Lanesborough Finalizes Police Chief Description
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Town Manager Kelli Robbins goes through job description for the chief of police. The new description extends the residency requirements to outside of Lanesborough.
Chief Timothy Sorrell will be retiring this summer after almost six years in the post. Town Manager Kelli Robbins has been fine tuning the details since Sorrell informed the board in January that he would be retiring.
The residency requirement is the only major change to the document: The police chief will no longer be required to live in Lanesborough.
"Fifteen miles within two years," Robbins answered when asked by Chairman John Goerlach how the residency requirement had changed.
Anyone accepting the position would have two years to secure residency either in Lanesborough or within 15 miles of the town's border. The distance limit would include towns such as Lenox to the south, Williamstown to the north, and Windsor to the east.
"We're hoping to draw from a wider pool [of candidates]," Robbins said regarding the change to the residency requirement.
Last week's meeting touched on the possibility of requiring Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) checks for all boards and committees. CORI checks are most commonly performed for employees working with children or the elderly or in a position of fiscal responsibility but are becoming common practice in some towns for all employees. The background check covers most criminal cases from Massachusetts state courts but does not cover out of state or federal cases.
"We already have it in our CORI check policy ... it does say that volunteers, everyone can be subject to CORI checks. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to CORI check everyone," Robbins said.
She ran through a list of departments that are already subject to checks and it included the Recreation Department, the Fire Department, and everyone who receives a paycheck from the town among others. The board felt the current practice was sufficient and did not endorse blanket CORI checks.
"Seems like it's pretty well covered already. We already have a policy, it's in there if we need to enforce it by any means," said Selectman Henry Sayers.
The scheduled joint meeting between the Selectmen and the Finance Committee scheduled for Monday night at Lanesborough Elementary was postponed.
They were set to hear from Mount Greylock School District Superintendent Kimberley Grady regarding next year's budget proposal. The meeting will now be held in the Community Room at Town Hall on Wednesday, March 4, at 4:45 p.m.
There will be a School Committee meeting on Monday, March 23, at Mount Greylock Regional School to possibly fill the seat recently vacated by Dan Caplinger. Caplinger was elected to a four-year term representing Williamstown in November 2018 but announced his resignation on Feb. 21.
The interim member will be picked by the combined select boards of Williamstown and Lanesborough and the School Committee. The remaining two years of the term will be on the ballot this November.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen will be held prior to the joint meeting with the School Committee on Monday, March 23, at 4:30 at Town Hall.
