Letter: Vote Jane Patton for Select Board

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To the Editor:

New ideas for town governance do not always come from new people. Sometimes they come from a person who has served on a board for many years. And if that person listens to understand, has an open mind, learns from past experience, uses logic and reason to form her view, and has the courage to put forth that view no matter how unpopular, that "new idea" has a breadth and depth to it that the idea of a novice lacks.

Frequently, Jane [Patton] is the "1" in a "4-1" vote. She has all the foregoing qualities.

Sadly, our town seems very divided. We need strong and thoughtful leadership to show us the way to better times. Jane can and will provide the much-needed institutional memory to mentor our more inexperienced members of the board, and to provide much-needed context for our townsfolk seeking to participate in town decision-making.

Please vote for Jane [for Select Board]. She has graciously agreed to serve out a one-year term. She has wisdom and will serve us well. And, most important of all, we need her.

Donna Carlstrom Wied
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

 

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Williamstown's Cost Rising for Emergency Bank Restoration

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The cost to stabilize the bank of the Hoosic River near a town landfill continues to rise, and the town is still waiting on the commonwealth's blessing to get to work.
 
Department of Public Works Director Craig Clough was before the Finance Committee on Wednesday to share that, unlike the town hoped, the emergency stabilization work will require bringing in a contractor — and that is before a multimillion dollar project to provide a long-term solution for the site near Williams College's Cole Field.
 
"I literally got the plans last Friday, and it's not something we'll be able to do in-house," Clough told the committee. "They're talking about a cofferdam of a few hundred feet, dry-pumping everything out and then working along the river. That's something that will be beyond our manpower to do, our people power, and the equipment we have will not be able to handle it."
 
Clough explained that the cofferdam is similar to the work done on the river near the State Road (Route 2) bridge on the west side of North Adams near West Package and Variety Stores.
 
"We don't know the exact numbers yet of an estimate," Clough said. "The initial thought was $600,000 a few months ago. Now, knowing what the plans are, the costs are going to be higher. They did not think there was going to need to be a coffer dam put in [in the original estimate]."
 
The draft capital budget of $592,500 before the Fin Comm includes $500,000 toward the riverbank stabilization project.
 
The town's finance director told the committee he anticipates having about $700,000 in free cash (technically the "unreserved fund balance") to spend in fiscal year 2027 once that number is certified by the Department of Revenue in Boston.
 
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