WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town Monday signed on to a North County initiative to address and combat opioid addiction in the region.

 

On a 5-0 vote, the Select Board OK'd Williamstown's entry into an intermunicipal agreement with North Adams, six other North County towns and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to form the North Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative.

 

The collaborative is an outgrowth of the North Berkshire County Heal Coalition established in 2022.

 

The new collaborative will pool the municipalities' share of a multibillion opioid settlement paid by drugmakers and distributors to foster programs to address addiction and recovery and fund a full-time "community coordinator."

 

"[The coordinator]  would be tasked to kind of corral all of the various agencies and individuals that are involved with doing everything and anything we can to not only reduce overdoses but other substance use-related harms," BRPC senior planner Andy Ottoson told the Select Board on Monday night. "Really focusing on the whole life cycle that includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Also looking at the other social dimensions of health that influence people's care, especially focusing on stigma, especially focusing on housing, especially focusing on employment pathways — everything and anything it takes."

 

The collaborative has a five-year partnership with BRPC and Berkshire Health Systems.

 

The intermunicipal agreement the Select Board agreed to on Monday runs until the settlement funds run out or a majority of municipal representatives on the coalition's advisory board votes to terminate the agreement.

 

Each municipality will have two representatives on an advisory board, which will meet twice a year to review and approve its budget and discuss goals. The representatives will be appointed by either the Select Board or, in the case of North Adams, the mayor and City Council, according to the agreement.

 

That budget is expected to range from $180,500 to $218,700 over the coalition's projected five-year lifespan, according to a draft budget presented on Monday. It adds up to just more than $1 million, equalling the eight municipalities' share of the settlement money; Williamstown's share is just more than $160,000, and North Adams has the largest share, $702,000.

 

The other towns in the planned collaborative are Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, New Ashford and Savoy.

 

About a third of the projected budget is dedicated to the coordinator position, which is budgeted between $68,419 and $77,006 over the five years. About an equal amount of the draft budget is dedicated to community events, conferences, communications, resource guide development and outreach as directed by the Advisory Board.

 

Just less than $91,000 in the five-year draft budget is dedicated to "grant writing support."

 

"The purpose of that is to make sure we sustain [the coordinator] position beyond five years," Ottoson said. "Especially in years three and four, we're looking to bring grant writing support for this person."

 

About half of the Select Board's time on Monday was devoted to a joint meeting with the town's Finance Committee.

 

But there was other business conducted after the Fin Comm members departed.

 

• An attorney representing the Sweet Farm Road Homeowners Association gave the town formal notification that the residents will ask annual town meeting in May to accept the development's road as a public road with the associated infrastructure (water and sewer line) underneath. Steve Pagnotta told the board that Monday's notification starts the clock on a 45-day period for the town to hold a public hearing on the request, which goes to town meeting.

 

• The Select Board agreed unanimously on a different intermunicipal agreement, extending the existing arrangement under which Town Planner Andrew Groff provides planning and land use services part-time for the Town of Lanesborough.

 

• Town Manager Robert Menicocci reported that all but one of the town's home-rule petitions passed the state Legislature before the session ended on Dec. 24, including the town charter amendments approved by last May's annual town meeting. The one petition that did not pass concerned targeted property tax relief for senior residents. Menicocci said he did not think there were any substantive objections from legislators remaining but that the bill basically, "ran out of time." He said the petition already has been refiled for the current session on Beacon Hill.

 

• The Select Board voted, 5-0, to sign a letter supporting the Northern Tier Passenger Rail Project.

 

• And the board reviewed a calendar for town elections and town meeting. Nomination papers for the Tuesday, May 13, election will be available on Monday, Feb. 3, in the town clerk's office. The deadline for submitting nomination papers with the required number of signatures is Tuesday, March 25.

 

There are 11 local elected positions on the annual town election ballot: three seats on the Select Board (two full three-year terms and the remaining year on the seat won by Andrew Hogeland two years ago); a three-year term as town moderator; four three-year terms on the Milne Library Board of Trustees; one five-year term on the Housing Authority; one three-year term on the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District (McCann Tech) School Committee; and one five-year term on the Planning Board.

 

Monday, March 24, is the deadline for submitting citizens petition warrant articles for the town meeting. The Select Board will finalize the warrant at its Monday, April 7, meeting, and the meeting will be held at Mount Greylock Regional School on Thursday, May 22.