Letter: Bilal for Williamstown Select Board

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To the Editor:

I am writing to urge Williamstown voters to elect Bilal Ansari to the Williamstown Select Board on Tuesday, May 10. Dr. Ansari has dedicated himself to a life of service, to helping people resolve difficult situations. He listens intently and responds carefully with compassion. He appeals to our best nature. These are essential skills needed at this moment in our town.

Dr. Ansari does not believe that he alone has the solutions to all of the challenges facing our town. Instead, he wants to hear from those comfortable speaking up and also those who, until now, have not felt comfortable nor heard at all. He believes it will take a village to share concerns and work together to make Williamstown a better place for everyone to live and work and grow. But making that happen takes a special type of skilled leadership.

Bilal Ansari is the candidate blessed with that skilled leadership and a stake in our town's quality of life. He has deep roots in this town: his ancestors lived and worked here. He is committed to an approach based in kindness and inclusion. He is the candidate who can and will help us reach a new, inclusive and more equitable chapter in our town's history.

I ask for your vote on May 10 for Bilal Ansari for the Williamstown Select Board. Thank you.

 

Hugh L Guilderson, Ph.D.
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

 


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Williamstown Fin Comm Mulls Use of $2M Windfall

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Finance Committee last week discussed how the town should use the $2 million it is in line to receive from the sale of the former town garage site.
 
"My understanding from [Town Manager Robert Menicocci] is, unlike the [American Rescue Plan Act] funds, which were distributed by the Select Board, this is just another revenue for the town and has to go through town meeting," Chair Frederick Puddester told his colleagues. "It would be good for us to think about what our priorities might be for this, to give feedback to [Finance Director David Fierro] and [Menicocci] on how to deal with the $2 million that fell out of the sky."
 
Fierro confirmed to the committee that proceeds from the sale of 59 Water St. to Williams College would be classified as "special revenue" and sit outside the town's budget, needing an appropriation of town meeting to spend all or part of the windfall.
 
Melissa Cragg suggested that the special revenue could be left in free cash, but it would generate less of a return on the investment than it would if it went to, for example, the town's stabilization fund. One potential drawback of putting it in stabilization, Puddester noted, is that a two-thirds vote of town meeting then would be required for a withdrawal.
 
Suzanne Stinson, who was later elected to chair the committee for the 2026-27 meeting cycle, indicated that the $2 million could be used to address the issue of tax base growth that has concerned the Fin Comm for years.
 
"I feel like it would be important to put that into something that has a long-term outcome for the town, given how much we're talking about significant structural changes," Stinson said. "We talked about if we had a way of gaining development — either commercial real estate or residential development. Those things, in particular, could conceivably add to the tax revenue.
 
"If there's an opportunity, I'd like to make sure we think through those opportunities."
 
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