West Stockbridge — At a special meeting on Friday, September 5, the Select Board faced questions and allegations of impropriety by residents over a single agenda item: “Vote to approve contract with Tech Environmental.”
The meeting marked the third time in less than two weeks that the agenda item was listed for a Select Board session and constituted the sole action item for the meeting. The group’s August 25 and 28 sessions delineated the identical agenda item, and according to an email response from Board Member Kathleen Keresey to The Berkshire Edge, the August 25 meeting was cancelled.
At the September 5 meeting, Select Board Chair Andy Krouss read a prepared statement explaining the need for a revote “due to a clerical error in posting the previous meeting on Thursday, [August 28].”
As with the prior meeting, Krouss and Keresey unanimously approved the contract with no discussion or statement of the agreement terms, cost, and scope, leaving attendees wondering what their tax dollars were contributing to.
The Berkshire Edge has filed a records request with the town for a copy of the contract from the August 25 and 28 sessions and has repeatedly asked for the contents or terms of the contract, but no responses have been forthcoming as of press time.
Third time’s the charm
The session was the third time the identical agenda was posted, after being indicated on August 25 and August 28 Select Board meeting agendas.
The September 5 meeting agenda, listed as “Zoom Only,” can be found here.
Keresey’s August 28 email response to questions submitted over the course of three days by The Berkshire Edge stated that the August 25 meeting was cancelled and another meeting with the exact agenda was scheduled for that day, on August 28, an hour and a half after the response. She attached the agenda for the meeting to the email, but that agenda was not listed on the online calendar.
A screenshot of the West Stockbridge Select Board calendar (taken 3 p.m. on August 28, 2025) can be found here, and a screenshot of the town calendar (taken 1:58 p.m. on August 28, 2025) can be found here. As of September 5, that calendar reflected a cancellation of the August 25 meeting. The September 5 screenshot can be found here.
At the three-minute meeting on August 28, a vote was taken by Keresey and Krouss approving the contract, but no contract terms—including its cost, duration, and purpose—were stated and no discussion ensued.
Town Administrator Marie Ryan told The Berkshire Edge that the August 28 meeting had been posted at Town Hall and that posting is all that is required of the town as to notice, without any requirement for those notices to be posted on the town website. West Stockbridge’s method of municipal posting is Town Hall.
Residents, abutters to Wiseacre Farm call out town officials for alleged open meeting law violations
Without any explanation or posting of the approved Tech Environmental contract, attendees were left guessing that the action may be in conjunction with complaints made by residents of West Stockbridge and nearby Richmond to town officials over alleged odor and noise emanating from cannabis-growing facility Wiseacre Farm.
The business’s 2022 three-year special permit to operate on Baker Street was recently acknowledged by the West Stockbridge Planning Board to automatically renew for another two years without town intervention due to a state law allowing such action. As a result, Wiseacre’s special permit will not be up for renewal until November 2027.
Wiseacre Farm has come under fire by some neighbors and abutters who have cited the smell emanating from the facility as offensive and interfering with the enjoyment of their properties.
The Select Board had previously engaged Tech Environmental in February 2024 to review and comment on a 2023 plan presented by Wiseacre and developed by specialist Byers Scientific that uses an agricultural fan and odor-neutralizing agents to deter the negative effects of the smells from its facility. At that time, the Massachusetts-based firm charged West Stockbridge $4,500 for a site visit and initial review.
For about a half hour prior to the dais taking action, residents and abutters decried the Select Board for alleged “clerical errors,” lack of accessibility to town meetings, and harassment of Wiseacre Farm.
Great Barrington Road resident Iin Cox inquired as to the purpose to “redo” the meeting. “I just want to understand what’s happening with the last meeting and why is this going to be a meeting again for this contract,” Cox said. “Can you just give me a clarification on that.”
Krouss responded that the Select Board “is not obligated to answer any question” posed to it during the meeting segment.
Resident Truc Nguyen, who also owns a local restaurant, questioned why the meeting was called at 9 a.m. on a Friday morning, limiting accessibility to town leaders when many citizens are working. West Stockbridge Select Board meetings are usually held at 6 p.m. on Monday evenings.
Jon Piasecki, a West Stockbridge resident and part-owner of Wiseacre, and his attorney, Aaron Dubois, addressed the Select Board as to the contents of the Tech Environmental agreement. “I’m wondering what is in the contract as none of us has seen it and it has direct bearing on our business,” Piasecki said, referring to a possible test Tech Environmental may perform.
Dubois suggested that the Select Board’s previous actions regarding the three agenda notices and ensuing meetings allegedly violated Massachusetts Open Meeting laws, with the September 5 meeting being held “in a way that may technically not violate the Open Meeting law but, certainly, violates the spirit of that.” He alleged the group exhibited “a pattern of harassment” toward his client. “The inconsistencies applied by the Select Board in West Stockbridge are truly, truly troubling,” he said. “I want you to know you are being watched at this point because your behavior has crossed the line.”
Dubois told The Berkshire Edge that he had inquired about a recording of the August 28 meeting but was informed by Ryan that the meeting was not recorded.
Richmond resident David Valenti is the closest neighbor to Wiseacre and lauded the business for being the “greatest neighbors” since the facility opened. “These people of Wiseacre Farm are good people,” he said. “I can see, as a business professional, that this is a prejudice and it’s ridiculous. … There is no problem from a health concern, and there is no problem from a property valuation concern. It’s a prejudice, black and white. … Enough is enough.”
