Great Barrington — After winning in the annual elections, Selectboard member Benjamin Elliott took his seat during a special Selectboard meeting on Wednesday, May 10. Elliott, a first-time candidate for municipal office, beat Sharon Gregory for the seat by a total of 578 to 364.
“It’s an honor to be a member of the board,” Elliott said at the meeting. “I want to thank everyone involved, and I’m looking forward to getting to work and working with all of you, and all the dedicated and talented members of the staff.”
Elliott, who has been elected to a three-year term, takes the place of Ed Abrahams who decided not to run for another term. “I want to thank Ed Abrams for his nine years of community service to our town,” Selectboard member Eric Gabriel said towards the beginning of the meeting. “I would also like to welcome Ben Elliot to our team. I do consider the Selectboard a team, and I’m excited for this next year of work we have in front of the five of us. I know we won’t always agree on every topic, but I’m confident that we will negotiate and compromise our way to the right outcome for our community.”
At the beginning of the special meeting, both Chair Stephen Bannon and Vice-Chair Leigh Davis were unanimously reelected by members of the Selectboard. “I look forward to this year,” Bannon said after being re-elected. “It’s going to be a good year for us.”
In other business: Town Manager Mark Pruhenski announced that the town’s Police Department has established an “opt-out” program for residents who do not want solicitors visiting their properties. “It’s a common practice for legitimate door-to-door canvassers to stop by the Police Department before they start going door to door,” Pruhenski said. “The canvassers do this to let the department know that they’re in the community and they intend to make sales calls. After a recent round of door-to-door sales calls by a solar company, Chief [Paul Storti] is proposing this program.”
Residents who do not want solicitors to visit their property can email optout@townofgb.org to get onto the list. When a solicitor visits town, they will be notified not to visit properties on the list.
Town Manager Pruhenski said that Housatonic Water Works will be flushing out its hydrants from Monday, May 15 to Tuesday, May 23. According to a note from HWW that has been posted on the town’s website, during the flushing, there will be potential changes to both water pressure and color.
Potential policy on the disposal of historical artifacts
The Selectboard briefly discussed, but did not reach a decision, on a town policy regarding historical artifacts. Chairman of the town’s Historical Commission Malcolm Fick discussed the potential policy with the Selectboard. Fick said that he is proposing that the Selectboard create a policy in light of a written statement by Gary Leveille which was reviewed at the commission’s March meeting.
(Leveille is the volunteer archivist of the town’s Historical Society and writes a biweekly column for The Berkshire Edge.)
In his letter, Leveille states his concerns about the Mason Library’s recent decision to turn over a collection of indigenous stone artifacts to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. Leveille wrote that the collection includes projectile points, stone tools, pottery shards, and possible spiritual effigies. “When Charles Taylor wrote his History of Great Barrington in the 1880s, it was first serialized in the Berkshire Courier newspaper,” Leveille wrote in his letter. “As word got out about his research, local farmers and property owners brought him Native American stone artifacts they had found on their property over the years. He amassed a collection, and at some point, it ended up at the library.”
Leveille wrote that the collection was on display for decades in the lower level of the Mason Library. He explained, however, that the collection was put into storage to prepare for a library building expansion. “Several years ago, I was involved in a collaborative effort between the Historical Society, the Historical Commission, and the Director of the Great Barrington Libraries to launch a major exhibit of the artifacts at the Historical Society Museum and Research Center,” Leveille wrote. “The plan was to set up a display, catalog it, and create a photo book to sell as a fundraiser for the library. The Library Director at the time, Amanda DeGiorgis, got approval for this exhibit from the Library Trustees.”
He wrote that those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic and due to DeGiorgis resigning. “Much to my surprise, recently, newspaper articles stated that the new Library Director Samara Klein and the Library Trustees plan to turn over the collection to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians,” Leveille wrote. “According to one newspaper article, this was approved by the Great Barrington Selectboard. Klein noted that this was ‘to comply with the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).’ In my opinion, it is arguable that some of the artifacts may not apply to NAGPRA. Several years ago, several residents of Stockbridge discovered material, including early town documents, they felt should be turned over to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. They followed a procedure that included the approval of the Selectboard, a special town meeting, and the approval of the state legislature. I do not know where this policy originated. I once read a town document that describes the duties of the Historical Commission. Among the responsibilities is to serve as advisors to the Selectboard.”
Leveille wrote, “I strongly believe that the Historical Commission should have been consulted in this matter and been part of the discussion with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community,” even if he did not necessarily disagree with the library and Selectboard’s ultimate decision to return the artifacts. “In my opinion, part of the reason the Historical Commission was created was to serve such a purpose,” Leveille wrote. “I think that the Selectboard, town boards, commissions, and town employees need to be reminded that they should consult with us when matters of historical importance arise.”
In response, Chair Bannon asked Fick for the Historical Commission to create a potential policy and come back to the Selectboard with it. “If we write a policy, you may look at it and say, ‘Well, you missed a couple of things,’” Bannon said. “You are the experts. Just tell us what you think should be in a policy. We’ll put it on an agenda and discuss it.”
