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Treasurer Steven Grossman asked the students about their ideal schools.
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Grossman asked Esha to explain why she chose certain elements for her ideal school.

Treasurer, MSBA Director Present Award to First-Grader At Crosby

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Esha Zahid and her family were honored Friday by many elected officials for being the regional winner of a statewide 'my ideal school' competition.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — First-grader Esha Zahid won a statewide competition for designing her ideal school but she and her family were unable to attend a ceremony at the State House. So on Friday, state officials brought the ceremony to her.

Treasurer Steven Grossman and Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, visited Esha's class at Crosby Elementary School on Friday to deliver her winnings. The competition asked  first-graders from all over the state to draw and write an essay describing their ideal school.

Esha was picked as one of 12 regional winners in the seventh annual competition. Drawing a castle and explaining that her school has "good friends, the playground is fun to play in and the lunch that the lunch lady give us is very yummy," earned Esha a $100 savings bond from Sovereign Bank.

"Because she wasn't able to be in Boston for our special presentation, we decided to bring all of us here to say thank you to her," Grossman told the first-graders.

McCarthy and Grossman are in charge with the state funds to build new schools. The city has been making a pitch to renovate or build a new Taconic High School. The city still needs feasibility studies to be completed before the MSBA invites the city into the program, which provide most of the funding needed to complete a project.



But, McCarthy and Grossman have both voiced support for the project.

"The biggest thing I am doing right now is working on that Taconic School," McCarthy said.

McCarthy and Grossman were joined by Mayor Daniel Bianchi, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and state Sen. Benjamin Downing.

A new Taconic may not look like a castle, but Esha will likely have the opportunity to attend an upgraded high school when she is older.


Tags: awards,   Crosby School,   MSBA,   state officials,   

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Dalton Officials Talk Meters Amidst Rate Increases

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The anticipated rise in the water and sewer rates has sparked discussion on whether implementing meters could help mitigate the costs for residents
 
The single-family water rate has been $160 since 2011, however, because of the need to improve the town's water main infrastructure, prices are anticipated to increase. 
 
"The infrastructure in town is aged … we have a bunch of old mains in town that need to be changed out," said Water Superintendent Robert Benlien during a joint meeting with the Select Board. 
 
The district had contracted Tighe and Bond to conduct an asset management study in 2022, where it was recommended that the district increase its water rates by 5 percent a year over five years, he said. 
 
This should raise enough funds to take on the needed infrastructure projects, Benlien said, cautioning that the projections are a few years old so the cost estimates have increased since then. 
 
"The AC mains, which were put in the '60s and '70s, have just about reached the end of their life expectancy. We've had a lot of problems down in Greenridge Park," which had an anticipated $4 million price tag, he said. 
 
The main on Main Street, that goes from the Pittsfield/town line to North Street, and up through woods to the tank, was priced at $7.6 million in 2022, he said. 
 
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