Lanesborough Opts Out of Early Voting By Mail

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:41AM / Thursday, April 20, 2023Print Story | Email Story

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Voters will not be able to cast ballots early by mail but can they can still request an absentee ballot for the town election.

Last week, Clerk Ruth Knysh asked the Select Board to opt out of early voting by mail for municipal elections. Her request came after the state expanded access last year.

"An act passed to allow early voting by mail for local elections. It used to be just state and federal," she said. "So my thought on that is it's not in my budget, it's a lot of extra work added on me. I'm only one person in there."

Knysh explained that all of the mail-in ballots would have to be opened and processed by herself before being checked against signatures in the state computer.

"It's a process and the local elections are not well participated in," she said. "I'm just worried that if that is an option to vote by mail, we're going to get hundreds of people that don't typically vote wanting to vote by mail because they can."

The Select Board accepted the request, understanding the nature of Knysh's concern. The board also approved her request to have a police officer at the polling location for every election to "preserve order and protect the election officers." This also is now required by the state.

Nomination papers became available on March 1 and the last day to submit them is May 1. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is June 12 ahead of the town election on June 20.

So far, incumbent Michael Murphy is being challenged by Barbara Davis-Hassan and Deborah Maynard for a three-year seat on the Select Board.

There is also a race shaping up for a three-year seat on the Finance Committee, with incumbent Jodi-Lee Szczepaniak-Locke challenged by Kristen Tool.

Incumbent Sherri Wilson is the only who has taken out nomination papers for library trustee and no one has yet taken out papers for a five-year seat on the Planning Board.

Tags: election 2023, town elections,

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Pittsfield Schools Get Additional Chapter 70 Funds

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:09AM / Tuesday, August 18, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield schools received almost $459,000 in additional Chapter 70 funds, and officials are looking to restore some positions.

On Tuesday, the City Council accepted an additional $458,660 for the Pittsfield Public Schools fiscal year 2027 budget. Mayor Peter Marchetti confirmed that they were Chapter 70 funds, the primary source of state aid for public elementary and secondary schools in Massachusetts.

"What I can tell you is, during the budget process, [State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier] was talking about two different pots of money that she was looking to get, and so some of this came from the per pupil aid amount. That's what the increase in our funding was for,” he explained when asked about how it will be spent.

"It was her intent, and it was the intent of the superintendent, to save positions. Positions that we were cutting from the budget. But I can't give you a definitive answer because the School Committee has not engaged in the conversation of where that money will go inside the school budget," he said.

The School Committee can appropriate the funds at its discretion. Marchetti, also School Committee chair, agreed to notify councilors where those monies went in the budget, per Ward 7 Councilor Kathy Moody's request.

The Pittsfield Public Schools' original $86,855,061 budget included $68,886,061 in Chapter 70 funding. PPS faced a more than $4 million deficit during this process.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland on Wednesday told the School Committee that they have discussed adding at least four paraprofessionals.

"We're going to try to stretch the money as far as we can," she said, explaining that they talked about maintaining the assistant principal of teaching and learning and Reid but were notified that it will be grant-funded.

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