BHS, Berkshire Boards of Health to host Vaccine Clinic

10:27AM / Tuesday, October 04, 2022Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems and the Berkshire County Boards of Health Association are teaming up for a vaccination clinic in Williamstown in October. The clinic, to be held on Friday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Williams College Field House, is open to the public and to staff and students from Williams College.

The clinic will provide the COVID-19 Bivalent Booster, which is effective against the latest strains of the COVID-19 virus, BA.4 and BA.5, and the Flu vaccine to help prevent Influenza. In order to receive the Bivalent vaccine, you must have received the first two primary doses of either Pfizer or Moderna, or the single primary dose of Johnson & Johnson. Both Pfizer and Moderna Bivalent vaccines will be available at this clinic.

Pre-registration is required, with limited doses available, and the clinic has 400 open slots for the community. As a result, it is recommended that those interested register as soon as possible. To register, visit https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/berkshire. Please also have your COVID-19 vaccine card in hand.

Tags: BHS, vaccinations,

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Williamstown Housing Trust Inquiring About Repairs Program

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Wednesday, November 04, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust last month agreed to seek legal guidance on an issue it has been batting around for a couple of years.

The question is whether Community Preservation Act money can be used to fund a critical repair program for income-qualified homeowners to help them stay in their residences.

The CPA, which identifies "community housing" as one of its three favored categories for funding, largely has been used in town to support home purchases by income-qualified first-home buyers and the creation of income-sensitive housing in town, like the apartments in the former St. Raphael's Church at the corner of Cole Avenue and Church Street or the homes that the Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity homes that the trustees have supported.

The trust, which has run a successful mortgage assistance program for more than 10 years, also during the COVID-19 pandemic created programs to help assist with mortgage and rental payments in emergencies.

But, from time to time, Trustees have discussed finding a way to use some of its funds — which primarily have come from the CPA — to help residents in need make needed repairs to leaky roofs or dilapidated porches in order to stay in their homes.

The Trustees have never gotten a definitive answer on whether that's an allowable use of the CPA money, generated locally by a 2 percent surcharge on property taxes (with the first $100,000 of a property's value exempted) and partially supplemented by revenue raised by the commonwealth from fees on transactions at the Registry of Deeds.

Guidance on the website of the state's Community Preservation Coalition (a non-profit that supports local Community Preservation Committees) indicates that the repair issue is, to put it mildly, complicated.

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