ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen welcomed the newest member of the Adams Police Department, Officer Cole Desroches, on Wednesday evening. 

 

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. He attended Hoosac Valley High School and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 

 

"He's going to serve and protect the town of Adams very well," said Crane, who with Sgts. Matthew Wright and Gregory Onorato stepped in to introduce the new officer while Chief R. Scott Kelley was on vacation. 

 

"We don't often get an opportunity to kind of talk about, frankly, some of the positive things that are happening in town and one of the many things that I feel are positive with are the Adams Police Department," said Town Administrator Jay Green. "We are right now at full staff. We have a full complement of officers. We have a chief who just resigned a three-year contract. ... We have four very capable sergeants (including Donna Malloy)."

 

The force consists of the chief, the four sergeants, a full-time detective and 11 patrol officers. It also has a new position in Cpl. Joshua Baker who is responsible for training and keeping staff equipped. 

 

"We're on the cutting edge of ensuring that we have proper training in a very changing environment with law enforcement," continued Green. "And we have a nice complement of officers and we have a well-respected detective who handles some very complicated cases."

 

He called out the half-dozen officers who attended the meeting for the work they're doing as well as the K9 unit. 

 

"I'm stealing Chief Kelly's thunder, I usually let him do that, but to the rest of the staff, thank you for all you do," Green said. "Be safe out there."

 

The board also voted to appoint James R. Suttle Jr. to a five-year term on the Adams Housing Authority effective May 7.

 

Suttle and candidate George L.H. Jacobson Jr. had been interviewed at the April 3 Selectmen's meeting. At that time, the authority's Executive Director William Schrade III said the current board appointee did not wish to be reappointed, leaving the seat open. 

 

He said members of the authority were notified of the opening 30 days in advance and had the opportunity to ask questions about the role of the board, which is to approve policies, budgets and the hiring of the director. Three people had submitted their names to the town clerk by the April 1 deadline but one withdrew the morning of April 3. 

 

Jacobson, a Navy veteran, told the Selectmen at the April 3 meeting that he had moved here about year ago after working for a security company in Plymouth. He said he wanted to give back to the community even though he'd only been here a short time. 

 

"I have a nice quiet area. And it's just a great place to live and I recommend it to anyone," he said. 

 

Suttle worked in labor unions and then in quality assurance control at Unistress, overseeing special projects, training and records maintenance and taking leadership courses. He said he's not the type to get involved but after getting the notification, he decided to try to for the seat. 

 

"You know why? Because this guy excites me," he said, referring to Schrade. "He is so enthusiastic about the facility, if there's anything that I can do to support and contribute to helping him with his vision, because he's a guy that's proactive and I appreciate the painting, the remodeling, constantly looking for things and also see how caring he is for the people."

 

On Wednesday, Selectman Joseph Nowak said he felt both candidates were qualified but nominated Suttle because he was impressed by his resume, particularly with his involvement in the union and with working class people. 

 

Selectman Richard Blanchard abstained because he was absent from the last meeting when the two candidates were interviewed and Selectman Howard Rosenberg was absent.

 

In other business:

 

• The board approved the replacement of a utility pole on Pearl Street; closed the town meeting warrant and recommended a change (with Nowak abstaining) in the dog leash bylaw to allow a dog park at the coal & grain site, with rules yet to be determined. 

 

• Town Clerk Haley Meczywor reminded the community that the last day to register to vote is Friday, April 26, and that her office will be open until 5 p.m. that day. Mail-in ballots have been mailed out; mail-in and absentee ballot applications are available until April 30. In-person absentee balloting starts May 3. The annual town election is Monday, May 6, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Memorial Building. More information here. 

 

• Resident Catherine Foster took to the podium during public comment to express concerns she had over alleged conflicts of interest related to the member of the Board of Selectmen. She referred to a number of boards that Chair Christine Hoyt sits on, including the Northern Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee, the Adams Theater and the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, saying she should not have made votes related to those organizations. 

 

Foster also brought up Hoyt's vote to appoint Michael Wynn as Greylock Glen director, asking if she was friends with Wynn's wife. "I don't know why you did not disclose that conflict of interest to the town clerk before you had any business voting on hiring her husband," she said. 

 

Selectman John Duval asked if her point was that Hoyt knew someone. "We as a board in Adams, the members that get involved with state-type committees and organizations really benefits the town of Adams," he said. "As I do myself. I'm on the board of the BRPC and a lot of organizations."

 

Foster said Duval "worked" for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, which irked him enough to respond despite Hoyt asking him not to. She requested town counsel reply to Foster. 

 

Town Counsel Edmund St. John III said Foster, who has filed numerous Open Meeting Law complaints against the town, was violating OML because the issues she was bringing up require deliberation and should be on the agenda. 

 

"You're using this forum to invite them to violate the Open Meeting Law," he said as Foster talked over him. "I have a right to speak like everybody else, and I'm not finished with my conflicts of interest," she said, adding that OML did not apply to her. 

 

She listed a number of other relationships she said were conflicts. 

 

Hoyt said the matter would be put on the agenda for a future meeting and asked Foster to supply the material she wanted the board to address.