No Contested Town Races Shaping Up in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With two weeks left to gather signatures on nomination papers, there are no contested elections shaping up for the May 12 town election.
 
And there is one post for which no one has expressed an interest in serving.
 
Two current members of the Select Board have pulled nomination papers to run for seats on the body, the town clerk reported on Tuesday morning.
 
Stephanie Boyd, who is concluding her first three-year term on the five-person body, has taken out nomination papers.
 
Shana Dixon, who was elected last May to fill the final year of an unexpired term, is running for a full three-year term.
 
The board currently has four members after it chose not to appoint a replacement for Jeffrey Johnson last year. The final year of his unexpired term will be determined by voters this spring. So far, the only resident to pull papers for that post is Nate Budington, who serves on the Historical Commission and is that body's representative on the Community Preservation Committee.
 
None of the three potential candidates for the Select Board have returned papers with the required 30 signatures to get a spot on the May ballot.
 
One resident, Michael Sussman, has returned papers with signatures for one of three two open seats on Milne Public Library Board of Trustees. Martin Mitsoff also has taken out papers.
 
Finally, the incumbent up for re-election on the Planning Board, Roger Lawrence, has taken out papers but has not returned them as of Tuesday morning.
 
As of early this week, no one had pulled papers for an open spot on the town's Housing Authority.
 
Nomination papers are available from the town clerk's office at Town Hall. Papers with the required 30 signatures of town residents are due on Tuesday, March 24, at 5 p.m.
 
The deadline to register to vote in the town election is May 1 at 5 p.m.

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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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