image description — The Board of Health has banned the selling of tobacco products to those under the age of 21.

Adams Increases Age for Tobacco Sales to 21

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
03:48PM / Thursday, October 27, 2016Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Health has banned the selling of tobacco products to those under the age of 21 in town and updated its regulations.

The board heard no opposition to its proposals during a public hearing on Tuesday night and voted to put the new regulations in effect on Feb. 1, 2017.

"Any products containing, made or derived from tobacco or nicotine that is intended for human consumption, smoked, chewed, absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, sniffed or injected by any means … will not be sold to anyone under the legal age of 21," Chairman Bruce Shepley said before he read through the specifics of the new regulation.

The Board of Health started the process earlier this year with the help of the Tri-Town Health Department to overhaul the current regulations and update language.

Over the past few months, the Board of Health tweaked the regulations and enforcement to better fit the town of Adams.

During public comment, the only voices on the regulation were in support.

"We are wholeheartedly in support of tobacco 21," Joyce Brewer, contract manager with Tobacco-Free Community Partnership, said. "We all know that most people start smoking before they are 18 … and they are very susceptible to getting hooked on nicotine so we are in support of tobacco 21 and its acceptance by Adams."

Adams is the latest in a growing number of Berkshire communities that have set 21 as the minimum age to buy tobacco products. North Adams changed its regulations in April; Williamstown and Pittsfield also instituted tougher regulations as a deterrent to teen smoking in 2014.

Tags: board of health, tobacco regulations,

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Lanesborough TA Tapped as Adams Community Development Director

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
09:07AM / Wednesday, August 19, 2026

ADAMS, Mass.— Lanesborough's town administrator has been tapped as Adams' director of community development.

On the agenda for the Select Board's meeting on Wednesday is a ratification of Gina Dario as director of community development. She has worked for Lanesborough since late 2022, when she was hired as town administrator.

Dario is also a native of Adams and will replace Donna Cesan, the retired community development director who stepped in last year to temporarily fill the vacant spot.

The town's job posting explains that the community development director manages community and economic programs and develops work plans and programs to meet Adams' growth and development goals.

This includes managing the Community Development Block Grant Program funding and procuring, negotiating, and managing professional service contracts.

The position reports to the Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo, who was hired last year.

Lanesborough Select Board Chair Deborah Maynard on Tuesday said Dario had informed Town Hall and all boards and committees.

"She plans on leaving mid-October," Maynard wrote. "Hopefully, we will have candidates to interview before then."

The pay grade is level 14, between about $80,000 per year and $118,000. A Bachelor's Degree, Master's preferred, in a related field and a minimum of eight years of progressively responsible experience in project management or local planning is required, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Before her work in Lanesborough, Dario was a former state manager with the Australian Electoral Commission in Perth, Western Australia, and before that, she worked as an assistant commissioner with the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra, the country's capital.

She grew up in the Berkshires before attending Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley and obtaining a master's degree in international public affairs from Columbia University in New York City.

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