Great Barrington — In a special meeting held on Wednesday, July 20, the Select Board discussed its priorities on town issues.
During the meeting, the board worked from a spreadsheet of identified town priorities originally compiled in January.
As of the July 20 meeting, there are 14 items listed as being high priorities, with the top priority listed as Housatonic Water Works.
“As you recall, we moved that to the top of the list at the conclusion of our Jan. 31 meeting,” Town Manager Mark Pruhenski told the board. “While I wish I had something more significant to share, the comment section [in the spreadsheet] pretty much says it all.”
In the comment sections of the spreadsheet, it lists that the board has held several strategy sessions with the town attorney and is considering several options.
Previously, the board discussed the company in an executive session on Monday, July 11.
However, the town has not announced any actions regarding the long-troubled company that serves 824 customers and roughly 1,400 users in the village of Housatonic in Great Barrington.
Issues with the company have gone back for several years with customer complaints mostly about chronically discolored water, deferred maintenance, and pressure in the company’s fire hydrants insufficient to fight a large fire in the village.
The second priority listed on the spreadsheet is affordable housing, and Assistant Town Manager Chris Rembold said the Planning Board is investigating several strategies.
“We’ll revisit those strategies this summer and fall, not just regulatory and zoning, but also financial incentives and the organizational capacity of the town, and working with our partners,” Rembold said. “The Planning Board is very aware that both the Select Board and the Affordable Housing Trust are also engaged in this issue. As the board knows, we’ve dedicated a lot of the federal ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funds to this effort.”
Rembold said that it is possible to work with a for-profit company or nonprofit company to create affordable housing.
However, specifics for going forward with any affordable housing plans for the town were not discussed by the board at the July 20 meeting.
The third priority listed on the spreadsheet is a study on the town’s ambulance service.
However, Town Manager Pruhenski told the board “we seem to be headed in a positive direction” with the Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad.
“They have a new director in place, and they have been actively recruiting new EMTs and medics,” Pruhenski said. “[Fire Department Chief Charles Burger] continues to represent the town on their board of directors.”
In April, the board approved $136,000 in ARPA funds to replace an ambulance for the squad.
The fourth priority listed on the spreadsheet is redevelopment ideas for the Cook’s Garage property. Back in 2018, the town took the property on Park Street due to owed back taxes. Ever since then, redevelopment ideas have come and gone but no action has been taken.
A Brownfields assessment was completed by the town in August 2021.
“At this point, I think the town should develop a list of revitalization goals for that site, and then determine exactly how to dispose of it, probably through a [Request for Proposals] process similar to the Housatonic School,” Rembold said.
Select Board Chairman Stephen Bannon said that the Housatonic Improvement Committee would be involved with the redevelopment process of the property.
During the special meeting, the board discussed items that were no longer considered to be a high priority, including dealing with the COVID pandemic.
“COVID cases seem relatively low at the moment here in Great Barrington,” Town Manager Pruhenski said. “Our [COVID] task force meetings, which were taking place on Tuesday mornings, are on hold at the moment. However, we do continue to share information as needed with each other. I hate to suggest this because I’ve made this mistake once before, but I’m thinking this could be moved out of the high priority category now. Mostly because it is not consuming the amount of staff time it did back in January when we last discussed this.”
See video recording of the July 20 special meeting below, courtesy of Managing Editor Shaw Israel Izikson.
