CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town is applying with New Ashford for $1.1 million that would allow for 14 homes to be rehabilitated. 

 

Brett Roberts, a senior planner with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, updated the Select Board on Monday about the application for the federal Community Development Block Grant. 

 

"The home rehab program has been going on in Berkshire County for around 15 years," he said. "We do all sorts of housing rehab trying to bring homes up to code. And so we do new roofs, new septic, new wells, lots of new windows, basically anything that a homeowner might need to bring their home up to code."

 

He estimated that there would be about $70,000 available per home to cover 10 homes in Clarksburg and four in New Ashford.

 

The loans would mean a 15-year lien on the property, which would depreciate each year until it falls off. Anyone selling the property before the 15-year term would have to repay the balance at that time. 

 

"This is a really important way to keep low- to moderate-income households in their homes and to stay in community that they love," he said.

 

The board also reviewed budget issues with the Finance Committee. The town budget draft is just under $1.9 million, up about 2.3-2.4 percent. 

 

Officials explained how the assessor's clerk and town clerk posts will be combined, while the assessor will be reduced to one day a week. 

 

The budget also includes an 11 percent increase for the treasurer/tax collector. Treasurer Kelly Haskins provided the boards with a salary comparison to Hinsdale, which is closest in population and also has a base of 32 hours. 

 

It does not include, she noted, "all the other things that I do for the town, where I'm billing out and collecting for four other towns and managing the school's finances on top of all of that. ... 

 

"If you look at that salary sheet, you'll be able to see and compare my salary is below the amount that most are being paid in our surrounding towns." 

 

Town Administrator Ronald Boucher has raised the issue of the town treasurer's work for the Northern Berkshire School Union, believing that the town should recompensed for work done by the treasurer and accountant.  

 

Committee members and Boucher felt she'd done enough in bringing in back taxes and "stabilizing" the finances to cover the added salary. 

 

Boucher also added back in $27,000 for an audit, "only because our books have been very inconsistent over years."

 

Chair Daniel Haskins agreed, "we want to make sure ... all our accounts are audited and everything's up to date and verified."

 

The Finance Committee also questioned the increases to utilities at the school while town buildings are level funding; school officials have said they are projecting out based on trends they are seeing. Boucher said he would follow up on those lines. 

 

The town administrator said he wanted to get away from depending on free cash to offset the budget. 

 

"We kicked the can down the road for so many years, you know, it's just a formula for disaster," he said. "There's got to be, somewhere along the line, adjustments that have to be made. Where they come from, I don't know, but they have to be made."

 

The town's bare bones and the biggest percentage increase on the school side is insurance, he said, adding he would be meeting with school officials to try to figure something out. 

 

In other business, the board is leery of Berkshire Family YMCA using the town field for its two-month summer camp. The day camp would run from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with at least one field trip per week. 

 

Select Board members were concerned about pickup and drop-off, the lack of potable water and bathrooms, security, and use of the field by town residents. 

 

A representative from the YMCA said the organization had used Windsor Lake last year but another camp is using the North Adams recreation area this year. 

 

"I'm sure you guys are well aware of most of the stuff, but down there, at that town field, there is no escape from the sun down there, and, you know, just that pavilion and no running water," said board member Seth Alexander. "Clarksburg residents use that field, they know. I mean, you're kind of really open down there. There's not a lot of places to go."

 

Member Colton Andrews asked if the YMCA had looked at other parks; the representative said the other option had been the Greylock Club in North Adams but with the construction underway at the new Greylock School, it did not seem feasible. 

 

Andrews recommended they speak with Clarksburg State Park, and do a site visit at the field to understand its limitations. 

 

• The board set the town election for Tuesday, May 12, from noon to 7 p.m. There are no races: candidates running for re-election for three-year terms are Daniel Haskins for Select Board, Joseph Bushika III for War Memorial trustee, and Sarah Hurlbut for library trustee, and newcomer Daniel Tanner for five years on the Planning Board. 

 

No one stepped forward to run for three-year terms on the School Committee or Board of Health. 

 

• The board also agreed on annual stipends of $2,000 for the electrical inspector and $3,000 for the plumbing inspector, with the request to separate health from plumbing and gas inspections. One person currently does all three inspections. Animal control is budgeted at $2,000.  

 

Boucher reported that Ostermann Propane will be installing gas tanks for the new Town Hall generator, which expected next week.