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Election, Debt Exclusion Vote Set in Clarksburg

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CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Voters will decide whether to borrow $1 million to invest in the school and town infrastructure this week, as well as elect new officers and approve a $4.3 million budget for fiscal 2020.
 
The town election will be held Tuesday from noon to 7 p.m. at the Senior Center. There are only two races on the ballot for the Select Board and for the School Committee. 
 
Incumbent Karin Robert is running for a three-year term on the Select Board; challenging her is newcomer Danielle Morgan Luchi. 
 
Robert, who was elected last year to complete the final year of a three-year term, said she has spent her first year in office learning about the town, its needs and her role as a member of the Select Board. 
 
"I really believe in moving the town forward in a progressive way," she said. "I want to represent everyone in the town, from birth to the elders, whatever their needs are, but we need to start looking at doing things differently, the whole town and be more progressive. 
 
"It's just taken me a year to figure out what the needs are never mind what the possible solutions are."
 
Luchi has been involved with the school.
 
"My family and I love the town of Clarksburg and everything it has to offer our community," she wrote on Facebook announcing her candidacy. "I look forward to serving my community to the best of my ability."
 
There is still a one-year term on the Select Board that no one took out nomination papers for. A similar vacancy was filled last year by a write-in vote. 
 
Eric Denette and David Robert are newcomers vying for the three-year School Committee seat vacated by Patricia Prenguber. 
 
Denette is a behavior analyst who has worked as a public school special education teacher and a consultant.  
 
In a message to the community, he said it was time to come together as town. 
 
"If you're unsure about the future of our school and how to achieve the best outcomes, I hear you," he said. "But let's work together and not become polarized. There is a lot at stake for all of us."
 
Robert is an insurance agent who graduated from Clarksburg School and McCanne Technical School. He said he is running because he wants to get involved in town government and help bridge the divide between the school and town. 
 
"I had a good experience here with my education. And I saw how it helped me with furthering my education at McCann," he said. "I just want to make sure that culture is the same way it was when I was here.
 
One of his major concerns is the number of students "choicing out" of the school, Robert said. "I just don't ever recall anybody in my class in '05 school choicing out to North Adams per se, it was always people moving into Clarksburg."
 
Robert is also running unopposed for a five-year term on the Planning Board. 
 
All other offices are unopposed and the post of town moderator will require a write-in vote. Longtime Moderator Bryan Tanner declined to run for another term, saying his many years in office was enough. 
 
Voters will also determine by majority ballot vote a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion that will allow the town to borrow above the town's levy limit without an override. The ballot vote, if approved, will clear the way for a vote on borrowing $1 million at Wednesday's town meeting. The borrowing approval will require a two-thirds vote. More information is available here.
 
Town meeting will also be requested by two-thirds vote to transfer $38,000 from the school stabilization fund toward the replacement of the school's boilers. These funds will cover the balance of the project, which is largely being funded through the town's Green Communities grant. 
 
The school budget, at $2,457,570 is up $48,000, or 2 percent, over this year. The McCann Technical School assessment — based on enrollment — is $345,051, up $38,905‬, about on par where it was two years ago. 
 
The town operating budget is $1,445,060, down $58,068, or 3.85 percent, over this year. The largest reductions are in the Police Department ($7,620); debt service ($23,082); and health and life insurance ($92,350). A number small-sum lines have been zeroed out this year, including tree warden, Conservation Commission, cemetery and beautification. 
 
However, another line item for an ADA Commission has been added at $1,250 related to the town's need to revive its committee and begin an audit for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. Town meeting will be asked to rename the "Handicapped Commission" to the ADA Solutions Committee to better reflect contemporary language and the panel's mission.
 
The 16-article warrant also has a number of standard annual approvals and a bylaw on dog and animal control that addresses fees, abuse, leash and containment, and nuisance animals. 
 
The town election is Tuesday from noon to 7 p.m. at the Senior Center; the annual town meeting is Wednesday beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Clarksburg School. 

Tags: clarksburg_budget,   election 2019,   town elections,   town meeting 2019,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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