No Contested Town Races Shaping Up in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With two weeks left to gather signatures on nomination papers, there are no contested elections shaping up for the May 12 town election.
 
And there is one post for which no one has expressed an interest in serving.
 
Two current members of the Select Board have pulled nomination papers to run for seats on the body, the town clerk reported on Tuesday morning.
 
Stephanie Boyd, who is concluding her first three-year term on the five-person body, has taken out nomination papers.
 
Shana Dixon, who was elected last May to fill the final year of an unexpired term, is running for a full three-year term.
 
The board currently has four members after it chose not to appoint a replacement for Jeffrey Johnson last year. The final year of his unexpired term will be determined by voters this spring. So far, the only resident to pull papers for that post is Nate Budington, who serves on the Historical Commission and is that body's representative on the Community Preservation Committee.
 
None of the three potential candidates for the Select Board have returned papers with the required 30 signatures to get a spot on the May ballot.
 
One resident, Michael Sussman, has returned papers with signatures for one of three open seats on Milne Public Library Board of Trustees. Martin Mitsoff also has taken out papers, giving two potential candidates for the three seats.
 
Finally, the incumbent up for re-election on the Planning Board, Roger Lawrence, has taken out papers but has not returned them as of Tuesday morning.
 
Nomination papers are available from the town clerk's office at Town Hall. Papers with the required 30 signatures of town residents are due on Tuesday, March 24, at 5 p.m.
 
The deadline to register to vote in the town election is May 1 at 5 p.m.

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North County Biosolid Waste Costs Jumping Up in Fiscal Year 2027

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Sewage disposal fees for North Adams, Clarksburg and Williamstown residents are set to rise 17 percent in fiscal year 2027 because of the cost of compost disposal incurred by the Hoosac Water Quality District.
 
HWQD Chief Operator Bradley Furlon last week told the Williamstown Finance Committee that the district needs to add $260,000 to its FY27 budget for compost disposal.
 
It may be the leading edge of a cost increase that Furlon foretold in his presentation to the Fin Comm three years ago.
 
Driving the hike is the presence of polyfluoroalkyl substances, the co-called "forever chemicals" that have been linked to cancer, in human biowaste.
 
For more than four decades, the HWQD's Williamstown facility has produced compost from the sludge it removes from influent from the district's three member municipalities. For most of that time, it was able to sell the compost and generate a modest income.
 
Now, the district needs to pay haulers to take the compost off site.
 
"All of our compost is going to Ontario [N.Y.] to a municipal landfill," Furlon told the committee. "It's daily cover."
 
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