NAMI Berkshire County Hires New Executive Director

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PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Berkshire County announced that Melissa Helm has joined the organization as Executive Director. 
 
"Her passion for our mission along with her desire to grow and expand our organization made her the perfect fit to lead NAMI Berkshire County," said board president Ruth Healy. "The three tenets of NAMI's mission are to support, educate and advocate for all those in Berkshire County whose lives are impacted by mental illness. Our niche is helping the family and loved ones of someone suffering from mental illness because they often don't know who to turn to for help in coping with their situation."
 
Melissa comes to NAMI from Kripalu where she held the position of Partnerships and Community Engagement Manager. She is also President of the Board of the Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention and is Chair of the Berkshire County Walk to Fight Suicide.
 
"We always welcome volunteers to help in the office or with fundraising or to join our board," said Healy. "We are currently looking for a Treasurer with QuickBooks experience. Anyone interested in this opportunity can contact us at namibc@namibc.org."
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Dalton Select Board Argues Over Sidewalk Article

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — A heated discussion concerning sidewalks during Monday night's Select Board meeting resulted in the acting chair calling a recess to cool the situation. 
 
The debate stemmed from the two articles on the town meeting warrant for May 6 at 7 p.m. at Wahconah Regional High School. 
 
One proposes purchasing a sidewalk paver for $64,000 so sidewalks can be paved or repaired for less money, but they will use asphalt rather than concrete. The other would amend the town's bylaws to mandate the use of concrete for all future sidewalks. 
 
The article on concrete sidewalks was added to the warrant through a citizen petition led by resident Todd Logan. 
 
The board was determining whether to recommend the article when member John Boyle took the conversation in a new direction by addressing how the petition was brought about. 
 
"I just have a comment about this whole procedure. I'm very disappointed in the fact that you [Logan] have been working, lobbying various groups and implementing this plan and filed this petition six weeks ago. You never had any respect for the Select Board and …" Boyle said. 
 
Before Boyle could finish his statement, which was directed to Logan, who was in the audience, Chair Joe Diver called point of order via Zoom. 
 
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