Cheshire Has Started Fire Station Roof Repairs

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
01:14AM / Wednesday, October 24, 2018Print Story | Email Story

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The town has received permission from the state to go forward with emergency repairs to the fire station roof and work has begun.

"Roof repairs on the fire station roof has started," Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said Tuesday.

A portion of the Fire Department roof had collapsed during the summer prompting the town to seek an $85,000 reserve fund transfer to make the emergency repairs and rebuild the section of the roof. A special town meeting granted this transfer earlier this month.

Town Administrator Mark Webber said the town has been given an emergency waiver from the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to make these repairs without having to go through the public bidding process. The town needs to make these repairs before winter.

"So we are good to go with all bases covered so when inquisitive minds do ask why we didn't go out for a formal bid, the answer is we didn't have to," Webber said.

The Selectmen also met with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Planner William Sikula to discuss the town's Housing Rehabilitation Grant.

He said although they cannot officially act on applications, people can start the application process.

"We are accepting applications already, we just can't act yet," Sikula said. "We have the applications so just refer them to us we can give them one."

In Highway Superintendent Blair Crane's report, he said he has been facing issues with the Cheshire Elementary School heating system.

He said the heat was turned down last year to a minimal level and now that there are tenants in the building, he needs to bring it back up to a comfortable temperature. However, the thermostat seems to not be communicating well with the boiler.

"The thermostats aren't calling for heat very well and the rooms that are farther away from the boiler system have the tendency to cool off first," he said. "Since the system is linked together, I have had to go over and bypass the thermostatic system and turn the boilers on."

He said he will continue to monitor it but it takes up his time.

"It has been a time-consuming effort over the past week but needless to say they are all happy," he said. "I just need to babysit it two or three times a day for a considerable amount of time."

Tags: fire station, municipal buildings,

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Hoosac Valley Hears Educational Study Process, Timeline

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
11:50AM / Tuesday, August 25, 2026

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley School Committee got an update Monday on the North Berkshire Education Sustainability Study, now two months into its yearlong process.

This was the first school committee presentation, with the second planned for the North Adams School Committee on Tuesday. The Steering Committee will meet publicly at Mount Greylock Regional School on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The study is investigating the state of secondary education in North Berkshire, its challenges and potential restructuring. It covers Hoosac Valley, North Adams Public Schools, Mount Greylock and the Northern Berkshire School Union.

Jake Eberwein, project lead with consultant Berk12, explained that baseline data would gathered over the next several months including through community forums to be held in late fall.

"We're not here to audit or evaluate," said Eberwein. "Our goal is to collect, curate and share it. Of course, there's always a process where, as a researcher, you have to decide how to share it and organize it, and that can certainly have a bias in itself. We're going to do our best and work with the subcommittees."

The data will include New Ashford and Hancock because even though they are not participating in the study, they tuition their students to North Berkshire schools, but not Rowe because it sends its high school students to Mohawk Trail Regional School.

"The charge really is to evaluate sort of the long-term sustainability option for the four districts that are involved in the project," Eberwein said. "It's really mostly about how do we provide the best quality, highest quality education for students in Northern Berkshire County, in light of the fact that there are some pressures: shifting enrollments, demographic shifts, and ongoing fiscal pressures."

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