West Stockbridge — Despite the streaming rain, about 25 West Stockbridge residents approved all warrant articles at their Special Town Meeting on December 11. The Select Board approved those articles for the vote on November 19.
The successful session marked the first for Town Moderator Joe Roy Jr., who took over the position following the retirement of Eugene Dellea. Dellea served in that capacity for 58 years, the longest tenure in the Commonwealth.
The first three articles provide for a property tax exemption for seniors, reducing the qualifying age from 70 years old to 65 years old and increasing the exemption amount to $1,000, as well as benefiting veterans by adding a cost-of-living increase to their annual exemption amount. For the senior exemption, the town will receive a state reimbursement of up to $500 per individual exemption, but that doesn’t apply to the lost income from veteran exemptions.
The measure had been prompted by a group of local concerned citizens. “It took a year and a half to put this together,” said Sheila Thunfors who worked on the proposal.
The fourth article, which altered the town clerk’s position from being elected to appointed by the Select Board, must also be approved at the regular Town Meeting in May. When prompted, Town Administrator Marie Ryan said West Stockbridge’s attorney recommended the change.
The fifth article approved granting the town the right of first refusal for a parcel of land on the Gaskin family’s Swamp Road property should the tract sell. The measure provides an accessway for officials to reach an aquifer located on the property.
All articles were approved unanimously except for Article 6 that funds design services in connection with a Complete Streets project to reconfigure the intersection of Swamp and Lenox roads with Main Street. Although a $112,000 state grant covers construction of the development, it doesn’t fund the project’s design, said Curt Wilton, chair of the Complete Streets Advisory Committee. The design costs usually amount to about 20 percent of the total project cost that, in this case, is expected to tally around the low $20,000s range, he said.
The corner redesign is needed to increase the site’s safety for both pedestrians and auto traffic, Select Board Chair Andrew Potter said.
David Potter was the lone dissenter for Article 6 and pushed the dais for the town’s source of design funds. Wilton responded that bids have already been solicited for the project, with three contractor submissions, and expects “shovels in the ground” by July or August.
The article provides the monies will be “raise[d] and appropriate[d] or transfer[red] from available funds,” language that proved problematic for David Potter.
“They’re asking for money, they don’t know where it’s coming from,” the 30-year resident told The Berkshire Edge following the meeting. “It seems to me, if you’re voting on money, to ask people to spend money, they should tell you where it’s coming from. Are you going to raise my taxes? Are you going to take it out of this [fund]?…They have the option to raise our taxes to fund this, and I’m a ‘no’ on this.”
According to Ryan, the session was not videotaped.
