Lanesborough Public Safety Committee Plans Informational Outreach
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Planners of the public safety building proposal continue to grapple with how to achieve an affirmative vote from taxpayers.
In the next couple of weeks, they will work to create a frequently asked questions fact sheet and pitch the $7.3 million project to legislators. Earlier this year, the Select Board voted to advance a combined police/emergency medical services facility, discarding the option for a $6.5 million separate build.
The same design, then priced at $5.9 million, was shot down in 2023.
On Tuesday, members of the Public Safety Complex Information and Outreach Committee discussed how other Berkshire towns have been able to pass public safety proposals and wondered how Lanesborough could follow suit.
Emergency Medical Services Director Jen Weber said proposals in other towns were approved after consistent information sharing and support from the community. Her department has been asked to leave the fire station at 180 South Main St., which is owned by the Fire Association, because of insufficient space.
"Overwhelmingly, what we get back for feedback is that there's almost an FAQ page that was passed out to the important people in the town, to the Select Board, to the town manager, to the police chief, to the ambulance director, to the fire chief, to the committee, and everyone answered the questions the same," she said.
"It is just overall and passionately supported, and there was no kickback from those people. There was only overwhelmingly positive support, and that is what got Lenox, that public safety building with zero 'no' votes, because they passionately all said the same thing, and they were positive, and they were supporting the project."
Committee members cited negativity over social media and beyond and stressed the importance of getting the facts out in an easy-to-understand format. They voted to remove "confusing" documents from the town website, such as a calculator that says "enter your home value to see maximum annual additional cost" and gives home values ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.
With a $6.3 million loan or bond amount, the operating budget's annual repayment would be $370,000, and the additional annual cost would range from $156.25 to $312.50.
Town Administrator Gina Dario said resistance to big capital projects like this is not unique to Lanesborough, "It's just that the other towns have done something to get it over the line."
"They are pounding pavement. They're getting call lists. They're kind of rallying their neighbors and saying, 'Look, you call these 10 people. You call these 10 people. You call these 10 people,'" she said.
"It's gritty but anecdotally that is what I understand is getting people over the line at that moment, because you're trying to outweigh that minority that tend to be very vocal, very perhaps more anti."
At the beginning of the meeting, committee member Preston Repenning suggested that they combine the special town meeting with a fun musical event, explaining, "This is either play to win or have it go by the wayside."
Dario pointed out that, if approved at the special town meeting, the public safety proposal would go to a subsequent ballot. The planners agreed to look into the legal and practical constraints around the idea.
Funding is the obvious barrier for town voters. Chair Mark Seigers said if they could get another $2.5 million, "We wouldn't be doing all this." The committee agreed that conversations must be had with state Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. John Barrett III about possible state and federal funding.
"The process here is either we find new money, additional money, or we convince a bunch of people without the resources, to do it the way we professionally do it, that it's in their best interest to support the project," he said.
"And my experience in Lanesborough is that it tends to be a lack of community vision. It tends to be a focus on what my tax bill is, rather than what you're getting from it."
Tags: public safety buildings,
