Last year, the event was held outside at Monument Mountain's track. However, four hours into the event, a microburst storm hit the track, destroying the event area. This year, event organizer Ray Gardino told The Berkshire Edge they are not taking any chances and will hold the event indoors.
If the town meeting is not able to pass a budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, the town of Great Barrington, like hundreds of other small municipalities in the state with a town-meeting form of government, has a problem.
The Great Barrington Selectboard, Cutting Edge AV Inc. in Lee and Monument Mountain Regional High School staff are busy this week arranging for an outdoor sound system and an FM radio broadcast of the meeting, which voters can follow in their cars.
Town moderator Michael Wise said he thought it was important that the budget be passed by Tuesday, June 30, even if the other items of the annual town meeting warrant were pushed aside until restrictions on large gatherings were lifted.
Selectboard Chair Steve Bannon tried to reassure everyone that town government was functioning and that elected officials were active and town employees were still reporting to work.
A word of commendation for the people who drive the snow plows, both the private snow-plow people and the folks who work for the towns: They work without stopping, clearing the roads for our doctors and first responders and anyone else who has to get to work.
Proposals for how to use the cannabis revenue windfall will be discussed by the selectboard and the finance committee in the upcoming deliberations for next year's budget, with voters having the final say on how to spend free cash at the annual town meeting in May.
The town’s Master Plan recommended that bridge repairs be prioritized in the town’s five-year capital improvement plans. The town has taken action about its deficient bridges in priority order as the Plan recommended.
Town Moderator Michael Wise will organize a forum this fall to discuss the Annual Town Meeting format, to seek ideas and consider changes, or possibly to just leave it alone. Please stay tuned to the program for a date.
The language that is always being used is that the CDC is ghettoizing our poor, or low- and moderate-income families ... We think that description is absurd, given where the site is ... and the fact that ... 50 percent of the families in Great Barrington qualify for these units."
-- Tim Geller, executive director of the CDC
Interviews will take place at Town Hall Tuesday, March 26, and Wednesday, March 27. The public is invited. Town residents wishing to submit questions for the candidates must do so no later than Friday, March 22, at 5 p.m.
The Adams town administrator search is being conducted by Community Paradigm Associates, the same firm that is leading the search for Tabakin's successor in Great Barrington. Paradigm principal Bernie Lynch did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
