Adams received $35,000 to further an earlier Shared Streets and Spaces grant by creating a small event space on Park Street to be ADA-accessible and include seating, plantings, and shade structures.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Five Berkshire communities have received more than a half-million in state grants this week for streetscape improvements, including a $28,000 grant to Williamstown that could turn a downtown street into a parklet.
Adams, Savoy, Sheffield, and Williamstown received in total $126,300 in funding from the Shared Streets and Spaces to implement traffic safety measures, trail connections, bikeshare stations, bus facilities, and areas for outdoor dining and community activities.
Williamstown is considering closing off the lower portion of Walden Street between Spring Street and the western entrance to the public parking lot and turn it into a pedestrian plaza, to be used for outdoor dining and community events.
Lenox received $398,035 in Complete Streets funding to upgrade existing crosswalks, replace curb ramps, and install new curb extensions, a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon, and speed feedback signs in various locations near Lenox Memorial Middle/High School.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced the first round of fiscal 2022 Complete Streets funding of $6.05 million to 18 communities on Tuesday. Lenox was the only Berkshire community to receive this grant.
On Wednesday, she joined other state officials in announcing $6.5 million total to cities and towns that applied for funding from the Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program.
"The Shared Streets and Spaces Program has now awarded $33 million total to 183 cities and towns since the competitive grants were offered to municipalities 13 months ago," said Gov. Charlie Baker in a press release. "Shared Streets grants kept local economies going and gave the public options for safe travel and activities during the pandemic, helping all of us reimagine how we can share streets and spaces to stay safe and improve the quality of life in our communities."
The program provides technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts municipalities conceive, design, and implement changes to curbs, streets, plazas, and parking areas in support of public health, safe mobility, renewed commerce, and community betterment.
• Adams received $35,000 to further an earlier Shared Streets and Spaces grant by creating a small event space on Park Street to be ADA-accessible and include seating, plantings, and shade structures.
• Savoy received $38,300 to create a new dropoff zone, new walking surfaces, and directional barriers and signage at Savoy Elementary School.
• Sheffield received $28,000 to create two safer crosswalks serving the Southern Berkshire Regional School District building, which houses pre-K to 12th grade and a nursery program.
For this round of awards, the state Department of Transportation received 94 applications, of which all but four were eligible. This is the largest applicant pool received in a single round to date. In this round, 78 applications were selected for funding — 77 municipalities and one transit agency (the MBTA) — for a total of $6,506,185.30 in awards and 51 percent of the awards are going to designated Environmental Justice Communities. In this round of funding, 28 percent of the awardees have never received a Shared Streets and Spaces award before.
Since June 2020, including this round of grants, the Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program has awarded $33 million dollars total to 183 municipalities and four transit agencies for a total of 310 projects.
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Adams Community Bank Holds Annual Meeting, Announce Growth
ADAMS, Mass. — The annual meeting of the Community Bancorp of the Berkshires, MHC, the parent company of Adams Community Bank, was held on April 10, 2024, at Charles H. McCann Technical School in North Adams.
The meeting included reviewing the 2023 financial statements for the Bank, electing directors and corporators, and highlighting upcoming executive personnel changes.
"In 2023, the Bank experienced another year of growth in assets, loans, and deposits, noting the Pittsfield branch reached $26 million in customer deposits from its opening in December of 2022," President and CEO of Adams Community Bank Charles O'Brien said. "Those deposits were loaned out locally during 2023 and helped drive our #1 ranking in both mortgage and commercial real estate lending, according to Banker and Tradesman."
At year-end 2023, total assets were $995 million, and O'Brien noted the Bank crossed the $1 billion threshold during the first quarter of 2024.
Board chair Jeffrey Grandchamp noted with O'Brien's upcoming retirement, this will be the final annual meeting of the CEO's tenure since he joined the Bank in 1997. He thanked him for his 27 years of dedication to the Bank. He acknowledged the evolution of the Bank as it became the premier community bank in the Berkshires, noting that branches grew from 3 to 10, that employees grew from 40 to 135, and that assets grew from $127 million to $1 billion.
An executive search is underway for O'Brien's replacement.
The Adams Beautification group, which has been quietly sprucing up the town since 2022, hopes to bring in more members of the community during a community cleanup day scheduled for Saturday, April 27. click for more
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School history teacher Alla Chelukhova has been selected as the April Teacher of the Month. click for more
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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