Great Barrington – Deborah Phillips, a two-term member of the Selectboard and currently its chair, has confirmed that she will not seek a third 3-year term when her term expires in May.
“If I didn’t have to earn a living, I’d continue,” she said. “I’m working 40 hours and more in my own business, and I can’t keep up with the increasing work and at the same time help run the town.”
At the same time, however, her husband, Bill Cooke, now retired from running his own magazine consulting firm, has announced his intention to run for her seat on the board.
“I’ve lived here for 25 years, and I’d like to take part,” he said. “I love this community, and I’ve wanted to give something back to the town. The deciding fact is now I have the time. Plus, through Deb, I’m pretty much up to date on what’s going on around town.”
Cooke has two grown children, Clare and Michael, and two stepchildren, Jess and Gordon. All his children, he said, grew up and attended schools in Great Barrington.
Among his priorities, he said, is “maintaining the character of the town without going broke.”
He explained: “We have to find a way to make it possible — and attractive — for families with children – young families – to come into town and settle here. That’s my first priority. As a retirement community, Great Barrington is not sustainable. But for a new generation to live here, we have to have housing that’s affordable and more rental properties.”
And as a way of encouraging young families and new businesses to set up shop in Great Barrington, the town needs to support and maintain its school system, he pointed out. But he acknowledges that it won’t be easy in the current political climate, after town voters twice torpedoed proposals to renovate the 47-year-old high school, leaving behind an unusually embittered and polarized electorate.
“My second priority is working with the School Committee,” he said. “We need to find something palatable to the voters in Great Barrington for an upgrade to Monument Mountain Regional High School. We need to get that fixed.”
On the other hand, he is encouraged – and endorses – the current Selectboard’s initiatives in approving the installation of a solar array in Housatonic that will save thousands of dollars in the cost of electricity for both the regional school district and the town.
“We also need the new broadband Wired West network that will bring high speed Internet connectivity to Great Barrington,” he said. “That will support light industry and new businesses. Above all, though, I’m going to listen to what people want for their town, and make that happen.”
For her part, Phillips said that she’s not removing herself from her commitment to the town and its future.
“I will still be involved, and I won’t be silent,” she said. “I care.”
She added: “We have a forward thinking group on the Selectboard. This town has such potential.”
But of the local political landscape she also cautioned that “it does feel fractured out there – and it’s scary.”
