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Shingle-style vinyl siding is being placed on the front facade of Town Hall by McCann students.
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The students have been working at the site on during their non-classroom weeks.
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The facade was in poor shape. The town started a donation fund to help defray the cost of repairs to the nearly 90-year-old former schoolhouse.
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The town plans a rededication ceremony of the honor roll on Veterans Day.

McCann Students Repair Clarksburg Town Hall Facade

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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CLARKSBURG, Mass. — McCann Technical School students are giving Town Hall a facelift using donated funds.
 
With tighter budgets through the years, Town Administrator Carl McKinney said it has been hard to keep up with the aging and deteriorating building that was constructed in the 1930s as the Briggsville School.
 
"We were looking at Town Hall and its many needs," McKinney said. "It is a solid structure, well built but it has had a level of neglect and it really needed some attention."
 
McKinney said about 15 months ago, with the blessing of the Select Board, he started a fundraising campaign and was able to raise $3,200. 
 
"Citizens of the town of Clarksburg donated as well as the Adams Community Bank, and the town put up some money," McKinney said. "If it wasn't for the generosity of the community, we would not be doing this because the budget is where it is."
 
McKinney said he was in contact with the McCann carpentry program to see if it was interested in doing the work. McCann students three years ago put a new roof on the Police Department's one-car garage and last year built an oak case for the some of the town's historic pieces, including its scale.
 
The department was busy with other projects last spring but kept Clarksburg Town Hall on the radar for the fall.
 
McCann teacher Fran Kruzel said projects like the Town Hall are great learning experiences for the students.
 
"It’s great to get them out on a job," Kruzel said. "It really is the best learning experience."
 
McKinney said the main focus of the project is the building's façade. He said the town purchased grey vinyl siding that he hopes will be long lasting.
 
The front will also receive a new coat of paint where necessary.

One of the main drivers behind the project was to provide a better backdrop for the Clarksburg Veterans Honor Roll, McKinney said. The honor roll is installed on the front of the building.

"We wanted to create a respectful and appropriate memorial that was long lasting and historically appropriate," he said.   
 
The town plans to hold a rededication ceremony on Veterans Day.
 
McKinney said the project also addressed some energy efficiency problems in the building with the addition of a house wrap underneath the building and the sealing and insulating of some upper-level windows that were unusable.

He expects work to wrap up soon.


Tags: carpentry,   facade changes,   McCann,   town hall,   

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Select Board Conditionally OKs May Carnival at Berkshire Mall

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The springtime carnival will return to the Berkshire Mall property in a couple of weeks, if the hosts reach an agreement with emergency medical services.

On Monday, the Select Board approved a community event application for Gillette Shows' carnival from May 1 to May 11, pending a reasonable donation to the Ambulance Gift Account for EMS services.

"This isn't a new concept. We discussed this after last year's carnival," EMS Director Jen Weber said. 

The department saw an "exponential" increase in the need for services at the event as its attendance continues to rise. In 2024, there were 20 transports to the hospital over the two weeks, not counting refusals or minor injuries.

"We ended up, last year, mobile posting up there just to make sure that we were there in case something happened," Weber said.

"So we had discussed it last year, and it also came up in a department head meeting that really it's come down to either they need to hire an ambulance to sit there like County Ambulance or Northern Berkshire, or we would be willing to mobile post for a donation into our gift account so that we are able to kind of compensate not being able to be where we usually are, not having bathrooms that aren't mobile."

The two entities have not yet agreed on the donation amount, and a monetary value for services hasn't been set. Mobile posting means that the EMS is still on duty, and mutual aid would be called if a situation arose while Lanesborough wasn't on site.

"We went from like two transports the year before last year to 20, and it just seemed like it was necessary more for us to be up there, because of all the people," Weber said.

"They had a lot more people last year."

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