Great Barrington — The town has identified two engineering firms capable of conducting a thorough study and appraisal of the troubled private water company serving the Housatonic section of Great Barrington.
Both companies have produced proposals. Town manager Mark Pruhenski told the selectboard Oct. 26 that he has both proposals in-hand and expects to execute contracts within a week or two. Once the two companies, Aecom and DPC Engineering, get started, Pruhenski said it will take about four months for the work to be completed.
“So things will be pretty quiet once we sign the contracts but they will be working hard in the background,” Pruhenski said.
The news will no doubt come as a relief to customers of Housatonic Water Works, the small private water utility serving fewer than 900 customers in the village of Housatonic and small adjoining portions of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.
The companies plan to accomplish three tasks: reviewing HWW’s treatment system; reviewing and proposing solutions to water quality issues; and conducting an appraisal of the system in the event that the town of Great Barrington wanted to acquire HWW, either by making an offer or through something resembling eminent domain.
The selectboard also received a letter on HWW from Sharon Gregory and Trevor and Denise Forbes. Click here to read it.
Housatonic Water Works has been plagued by a series of actions taken by state officials and, over the last few years, a barrage of complaints from ratepayers about brown water caused by rusting water mains. Firefighters also say pressure in HWW’s hydrants is insufficient to the task of fighting a major fire.
The company has been the object of numerous complaints from ratepayers who have grown more and more agitated, both in Town Hall confrontations with officials and on social media. Others have complained of inadequate communication from the company about upcoming water main flushings that cause the discoloration. Housatonic Water Works has 17 miles of water mains and 55 fire hydrants.
Water service for much of the rest of the town is provided not by a private company but by the Great Barrington Fire District, a quasi-public entity with taxing authority that essentially functions as the town’s municipal water department.
Monument Valley Road speeding
The board also heard from a resident of Monument Valley Road who complained of habitual speeding on the part of motorists and truckers. Click here to read a letter from Monument Valley Road resident Ronald L. Hirsch and an executive summary from police Chief Bill Walsh and Sean Van Deusen, who heads the town’s Department of Public Works.
Hirsch said he had started a petition to ask that the town step up enforcement measures and explore traffic calming measures on the 4.5 mile stretch of road connecting routes 23 and 7.
The speed limit on the road varies from 35 to 40 miles per hour but Hirsch said recently most vehicles have been traveling at a rate of between 50 and 60 miles per hour. Residents and their children are afraid to walk on the road for fear of being struck, Hirsch said.
“Lila Berle said her house shakes when heavy trucks go by,” Hirsch wrote of his conversations with neighbors. “One person’s cat and one’s dog were recently killed. The list goes on. People were not happy and felt helpless.”
Walsh said he wanted to make three main points: 1) He’s going to increase daily patrols by his officers; 2) his department recently obtained a new speed detection trailer and will deploy it regularly to Monument Valley Road. 3) the Great Barrington Police Department has applied to the state for a highway safety grant in the neighborhood of $12,000 and expects to hear soon whether it has been approved. That money could be used for extra patrols for the road.
See video below of the Oct. 26 Great Barrington Selectboard meeting. Fast forward to 56:40 view the discussion on Monument Valley Road:
“There’s heavy traffic with the schools, skiers, so we understand it’s a very busy roadway and certainly it’s changed over the years from maybe a quiet country road and it’s no longer that,” Walsh said.
Others wondered about changing the speed limit or banning heavy trucks from the road altogether. Van Deusen said he would look into the procedure for taking those measures. A traffic engineering study might be needed. Hirsch also suggested speed bumps, but Van Deusen threw cold water on that suggestion.
“They are prohibited on many roads,” Van Deusen said. “You can’t just put a speed bump in. Some roads, depending on their categorization, you’re strictly not allowed to put them in.” He added that they also pose a problem for snow plows.
Van Deusen said he would also explore additional traffic calming measures, such as more signage or altering the way the painted lines are configured, before ordering a formal engineering study.
“At the end of the day, this is an enforcement issue,” Van Deusen said. “We can pay for all the traffic studies we want, but we’re not going to come up with the result we want.”
Town-owned elderly transport up and running
Pruhenski also said the town’s new elderly transportation system is up and running. The town-owned-and-run system will replace the nonprofit Southern Berkshire Elderly Transportation Corporation, which announced in early September that it would shut down at the end of September.
Pruhenski said the town has executed a contract with the Berkshire Regional Transportation Authority to provide Great Barrington with two vans — indeed, the same two vans that were used by SBET before it closed.
“They’ve been serviced, cleaned, relettered and will be returning to us by next week,” Pruhenski said.
The town is also working on acquiring a third van and now has three town staff members who are fully trained and certified as drivers. The town has advertised for two additional part-time drivers.
Pruhenski expected the system to be fully operational by Nov. 1. By Jan. 1, 2021, he expects to have a regional program in place that serves surrounding towns. In addition to Great Barrington, SBET served several other towns in South County, including New Marlborough, Monterey, Otis, Sandisfield, Alford, Mount Washington and Egremont.
Board acknowledges Great Barrington sits on indigenous lands
The board also received a draft land acknowledgement prepared by Joe Grochmal and Georges Pichard of @GBLabs. It is a formal statement recognizing that Great Barrington “sits on indigenous lands belonging to the Mohican people.”
Click here to read the statement and executive summary. The board endorsed it unanimously. The statement will be read at the annual town meeting in May 2021.
