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North Adams Council Considering Earlier Start Time

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council may start its meetings an hour earlier, which may be a relief for residents who prefer an early bedtime. 
 
The council postponed action on the change Tuesday because two councilors were absent and the minutes of the General Government Committee meeting that discussed weren't ready. 
 
Still, Councilor Wayne Wilkinson, who suggested the time change, was ready to vote and became the only nay on postponing action.
 
"We have a very robust mayor who has been putting more and more stuff on the agenda," Wilkinson explained at the General Government meeting on March 11. "It's amazing how many people watch the City Council meetings on television ... the worst complaint I hear about ... is that they don't get to the end of the show."
 
Council meetings have frequently run past 9 p.m. and more than a few have neared 10 p.m. Even fairly light agendas have generated discussions that some councilors have urged be saved for committee meetings.   
 
Wilkinson has asked that the council considering beginning as early as 6 p.m., which would mean even lengthy meetings would likely end by 9 p.m.
 
Committee members Joshua Moran and Jason LaForest were not averse to the idea, but were concerned that some councilors who have to travel for work could not make an earlier meeting. Or that it would interfere with dinner hour. 
 
But both the current and former city clerk attended the committee meeting in support of the idea. 
 
"I've had the same conversations with people: it runs too late," Marilyn Gomeau, the former clerk said. "I've heard from the gallery but it's the same three or four people. If you moved it earlier you could get more people attending."
 
Besides, she said, "in today's society, there is no dinner hour."
 
She and City Clerk Debra Pedercini both said there was a tendency to rush through the agenda at the end of the meetings because both councilors and audience seem to get tired. 
 
"When it gets late everybody shuts down, including the clerk," Gomeau said. "I think that little bit earlier might make a difference."
 
Wilkinson said the Planning Board, on which he had served, started with a time of 7:30 p.m. but changed it to 6 p.m. 
 
"It worked out very, very good," he said. "I don't know any other committee meetings that start at 7:30 p.m. ... It's always been a tradition for the council but maybe it's time to modernize."
 
Their colleagues in Pittsfield also have been struggling with lengthy meetings that often go for three to four hours. This year, North Adams' council rules were changed to limit citizens' remarks to the beginning and end of the meeting, which may have shaved a little time. But much of the duration is comprised of council debate.
 
"I think we want to do the committee work during the meeting and that tends to make them run long," Moran said at the committee meeting. "Even if they didn't warrant a ton of discussion."
 
He supported trying a 6:30 or 7 p.m. start. "It's our opportunity to see if we can get more public input," Moran said.
 
On Tuesday, Wilkinson said he would try to amend the order from the original 6:00 p.m. to the committee's recommended 6:30 if the question was to move forward.  
 
"There was quite a bit of discussion, I thought it was all very positive," he told the councilors in briefing them on Tuesday. "The final consensus was a three-to-nothing vote for the moving the time for council to 6:30."
 
The council postponed the order to the next meeting. The chairman of the General Government Committee, Paul Hopkins, and Rebbecca Cohen were absent.

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Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.
 
More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.
 
Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.
 
One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 
 
"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."
 
Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.
 
Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC. 
 
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