition to managing oversight of the FEMA grant for redeveloping the Spruces, [Turnbull] has been instrumental in bringing closure to the complex resettlement of our hard-hit citizens.
"She has gone way beyond her job description in providing an encouraging and helpful face to those still needing assistance in relocation."
Tags: awards, Scarborough Award, town meeting 2016,
