Two Local Women Join Wild Oats Management Team

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Wild Oats Market, a cooperatively owned natural foods grocery store, cafe and bakery, has added two local women to its management team.

Sarah Thurston Housman, a native of Williamstown, was appointed as marketing manager and Shannon Toye, of North Adams, was hired as prepared foods manager.

"We're very happy to welcome Sarah and Shannon to the co-op staff," said General Manager, David Durfee. "They each bring creativity, passion for local food and many years of experience in their respective fields. And as long-time members of the co-op, they both have a unique outside perspective as shoppers that will help us to continue to enhance our offerings in the store and better serve our membership."

Housman has over 16 years of experience working in marketing and communications, most recently as an account executive for a b-to-b marketing firm in Pittsfield, Mass. Her prior positions include communications manager at Village Ventures and senior publicist with Storey Publishing. Housman is very active in the local community, and currently serves on the board of the Fund for Williamstown and as executive director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature from Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Toye, an avid gardener and wild forager for 20 years, began her culinary career as a member of the kitchen staff at the former Main Street Cafe in Williamstown, preparing soups, sauces, salads and desserts. She took a hiatus from cooking to teach and served for 10 years as the manager of School and Partnership Programs and camp director at Mass MoCA. She recently returned to the food industry, serving as the assistant chef at The Ashfield Lakehouse. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in fine and performing arts from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, in North Adams, Mass., and traditional folk herbalist certification through Blazing Star Herbal School, Ashfield, Mass.

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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