Dalton Finance Looks to Form Contracts Subcommittee

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee wants to create a subcommittee to review contracts presented to the town.
 
Chair William Drosehn brought up the idea to help bring focus to the many town contracts and should the committee be aware of them.
 
"This will be to review all of the contracts that are presented to us by the Select Board and our town manager," he said.
 
He noted how the committee had no input on use of the American Rescue Plan Act funds the last three years. 
 
"The Finance Committee was supposed to be involved, and they kept us out of it completely. We had no say or no talk of what was going on with the relationship to ARPA funds," Drosehn said.
 
The committee determined the subcommittee be formed with four members, including Drosehn. 
 
"I was hoping that I was going to be one of the volunteers for the committee, because the size of the job, having the chair seated on that committee is probably going to be a good thing, considering the size and scope of the work that needs to be done," he said.
 
Before voting to establish, the committee did think it needed a better draft of how the subcommittee would deal with contracts, what types of contracts and monetary thresholds, and what the members' roles would be.
 
Dresehn will write up a draft of objectives and policies and invited others on the committee to as well to prepare for a vote at the next meeting.
 

Tags: Finance Committee,   

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15 People Displaced in Pittsfield Home Fires

Staff Reports

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Fifteen people were displaced after 2-alarm home fires this weekend on Springside Avenue and Elaine Drive. 

On Friday evening, the Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 209 Springside Ave., which took a four-hour battle to extinguish and resulted in a partial roof collapse. The next day, on Saturday evening, crews knocked down a fire at 121 Elaine Drive in about an hour. 

The garage and part of the single-family home on Elaine Drive were gutted to the frame, along with a vehicle parked in the driveway. On Springside Avenue, the top level and porch of the multifamily were burned through.  

A GoFundMe has been started for the family of the Elaine Drive home, which includes several young children.  The fundraiser, with a $5,500 goal, explains they lost their home and all of their belongings. (iBerkshires.com does not confirm or endorse fundraisers; they are provided as information only.)

There were no civilian or firefighter injuries, and both incidents are under investigation.  One dog was rescued on Springside Avenue. 

On Oct. 10, around 6:15 p.m., PFD responded to the Springside Avenue home for a reported structure fire and saw a 2 1/2-story wood frame multifamily with a heavy blaze showing from the second-floor front porch, extending out. 

The building suffered a partial roof collapse, which prolonged extinguishment. The fire was brought under control after about four hours.

“An aggressive offensive attack was mounted by first arriving crews stretching hose lines into the building as well as primary searches that proved negative. Ladders were placed around the structure to provide access as well as escape if needed. An off-duty Fire Captain had also been on scene early in the incident to help evacuate the structure and rescue a dog,” PFD wrote in a press release. 

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