West Stockbridge — Select Board member Andrew “Andy” Potter’s appointment to the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) Board Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment was officially approved the week of February 5. The group focuses on state policy affecting water quality and supply; air quality; hazardous waste; solid waste; recycling; wetlands and coastal areas; wastewater treatment; and renewable energy and conservation.
“We have a number of projects that relate to the work that the committee does,” he said of West Stockbridge. “The committee is primarily putting forward policy to support the Legislative Affairs staff at the MMA, in terms of communicating municipal needs in these particular areas to the legislature and the governor’s office.”
For Potter, the issues West Stockbridge’s government has faced fall in line with the committee’s goals, including climate change, with the municipality recently qualifying as a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program town, a status that may make it more favorable to receive grants covering projects affected by climate change, such as the flow of waterways warranting culvert and road work. The MMA lobbied for funds to support that grant program, he said.
With its households “hooked up to a substandard water supply,” Potter said he is intrigued by the committee’s work covering water quality and water supply issues, as well as the hazardous waste issues surrounding the remediation of the Housatonic River. “Certainly, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) [and] PCB trucks—we’re surrounded by these issues, and it can only be valuable to have representation on the MMA Policy Committee that’s dealing with so many of these issues that we have to deal with every day,” he said.
Potter sees the MMA appointment as a way to network across the state, gathering information from colleagues who are dealing with similar issues. “The important thing is that West Stockbridge not deal with these things in a vacuum, that we share the experience of towns across the Commonwealth,” Potter said. “So, the value flows in both directions.”
Potter said his interest in the committee was piqued after attending the annual MMA meeting last month and was appointed as one of five presidential members who serve for one year. Meetings are held monthly for the 23-member committee comprised of not only select board members but also municipal mayors, councilors, managers, and finance and technical experts. The committee includes one other Berkshire County representative: Williamstown Select Board member Stephanie Boyd, who will be serving with Potter.
It wasn’t a stretch for Potter to accept the appointment as he is the Senior Electronic Policy analyst for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, writing rules and regulations for the agency, a job that goes hand in hand with his new MMA role. “I’m a policy guy,” Potter said. “I’m always interested in policy and process.”
According to a news release, Potter was selected for his “continuing interest in civic engagement and his commitment to addressing pressing environmental concerns.” Besides contributing to the town’s governing dais, he serves on the West Stockbridge Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board of Trustees, as well as the town’s Public Library Board of Trustees (chair) and Complete Streets Committee. He is a member of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board.
