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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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Pagliarulo, Strout Win Seats on Dalton Select Board

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

The election saw about a 20 percent turnout of registered voters.
DALTON, Mass. — Voters returned one of two incumbents to the Select Board and one newcomer on Tuesday. 
 
Antonio "Tony" Pagliarulo won one of the two seats in the four-way race with 577 votes for the board, outpolling the other three candidates by 107 votes. Coming up second was incumbent Marc Strout with 486. 
 
William Drosehn, chair of the Finance Committee, was 13 votes behind at 473. 
 
Robert Collins, who won a seat by 13 votes in February's special election found himself out of the running this time with 459 votes. 
 

Pagliarulo expressed his gratitude to the voters and hopes that he and the board can do a good job by them.


"Everybody's going to be in office, even though the other two candidates didn't make it. We have a Finance chair and we have a person on the Planning Board, so hopefully we'll work in harmony together," he said. 


Collins holds a seat on the Planning Board; Pagliarulo is a member of the Green Committee and the Public Safety Facility Advisory Committee.


The elections saw above-average voter turnout, with 1,001 individuals voting in person at the Senior Center, and 83 mail-in ballots were counted after the polls closed, for about 20 percent of registered voters. 


Residents lined Field Street with signs in support of their preferred candidates as some played lawn games to pass the time. 


When the unofficial results came in, several of Strout's supporters cheered as they left the Senior Center. 


Strout said he looks forward to serving on the board for another three years and will do so with honesty and integrity. 


This will be Strout's fourth term. When running for Select Board nine years ago, he didn't think he would ever get to this point. 


"But when you get in here and you're able to serve the people and look out for them and take care of the small things for them, whether it's a pothole on their street or the street light out, those are the things that are important to people," Strout said. 


"We got a lot of work ahead of us and bringing people together to get things done, and that's what's going to take for all of us to work together." 


Although losing this race, Collins intends to stay involved in the town, continuing his work on the Planning Board and Storm Water Commission. 


When asked whether he would request a recount given the close results, Collins said he does not intend to and emphasized his trust and faith in the town clerk’s office and the volunteers who handle the counting process. 


Drosehn said he does not believe the results reflected the true vision of the town’s people, feels there was an "anomaly" in the results, and plans to call for a recount.


He said town voters prefer to have someone on the board, "one in particular," that he thinks doesn’t approach the issues.  


Unofficial results for other contested races were: 


The Planning Board had three candidates for its two open seats. Voters elected Dennis Croughwell, who had 729 votes, and Donald Davis with 456. David Martindale had 434 votes. 


The Library Trustees had five candidates for its four available seats. Voters elected Anne Ronayne, who had 1,263 votes, Thomas Condron with 710 votes, Leonardo Quiles with 623 votes, and Sherri Belouin with 576 votes. Michael Jamrog had 356 votes.

 

 

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