Williamstown Select Board Contributes Town Funds to July 4 Fireworks
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board agreed Monday to provide at least $1,000 and up to $2,500 of town funds to support the fireworks display at Taconic Golf Club on July 4.
Board member Jane Patton, who manages the club, brought a funding request to the body and argued that the pyrotechnic display is an opportunity to build community that should be supported by taxpayer dollars.
"I've had a number of people ask me why the town doesn't cover the cost," Patton said.
"It is a town event meant to bring the town together. I think it's reasonable to say people enjoy it, and it's been quite successful as a town event."
Patton said it costs about $15,000 to stage the event at Taconic, which allows people on its grounds free of charge; it prohibits "outside food/drink" but offers food and beverages, last year at a cost of $18 for adults and $6 for children under 10.
"I'm here to suggest the town participate this year in whatever way they can, as much as possible, and to consider it being a town function — the fireworks piece — going forward," Patton said.
Patton said that in 2017, the town contributed $1,500 toward the event. In 2018 and '19, the town contribution was $2,500. The event was suspended in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Patton said she asked for a contribution but received no response in 2021 and 2022.
"I think it was because we had an interim town manager and other issues going on," she said.
Patton said currently the fireworks are paid for through private donations.
Her colleagues agreed there should be some municipal support for the event, but it was unclear on Monday evening what the source of that money might be.
In the past, first-year Town Manager Bob Menicocci said, the Select Board had approved funds from its discretionary account, budgeted at $10,000 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
In FY23, the year that ends on June 30, that figure was $36,500, and there was some thought that money remains in the "other contract services" line in the Select Board's budget. But Menicocci indicated it would be problematic to spend FY23 dollars on an event that takes place in FY24.
"Going forward, it's reasonable to build it in [to the budget]," Menicocci said. "Hopefully next year, we can have a deeper conversation about the commitment of the community to recreation as a whole and to tourism as such.
"Our resources are finite, so it's all dividing up the pie in some way."
Andrew Hogeland said he was hesitant to commit a quarter of the $10,000 for FY24 in the first week of the fiscal year.
In the end, Randal Fippinger moved to authorize that the board spend $1,000 from its FY24 allocation or $2,500 if the town manager can determine a way to use FY23 funds.
The motion passed, 4-0-1, with Patton abstaining.
In other business on Monday, the board was supposed to hear a presentation on waste-to-hydrogen power generation, but the presenter was unable to attend.
And Menicocci told the board that the town was ready for a process to name the new multipurpose trail built over the last couple of years from Syndicate Road to the Spruces Park.
Originally, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation had dubbed the route the "Mohawk Trail," but the town took those signs down after residents noted that it would be a misnomer in an area where the indigenous people were ancestors of what is now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe.
Menicocci said his staff would be happy to direct a process for naming the trail that incorporates a wide range of town input. He said he would be happy to accept suggestions for the name or offers to help vet potential names; Menicocci can be reached at rmenicocci@williamstownma.gov.
He said the project is at a point where a ribbon cutting would be appropriate in the next few months, and he would like to have a name before that date.
Finally, Select Board Chair Jeffrey Johnson directed residents to a list of committee positions in town government.
"If you're interested in town government, we're interested in you," Johnson said. "New faces are welcome."
Tags: bike path, fireworks,
