DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee needs more responses for its climate action plan survey.
Only 40 responses have come back, 33 digital and seven hard copies, which is only about a third of the way to the committee's goal of 96, committee member Todd Logan said during Wednesday's meeting.
The plan aims to guide the town toward achieving the state's net zero goal by 2050 by seeking strategies to decrease its dependence on fossil fuels for homes, businesses, municipal facilities, and vehicles.
The plan should be detailed enough that the town knows what it needs to do and when to complete each subproject on time.
A key aspect of this is gathering as much information as possible to accurately determine what the majority of the community believes to be its needs and priorities.
The survey takes 10 minutes to complete and is available electronically and in hard copy.
Hard copies of the survey are also available at the Town Clerk and Tax Collector offices and the Dalton Senior Center.
Completed surveys can be dropped off at the Town Clerk’s office or the Senior Center. The committee hopes to have enough completed surveys by early December.
Although the survey asks participants to include address information, the committee requests these details solely to guarantee that all town areas are fairly represented. This information will be removed from the final results shared at public meetings. It is solely used to guarantee all town areas are fairly represented.
Committee members have undertaken several ways to distribute the survey to make it accessible.
Committee member Antonio Pagliarulo has been working with the Central Berkshire Regional School district superintendent to give the survey to staff at Wahconah Regional High School, Nessacus Regional Middle School, and Craneville Elementary School, Committee member Laurie Martinelli said.
In addition, Martinelli said she is working with Wahconah Regional High School student Jackson Crow to circulate the survey to Daltonian youth.
Committee members Todd Logan and Thomas Irwin have also been handing out hard copies of the surveys. Irwin will be working on transcribing the data into the spreadsheet under the name “paper copies” so that they can differentiate where the responses came from.
To ensure accuracy, paper copies will be kept in case Cisco Tomasino, the climate and events manager needs to refer to the original version.
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Pittsfield Seeks CPA Funds for Bike Racks, AED
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city plans to apply for Community Preservation Act funds for park bike racks and an AED machine at the pickleball fields.
On Tuesday, the Parks Commission endorsed Pittsfield’s applications for CPA funds.
"Both of those projects are certainly, relative to CPA funds, low cost but high benefit," Commissioner Anthony DeMartino said.
Through CPA, bike racks are proposed for a few city parks, and the Berkshire Mountain Pickleball league is looking to place an automatic external defibrillator at the Benedict Avenue pickleball fields.
Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath and Recreation & Special Events Coordinator Jennifer VanBramer presented the two small project applications, which will go through an eligibility period before full consideration in the spring of 2027.
During the city’s free, six-week, summer playground program, it was observed that many kids access parks by bicycle. The plan is to buy between six and eight racks to be placed at Durant Park, the Common, and Clapp Park; other parks are being considered as well.
McGrath explained that the three parks hosting the playground program don’t have bike racks, and they wind up on the ground and sometimes become a distraction.
"The ancillary benefit to having bike racks is that it encourages that mode of transportation for folks that want to come to the park on their bike," he said.
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