Lanesborough's Berkshire Village Looks to USDA For Water Line Help
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Berkshire Village Water District is awaiting word from USDA about upgrading its water system.
The district consists of about 40 households in the village and feeds off the Berkshire Spring. The lines, however, date back nearly a century and residents there have been faced with inconsistent water service and the threat of contamination infiltrating the system is ever present.
The residents have gotten together and are now applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rebuild the entire system and connect it with the rest of the town's water system. The project will cost an estimated $1.8 million, but the hope is the USDA will pay for 45 percent of that cost.
"You'd cut the bill down to less than $1 million that would have to be paid for by the customers down there," Town Manager Paul Sieloff said.
The town voted to spend $8,000, which was coupled with $8,000 from the water district, to pay for engineers Tighe and Bond to develop plans. If awarded the grant, the residents would borrow for the rest of the money over a 40-year period.
Tighe and Bond presented the plans to the group about two weeks ago and now the application is ready to be filed. If all goes smoothly, the new water line could be installed by the end of 2018.
"This probably will be the last bit of news until the end of the year," Sieloff told the Board of Selectmen on Monday. But, "We still have a lot of work to do. We will still have to talk about things at town meeting."
Exactly how the loan will be paid needs to be sorted out. Sieloff said while the residents will be joining the town's water system, the rest of the town isn't going to be on the hook to pay for the project.
Sieloff said water-district users would see decreases in homeowner's insurance with full fire protection and Selectman Henry "Hank" Sayers said the district's costs for continual water testing would be alleviated if a new system was put in place.
A few other residents just outside of the district may want to tie into the line since it is now closer. The plan calls for new lines down Summer Street to Berkshire Village, and then north on Old State Road.
In other business, Fire Chief Charlie Durfee reported to the Selectmen that the volunteer ambulance service responded to more than 50 percent of the emergency medical service calls in the last few months. The service has been struggling for a number of reasons, one of which is the ability to get the volunteers to respond to the calls. The Fire Department promised a more focused effort on getting responses.
But the situation is bad everywhere. Two Saturdays ago, a man had a seizure at Bob's Country Kitchen and there was only one town EMT available, which isn't enough to legally be able to transport a patients. The responders called on Action, County, and Dalton ambulances but none had a rig to spare.
"Over the last several months, there has been no County, no Action. We had to go to Dalton, Adams, and a couple weeks ago we had to call Village Ambulance in Williamstown," Durfee said.
It took 38 minutes to get an ambulance transport, Durfee said. He is leaning on the state to ease requirements on emergency medical technicians. Currently, two EMTs are required on every basic life support transport. State Rep. Paul Mark and state Sen. Adam Hinds have filed a bill to alleviate that, and allow other first responders, who haven't achieved EMT certification, to become drivers while an EMT is attending the patient.
The bill has been filed multiple times but the state Legislature has not been receptive. Durfee said there are times when there is an EMT available, but only one. That bill would allow Lanesborough to transport without having to wait 38 minutes for a service from Williamstown. Durfee said both towns and private ambulances are struggling to maintain staff.
"Everybody's got the same problem. Nobody can get EMTs," Durfee said.
Sieloff suggested part of getting volunteers to respond could be to alleviate concerns that they show up and then are not needed. He suggested scheduling the volunteers at certain times, so two to four would be responsible for all calls during a certain period of time.
Durfee said the response issue isn't so much that, but that the volunteers have a lot going on outside of the department. He said many of his current volunteers have children and are dedicating their time to them, and responding to calls when they can.
"Some of the guys are paying babysitters on Wednesday night to come to drill," Durfee said.
Sayers has been particularly active in overseeing the issues with the department. He asked Durfee to report the statistics every month so he can keep and eye on it.
"A call comes into Lanesborough, somebody from Lanesborough should answer it," Sayers said.
Also with the Fire Department, Charles Garrity is looking to resign from the position as emergency management director. Durfee is the assistant and would be in line to that the job. But, it requires four to five full days of training. Durfee works for the town's highway department and would need those days off to attend the training.
"We don't have a mechanism for him to do that without taking vacation days," Sieloff said.
The Selectmen, however, aren't sure if they want Durfee to do it. Sayers said he'd like somebody else to serve in the role just in case there are multiple calls at the same — such as a fire call needing the fire chief and flooding requiring the emergency management director.
"Paying for the training isn't the problem, I'd just like to have two different people," Sayers said.
Sieloff said he will look to see if there is anyone in the Police Department who could do the job, with Sayers adding that it can't be the police chief either.
The Board of Selectmen are also calling a community forum on school regionalization. Lanesborough and Williamstown will be asked to approve fully regionalizing the school system this fall. Town officials are looking to have a forum about the topic, but not led by advocates for regionalization.
Instead, the Selectmen will host a forum at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 31, in the community room at Town Hall, as a regular meeting. The board asks residents to bring any questions and concerns about regionalization and there will be a representative from the schools available.
Tags: ambulance service, regionalization, USDA, water district,
