To the editor:
Tuesday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m., the voters of Egremont are asked to consider three articles as part of a special town meeting prior to the annual town meeting.
One of the three articles is a request to transfer the general bylaws, word for word, from their current format into a new setup of titles and numbers.
In their current alignment, some of the general bylaws have titles, some only a Roman numeral; some have both. Some of the bylaws deal with one subject, some with more than one, which probably should have their own titles. Some are long, some are short. All of them are difficult to locate quickly and efficiently.
This project was led by George McGurn on behalf of the board of selectmen because the general bylaws needed some housekeeping to make individual bylaws easier to find and apply. It would also organize them in a manner similar to the zoning bylaws.
The general bylaws are important as a guide to the basic dos and don’ts and the hows and whys of setting up life, home and business in Egremont. The reason for having these bylaws looked at was to check if they were ready for our changing world.
For sure, over time, there will be additions and changes, but before any changes can occur, the existing general bylaws need a little organization.
A team of volunteers, some of whom are involved in town committees and some who were not, quickly concluded that the general bylaws needed to be a little better organized for the future.
Some small teams of the volunteers worked informally—often at their homes; once or twice at one of Egremont’s excellent restaurants; sometimes over early evening cocktails, which they thought actually made the bylaws easier to understand. But I digress.
The volunteer groups studied different formats used in other towns of the same size and some towns slightly larger. The goal was simple: Without changing any words, give Egremont’s general bylaws the benefit of a modern format.
Using everyday software, the words were transferred to a new format with titles and a number system similar to the zoning bylaws. This way, if, in the future, a change is needed or something new is added, there will be a clear format to place them in.
So remember, on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 the town of Egremont will have two meetings. The format update—housekeeping, if you like to call it that—of the general bylaws will be on the warrant to be considered at 6:30 p.m. at a special town meeting at Mount Everett Regional School to precede the annual town meeting. Voting citizens of Egremont should attend.
Please help with this housekeeping chore. It’s not very exciting; in fact, it’s downright boring, but it’s still important and the volunteer team would appreciate the town’s voters deciding the matter.
Thanks for doing your civic duty!
T. R. Berkel
Egremont
