Lee — With a full dais, the Select Board unanimously approved that board Chair Gordon Bailey execute a letter to State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D – 3rd Berkshire District) on September 3 supporting a grant for emergency medical services research.
The issue has been in the headlines recently as Commonwealth municipalities have found themselves short on emergency-services providers, with those providers having historically been volunteers. Pignatelli recently formed a working committee comprised of representatives from his district’s towns and other professionals in the medical-services industry to offer solutions to the problem before communities find themselves without such essential providers.
Lee’s letter refers to a Community Compact Best Practices grant that will be used to fund a study by The Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management focusing on the regionalization of emergency medical services in southern Berkshire County, with Great Barrington officials serving as the project’s administrator.
“We also understand that the grant will not require a financial match from the town,” Bailey read from the letter.
As part of the project, which is the product of the Healey-Driscoll administration, a municipality agrees to implement a “best practice” chosen from a variety of local improvement options.
By committing its support, Lee’s Select Board agreed to appoint a representative to the group’s task force to participate in its monthly meetings; provide responses to surveys and data requests; and engage with Collins staff, including allowing site assessments.
Although the deadline for the statement was August 16, Select Board member Sean Regnier said grant administrators are still accepting letters of support.
Town Administrator Christopher Brittain commented that “practically every town with existing facilities is signing on to this” project. “It may end up that Lee or another town could offer services to other towns as well,” he said of Lee’s ambulance service.
The Select Board also unanimously adopted a standard for utility cuts, requiring the actor post a bond of $200 to $1,000 for a cut on a local road, with that fee dependent on how much of the road is crossed as determined by Lee’s superintendent of Public Works. Calling the agenda item “timely,” Bailey said the issue emerged years ago when the town’s Department of Public Works adopted a standard for entities seeking a permit to cut into local streets, including the type of fill required and method of cut. The last standard was adopted in 2016, and Brittain proposed the Select Board adopt a new standard to be included in the permit, with that standard mimicking the requirements used by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) for entities seeking to cut into a state highway. The question posed to the Select Board was whether a concrete-cutting requestor should post a bond to the town before acting. The requirement would ensure compliance with local standards so that, should the work not be performed properly, the funds would not go back to the permit holder but would be used to cover the costs to repair the project, Brittain said.
“It’s a great cut sheet, and MassDOT uses it if you cut into a state highway,” Bailey said of the parallel standard.
Regnier questioned how the bond fee would be determined, with Brittain responding that the town currently charges a flat fee of $200 for curb cuts, no matter the size, and suggested the fee not be greater than $1,000. The determination as to whether the cut is performed correctly falls to Lee’s superintendent of Public Works.
The group also signed a letter directed to the editor of The Berkshire Edge, responding to a recent opinion article by Peter J. Most, “Town of Lee is not in a position to be burning bridges.” Most’s article can be found here. The Lee Select Board response can be found here.
“I think it’s a very good letter and to the point,” said Select Board member Robert “Bob” Jones said. “I’m grateful that we refer to him as an ‘editorialist’ because I think the term ‘journalist’ is going too far. There are ethical standards that journalists have to adhere to, including full disclosure as to whether they have any political interest in the subject.”
According to Jones, Most donates money and is part of political campaigns, with that information not disclosed “as an editorialist.”
“Quite frankly, I just thought that the article was a bit silly and reckless,” Jones said, adding that he never heard from Most.
The piece centered around Lee’s response to a 2020 agreement between General Electric (GE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and five affected towns—Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Sheffield, and Stockbridge—to remediate the Housatonic River following GE’s depositing of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) created by Monsanto Corporation into the waterway. The agreement also specified that an upland disposal facility (UDF) would be built within Lee’s borders to house some of the excavated PCB-laden material dredged from the river. In March, the town of Lee filed a complaint alleging GE agreed with Monsanto that the latter would be indemnified by GE of liability from the sale of its PCBs.
Bailey said Most has erred in many of his articles, with his focus being to “cheerlead” the cleanup effort “that is certainly most damaging to our town.”
During his general report, Brittain said the EPA is set to receive GE’s revised Transportation Plan on October 15 after the agency sent the company back to the drawing board in June to consider rail more extensively as a mode of transporting the river materials to either the UDF or an out-of-the area facility. He added that GE’s revised Project Operations and Quality of Life plans are due in mid-November.
The next EPA Citizens Coordinating Council meeting is set for October 9, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School library, 197 East Street, Lenox. That notice can be found here. On October 10, from 6:30-8 p.m., the EPA is scheduled to provide a presentation on PCB volatilization at the Lee Middle and High School auditorium. That notice can be found here.
Additionally, work at the Woods Pond Dam in conjunction with the remediation project is expected soon, including the installation of equipment that will take water samples, Brittain said.
Additionally, the Select Board:
- Approved a one-day entertainment license for All Hallows Lee, a family-friendly celebration supporting local businesses and the community on October 19, from noon to 5 p.m., with an inclement weather date of October 26;
- Approved Bailey to sign closing documents for the purchase of 41 Railroad Street for $375,000, with the structure to be torn down to make way for the new public-safety complex;
- Approved Bailey to sign an assignment and assumption of leases on 1185 Pleasant Street, property already purchased by the town but allowing the existing leases to be in place until December 31, the ending date the lessee had with the previous owner;
- Approved a 30-day extension and fee waiver for a temporary sign permit for the Lee Chamber of Commerce, advertising the town’s Founder’s Day Weekend, September 20 to 22;
- Approved a Berkshire Gas Permit for 95 Mandalay Road;
- Approved a one-day alcohol license for the Lee Chamber of Commerce covering its Taste of Lee event on September 20;
- Approved a utility cut, tapping into water and sewer at 825 Fairview Street, pending confirmation by Lee’s Police Department and the Department of Public Works; and
- Appointed Frances Aquino, Abigail Noble, Christine Bile, Catherine Laird, Kerry McGinn, Ariel Hyatt, Meg Sanders, Bill Yehle, Nicole Webster Clark, Elaine Morel, and Martha Page to the Lee Cultural Council, with those members being either Lee residents or have businesses or other connections in town.
