Community Dialogue set for April 22
Great Barrington—The town will hold a community meeting at Berkshire South Regional Community Center on Crissey Road, Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. for a dialogue “to move us towards collaboration,” said Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin, “after what went on with the schools…and a lot of divisiveness.”
Facilitator Rosa Zubizarreta from DiaPraxis will be present to help move the discussion along. DiaPraxis specializes in “creative collaboration,” and “will to help leaders and groups work productively with conflicting perspectives,” according to Zubizarreta’s website.
The idea, Tabakin said, is to use the town’s Master Plan, which took three years to create, as a guide to “work our way forward” through important town issues. Tabakin said she intends to hold more of these community dialogues depending on how many people show interest and attend.
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Mini Town Meeting
A mini Town Meeting is on the calendar for Wednesday, April 29 at 6 p.m. at the Fire Station on State Road. Tabakin said that the purpose of the event is to “help people understand what is on the warrant.” Questions are welcomed and town officials will be there to answer them.
“It’s a dress rehearsal for Town Meeting,” she added.
The real Annual Town Meeting is at 6 p.m. on May 4 at Monument Mountain Regional High School.
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Housatonic School update
The Selectboard voted unanimously to give Tabakin permission to hire two attorneys with expertise in municipalities and economic development to work with her on the now-mothballed Housatonic School, which the town is trying to sell, and for which it will soon put out a Request for Proposal (RFP).
Attorney Jeremia Pollard, Tabakin said, has experience with municipalities; Richard Bennett’s experience lies in community and economic development, and he will preside over procurement, Tabakin added. Both are with the firm Hannon Lerner in Pittsfield.
Tabakin said the town will pay both attorneys “the standard rate, with not a not-to-exceed amount of $5,000.”
The Board also voted to give Tabakin permission to hire historical consultant Noreen Roberts, who, Tabakin said, has experience studying buildings specifically in order to complete a special form required to apply for state historic tax credits. Any payments to Roberts are not to exceed $2,000.
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Pilot BRTA to help Barrington/Pittsfield workers commute
Beginning April 13, the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority initiated an additional fixed route bus service for South County, and an additional express route with limited stops between Great Barrington and Pittsfield, mirroring the established 6:10 a.m. service.
The new service is a proposed 6-month trial service, ending October 13, 2015, and is meant to coordinate bus service hours with employment needs.
The new start time from the Intermodal Transit Center (ITC) in Pittsfield will be at 7:10 a.m. arriving at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds Plaza at 7:50 a.m. Another bus will leave the post office in Ashley Falls at 7:25 a.m., traveling through Sheffield, to arrive at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds Plaza at 7:53 a.m. This allows further travel north bound on the Great Barrington Express to Pittsfield.
In the evening, there will be express service between Pittsfield and Great Barrington, leaving the ITC in Pittsfield at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The 5:30 p.m. bus will leave the Great Barrington Fairgrounds Plaza at 6:15 p.m., and travel through Sheffield to the Ashley Falls Post Office to arrive at 6:43 p.m. At 6:55 p.m., the bus departs the Great Barrington Fairgrounds Plaza, and arrives at the ITC in Pittsfield at 7:55 p.m.
As this new service is meant to be express service between South County and Pittsfield, the traditional flag stop option will not be available.
Specific schedule or route information may be obtained by contacting the operations department at 1-800-292-BRTA extension 1 or go to https://www.berkshirerta.com
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Sewer rate study
The town hired David Prickett Consulting out of Longmeadow to do the first phase of the Wastewater Treatment Plant rate study, now underway, to determine “the rates and financial issues, and to understand how our operation works,” according to Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin.
Prickett is being paid $3,230 for his services, and was the most economical choice, Tabakin added.
“What we began with is looking at the assessors data…and sewer billing data to identify the properties that are currently billed for sewer, and updating the building codes to current standards,” she said. The first phase will also determine which properties are either on sewer or water, or both, she added.
Town officials have met with both town water companies, the Fire District and Housatonic Waterworks, to determine whether sharing data would work. Tabakin also said that the town is also looking at what is most efficient from a billing and administrative perspective, as well, and that this would be considered before the question of “how to implement and how to deal with the rates themselves.”
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A request for Sunday hours at Ramsdell Library
Library Board of Trustees President Holly Hamer has asked the Selectboard if it would consider Sunday hours for the Ramsdell Library in Housatonic. Hamer noted that Sunday hours are the “busiest days for libraries across the country which have those hours.” She said some addition Sunday hours, which would be tailored to deal with parking issues from the church on either side, would help to “carry out our library mission.”
“We have a lot of supporters for this,” Hamer said. The library held one open Sunday recently, to gauge support. “Nothing has gotten the same kind of public support as the one Sunday we were open.”
Hammer added that an employee was leaving in the fall, and that may ease hiring concerns. “We could do it with one or two staff people — it would be very economical.”
Though the funds for a Sunday worker would be paid by “non-taxpayer dollars,” Hammer said, responses from selectboard members indicated that it isn’t so simple.
“We have a labor union with library workers,” Tabakin said, and went on to say that the town is committed to its legal obligation for collective bargaining. “We can discuss things in a theoretical way but before any serious policy decisions are made we sit down and talk to the union.”
Selectboard Chair Deborah Phillips asked whether the Board wanted to direct Tabakin to open negotiations with the union over Sunday hours. Selectboard member Sean Stanton wanted to “start the conversation,” noting that “unions have great things about them and they have not so great things…” and he suggested that perhaps the Trustees raise the money.
Selectboard member Stephen Bannon pointed out that the library staff can’t take donations for salary because of union rules. Also, Bannon said, “this is important but I think it will take time away from other projects [like] the Housatonic school…” He wanted to wait until the fall to address it.
Selectboard member Dan Bailly noted that the Selectboard will have at least one new member come May, and that could shift any later decision-making. Selectboard member Ed Abrahams made a motion to push the decision to May, and Bannon was the only Board member to vote against.
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Special permit for new restaurant complex
It was smooth sailing in the special permit department for developer Paul Joffe, who is restoring the former Methodist church at 198 Main St., installing an 80-seat restaurant, outside café kiosk, retail space, professional offices and an apartment. He will also construct public restrooms to be fully maintained by his company.
Joffe required the special permit for the restaurant only — he needs it to “deviate from the required 25 parking spaces,” said his attorney, Edward McCormick. The Planning Board agreed to it, and it received a favorable recommendation from all other boards and committees, McCormick added.
The former church is next to Prairie Whale, the dynamic farm-to-table 88-seat restaurant. There was some concern about how customers would manage with the limited parking in the area, or park in the others’ lot, but Bettina Schwarz, who with husband Mark Firth, owns Prairie Whale, said she was “very enthusiastic” about the project.
McCormick said the two restaurant owners will cooperate. “Signage will help,” he said. “People who are reasonable work those things out. We have two reasonable owners here.”
Sean Stanton agreed, but was concerned about disagreements down the line over parking. He wondered “if there’s anything we can do now to prevent [legal] problems.”
McCormick said there was nothing to be done “short of having a police officer out there to see what restaurant you’re going to.”
