Great Barrington — The Select Board held a short 15-minute meeting on Monday, September 12. At the meeting, Town Administrator Mark Pruhenksi gave a brief update on the Housatonic Water Works situation.
Residents in the Housatonic section of Great Barrington continue to deal with various water quality problems. “To no surprise to anyone, this continues to be a challenging time for Housatonic residents,” Pruhenski said. “We are being copied on several requests to MassDEP [Department of Environmental Protection] for site-specific water protection.”
The Select board met in an executive session on August 22 to discuss the situation. “We will be releasing a public statement shortly and we are working on drafting that now,” Pruhenski said.
Pruhenski did not state what aspect of the situation the statement would address. He did add that, in late August, the town allowed merchants in Housatonic to sell single-use plastic water bottles.
Back in November 2019, the town banned the sale of single-use plastic water bottles. “I just want to clarify that the lifting of this ban is only for the five merchants within Housatonic,” Pruhenski said. “It’s a small gesture and I realize that. But it’s a gesture that we hope will help while we work on other ways to provide some relief to residents.”
Select Board Vice Chairman Leigh Davis asked Pruhenski about the possibility of bringing in water trucks for some relief to Housatonic residents. “What would have to happen for the town to consider this, because I think there’s some confusion on what that would entail,” Davis said.
“I think we should continue to talk about that in our next executive session,” Pruhenski said. “I think identifying funding would be the first step.”
Related to the situation, Select Board Vice Chairman Davis and Select Board member Eric Gabriel expressed gratitude to the residents who took part in the protest against the company on Saturday, September 3.
In other business: the Select Board approved various event permits for events.
The board unanimously approved a permit for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to hold a country music concert at the Town Hall Gazebo on Monday, October 10.
The board also approved a one-day beer and wine license to the town’s Library Trustees for a welcome party event for new Libraries Director Samara Klein, which is scheduled for Friday, October 7. Select Board member Edward Abrahams recused himself from the vote because he is affiliated with the Friends of the Great Barrington Libraries organization that is sponsoring the event.
Later on in the meeting, the Select Board approved a request from organizers of the Josh Billings RunAground triathlon to use town roads for the event. The 46th annual event is scheduled to be held this weekend.
Select Board member Garfield Reed was not present at the Monday, September 12 meeting.
