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Six Running for Four Seats on Mount Greylock School Committee

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Voters will have choices for all four Mount Greylock School Committee seats on the Nov. 3 ballot.
 
Three Lanesborough residents, including one incumbent, have submitted signed nomination papers for the two seats up for grabs for residents of the town.
 
In Williamstown, both incumbents and one newcomer have submitted papers for two of that town's four seats on the four-member committee.
 
Curtis Elfenbein returned papers to Lanesborough Town Hall by Tuesday's deadline to run for a four-year second term on the committee. He first joined the body in 2020 when he was chosen to fill the last two years of an unexpired term, and he was elected in his own right two years later.
 
He is joined on the ballot by newcomers Melissa Zuroff and Jodi Szczepaniak-Locke.
 
All three prospective Lanesborough candidates' nomination papers will be certified when Town Clerk Ruth Knysh returns from vacation on Aug. 3.
 
In Williamstown, all three candidates' nomination papers have been certified by Town Clerk Nicole Beverly.
 
Incumbents Steven Miller and Carolyn Greene will be joined on the ballot by newcomer Laurel Bifano.
 
Residents of both Lanesborough and Williamstown will vote for all four seats on the ballot. Voters will be asked to choose two of the three candidates in each of the two member towns.
 
The top two vote-getters from each town will win four-year terms on the committee.
 
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 24. Early voting begins on Oct. 17.

Tags: election 2026,   MGRSD,   


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Williamstown Select Board Evaluates Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In 2022, the town still was recovering from the twin blows of a global pandemic and a lawsuit that exposed disturbing allegations against the town's police department.
 
The latter ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief and the town manager. To replace the manager, the Select Board at the time turned to Robert Menicocci.
 
Menicocci represented a break in style from his immediate predecessor, who was a more prominent voice in town government. That prominence, in part, was a product of the times: When town boards and committees were not meeting in-person and access to town hall itself was limited at the height of the pandemic, the manager's voice in Zoom meetings was more front and center.
 
In his four years in the corner office, Menicocci has helped shepherd the police department on its path to certification and helped the town weather the fiscal storm of skyrocketing costs linked to inflation – particularly sharp increases in the cost of health insurance that hit hard for a labor-intensive endeavor like municipal government. All the while, he has been a little more taciturn, while always willing to participate, when appropriate, with responsive answers in discussions of the Select Board and Finance Committee.
 
On Monday, the current Select Board – completely turned over from the 2022 edition – pushed Menicocci to be more of a cheerleader for the town.
 
"Do you see your role more as a behind-the-scenes guy and our role is to be out in public?" board member Matthew Neely asked Menicocci during the board's review of the manager's job performance. "Or is there more of a role for you in that? So many people, if I say your name, they're like, ‘Who?'
 
"I would have assumed your role would be more public facing as well, and more, for lack of a better word, leading the charge as opposed to running day-to-day operations. I feel you're strong running day-to-day. But something we all wish is we had a little more of a proactive [manager] …. Since we need development, need all these things in town so much. … I'd love to see more outward energy, I guess.
 
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