ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen on Wednesday officially welcomed John Vosburgh, the new Adams-Cheshire Regional School District superintendent.

 

School Committee Chairman Paul Butler introduced Vosburgh at Wednesday's meeting and Vosburgh said he has spent the last few weeks getting to know the district.

 

"I love the small towns. I grew up in Dalton," he said. "I have been getting around over the last three weeks and I have been in all the schools, met with all of the faculty and am getting that vibe back of the small community."

 

With current Superintendent Robert Putnam retiring, the School Committee hired Vosburgh, principal of Taconic High School in Pittsfield, in April.

 

Vosburgh said he is excited to work in a smaller school district.

 

"Not that the folks in Pittsfield don't care about their kids but it is different when it is smaller," he said. "It is not 6,000 kids its 1,200 kids. The adults know everyone, and all of the kids know each other, and these are clearly two communities that care about their kids."

 

He went on to say he plans to stay with the district until his retirement and hopes to bring some consistency to a school district that has seen three superintendents in barely six years.

 

"I am not going anywhere and one of the things that these communities need is some stability," he said. "I feel that spending two or three years in a position you really don't have the same impact in the community or a school system as you would if you spend six, eight or 10 so as long as you will have me I am glad to be here."

 

Vosburgh has been principal of Taconic since 2009 and recently was involved in the planning for the vocational school's new $120 million replacement.

 

Selectman Joseph Nowak welcomed Vosburgh and said he was happy to hear that he was excited to work in a small community.

 

"I think you hit the head on the nail when you said a small community is tight-knit," he said. "Adams is much different than a large city like Pittsfield and I think you will find out early that people come together for anything ... I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

 

The board then made remarks about building maintenance and noted that that the town has recently taken a more proactive stance with Hoosac Valley Elementary and allocated $225,000 to make repairs. 

 

"We had a school that closed and it just closed and there was nothing done," Nowak said, referring to the vacant Memorial Building. "Now we are backtracking trying to reuse the building."

 

Selectman John Duval said he would be interested in developing a maintenance plan with Vosburgh.

 

Vosburgh said he would like to work closely with the town when it comes to maintenance and said he is very familiar with aging buildings.  

 

"I was in a situation with Taconic where we had major facility issues," he said. "I am well aware of leaky roofs, furnaces that are acting up and stuff like that ... it is great that we are looking down the road and being proactive."

 

Vosburgh told the Selectmen to not be afraid to reach out to him for anything and concluded by saying transparency is important to him.

 

In other business, interim Town Administrator Donna Cesan said the town will award the street resurfacing and sidewalk reconstruction bid to low bidder J.H. Maxymillian for $707,088.46.

 

Cesan said J.H. Maxymillian came in over budget but by backing out some of the sidewalk reconstruction work, was able to bring the project down to $525,000.

 

She said all of the roads in the project will be paved and with roughly $100,000 in sidewalks will be redone. Work will begin in a few weeks.