Adams Selectmen Confirm Town Hall, Police Hires

By Brian RhodesiBerkshires Staff
05:13AM / Tuesday, July 05, 2022Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen last week ratified the hire of Administrative Assistant Brianna Hantman.

Hantman, who received her degree in political science from St. Michael's College in Vermont, was the office coordinator for the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. She will work directly with the Board of Selectmen and the town administrator

"During our interview, Ms. Hantman demonstrated not only the skills needed to be successful in this position but also the mix of demeanor, sense of humor and patience that will be required," said Town Administrator Jay Green in a letter recommending Hantman's ratification.

Selectwoman Christine Hoyt said she had the chance to work with Hantman during her time at NBCC. Hoyt also highlighted Hantman's work with the Northern Berkshire vaccination clinics during 2021.

"Bri was also a key individual in all of the vaccination clinics, greeting everybody who came through the doors and also helping to organize the front of the house for all of those clinics and I'm very impressed with your organizational skills," she said. "So I think you're going to be a fantastic addition to this team."

In other business, the board ratified the contract of Patrol Officer Michael Strizzi.

Strizzi, a county native, had previously worked as an officer in Bennington, Vt. When asked by Selectman Joe Nowak why he left Bennington, Strizzi said he wanted to work closer to home.

"At the time of this letter he has over 1,200 hours of training given to him through the Vermont Police Academy," said Police Chief K. Scott Kelley. "His desire to serve the communities he lived in never faded. Through a chance encounter after my arrival, he shared as much ... There was no question that I wanted him to be a part of this police department and that was only solidified after speaking with my officers who knew him."

Green said Strizzi will bring the Police Department back to full capacity.

The board heard a complaint from Lisa Mendel about the condition of cars and the former convenience store near her property at 1 Hoosac St.

"There are nine junk cars that are not registered or insured. They've been there since 2009 ... The other issue is the state of the convenience store. That's really quite a hazard. There's holes there. There's tie backs. It's been like that for years and I'm hoping that the board can do something about that," she said.

Town Administrator Jay Green said the convenience store situation is being handled by Building Commissioner Gerald Garner. Kelley said he and Garner plan to deal with cars on Tuesday.

• The board ratified the contract of per-diem Assistant Electrical Inspector Chad Wagenknecht.

• The board approved a weekly entertainment license for Red's Viking Pub LLC at 83 Commercial St.

• The board approved weekly and Sunday entertainment licenses for 17 Commercial Street Restaurant and Inn LLC, doing business as Haflinger Haus.

• The board's next meeting is scheduled for July 20.

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Letter: Progress Means Moving on Paper Mill Cleanup

Letter to the Editor05:00PM / Wednesday, February 11, 2026

To the Editor:

Our town is facing a clear choice: move a long-abandoned industrial site toward cleanup and productive use or allow it to remain a deteriorating symbol of inaction.

The Community Development team has applied for a $4 million EPA grant to remediate the former Curtis Mill property, a site that has sat idle for more than two decades. The purpose of this funding is straightforward: address environmental concerns and prepare the property for safe commercial redevelopment that can contribute to our tax base and economic vitality.

Yet opposition has emerged based on arguments that miss the point of what this project is designed to do. We are hearing that basement vats should be preserved, that demolition might create dust, and that the plan is somehow "unimaginative" because it prioritizes cleanup and feasibility over wishful reuse of a contaminated, aging structure.

These objections ignore both the environmental realities of the site and the strict federal requirements tied to this grant funding. Given the condition of most of the site's existing buildings, our engineering firm determined it was not cost-effective to renovate. Without cleanup, no private interest will risk investment in this site now or in the future.

This is not a blank check renovation project. It is an environmental remediation effort governed by safety standards, engineering assessments, and financial constraints. Adding speculative preservation ideas or delaying action risks derailing the very funding that makes cleanup possible in the first place. Without this grant, the likely outcome is not a charming restoration, it is continued vacancy, ongoing deterioration, and zero economic benefit.

For more than 20 years, the property has remained unused. Now, when real funding is within reach to finally address the problem, we should be rallying behind a practical path forward not creating obstacles based on narrow or unrealistic preferences.

I encourage residents to review the proposal materials and understand what is truly at stake. The Adams Board of Selectmen and Community Development staff have done the hard work to put our town in position for this opportunity. That effort deserves support.

Progress sometimes requires letting go of what a building used to be so that the community can gain what it needs to become.

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