West Stockbridge — The West Stockbridge Select Board celebrated three hard-working individuals during its October 21 meeting with citations for their dedication to the town.
Police Chief Marc Portieri presented Officer Curt Wilton III with a commendation for his “meritorious conduct,” “showing integrity and devotion to service.” “May his vigilance and determination continue to serve this community,” Portieri said.
Zoning Board of Appeals Chair C. Randolph Thunfors awarded a Certificate of Civic Appreciation to James “Dutch” Pinkston IV, who recently retired after decades of service to the group. “If we’re measuring in decades, it’s truly good service,” said Select Board Chair Andrew Potter.
Thunfors said Pinkston has always served the Zoning Board of Appeals in its point of view, “to be kind, respectful, and objective to every citizen in the town who comes before us.” “Some of these decisions that we have to be involved in are not easy decisions and sometimes we have people who leave who are unhappy, but hopefully we have everyone leave happy,” he said. “Dutch has done a great job in serving the board for at least 30 [years].”
Potter bestowed a Certificate of Civic Appreciation to resident Lisa Parker for adding plantings to the municipal streets and “keeping the town, basically, beautiful,” he said. “It wouldn’t be West Stockbridge without floral arrangements and the work that you put in each year,” Potter said to Parker.
Special town meeting advocated
Town Administrator Marie Ryan asked the Select Board to approve a special town meeting for December 11, at 6 p.m., with four articles to be included: two relevant to tax exemptions for senior citizens; one article to change the town clerk’s position to be appointed instead of elected; and providing a right of way on a Swamp Road property owned by the Gaston family, longtime town residents. She said the articles have already been sent to town counsel for approval.
Police counts for 2024, to date
Portieri’s report to the dais reflected the department had received 3,987 calls to date for the year, with 660 motor-vehicle stops, 85 burglar alarms, 411 checks of businesses, 12 domestic-violence calls, 41 vehicle crashes, and 120 medical calls. He said the tally of motor-vehicle stops is up from the same time last year, as is the number of arrests.
“They’re definitely going out there patrolling, doing their job,” Portieri said of his officers.
Potter voiced concern as to whether traffic-calming measures could be deployed to offset vehicular accidents. Portieri responded that the vehicle-accident information will be broken down further at the end of the year as to specifics, including whether speed was a factor. He said data obtained from traffic-calming signs—prominent neon signs showing the speed at which a driver is traveling—will be reviewed every three months, with the information taken in the next week or two to calculate the difference in traffic numbers between the town’s busy season and winter.
Citing recent social media posts regarding vehicles speeding in town, Select Board member Kathleen Keresey pushed for more frequent downloads of the data obtained from the traffic-calming signs in an effort to put a stop to the fast travel.
