Lanesborough Selects Assistant Building Inspector

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. –— The Select Board appointed an assistant building director on Wednesday.

Tim Sears submitted his resume to the board and said he heard about the position and reached out to Building Commissioner Brian Duval.

"It can be a tough position. And if you followed recent activities here in Lanesborough, I'm not stating the obvious, but can you talk a little bit about because you've done the work before, right?" asked member Michael Murphy.

Sears started as a housing inspector in Pittsfield and then became building commissioner there and a health official. He was also director of buildings and grounds for the Mount Greylock Regional School District. He currently works at AC Wood Contracting.

"I've had a lot of experience, and as someone who's in the construction industry, also, it can be challenging. If Brian knows someone, or if I know someone you know, we have to excuse ourselves and be very forthright about that," he said. "But in the end, the building code is a little different from some of the other code enforcement and law enforcement, where we have to be able to write down what the violation is, so it either is or isn't. You can't really, oppress someone because you need to write it down. You have to cite the code. So I think it's just very black and white.

"The challenge can sometimes be, you know, if a town feels a certain way about certain subjects, then my attitude has always been to look through the code to try to find a way to make something happen." 

Sears said he has already talked with the owner of AC Wood Contracting and would be available to do an inspection during the day if needed.

The board moved to appoint Sears as the assistant building inspector.

In other notes, Town Administrator Gina Dario reminded the board of the joint meetings with the Finance Committee, which is something they are doing for the first time. Department heads will be invited to the meetings to go over their budget proposals to keep residents as informed as possible before the annual town meeting.

Monday, March 2, is the first joint meeting.

"We're always just trying to be as transparent as we can as we go through this kind of the crux of the budget season for the next three months, as we approach town meeting," Dario said.

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