Williamstown Looking to Designate Leashed, Unleashed Dog Areas at Spruces iberkshires.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iberkshires.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee on Wednesday voted to send town meeting five of the six applications for fiscal year 2024 funding. But the last.
Bilal Ansari later said he would reconsider and pray on his decision about whether to continue with the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee after he received an apology from the vice chair of the Select Board. Ansari was offended by a decision not to engage with a DIRE member while the board was discussing how to improve communications with the advisory group the Select Board created last summer. Andy Hogeland, who ran Monday s meeting in place of Chair Jane Patton, who was out of town, said during discussion of the agenda item labeled DIRE communications that while the Select Board has taken actions in line with DIRE recommendations over the past year, the board should have acknowledged the equity group s resolutions publicly.
Included on the warrant for June s annual meeting is a resolution calling on the town to commit to pursuing a net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal. Members of the town s Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL) Committee, which drafted the resolution, first presented the idea to the board last month. On Monday, the Select Board discussed the proposal during a review of the warrant s first draft. And next week, the whole town is invited to a virtual panel discussion on the initiative with state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield. This basically says that Williamstown should pursue a net zero goal consistent with the limits established by the commonwealth, Town Manager Jason Hoch advised the board. The intent here is to actually do the local plan rather than having something foisted on us by the state.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor of social work Kerri Nicoll suggested that the board could benefit from training in light of the twin strains of a controversy that has engulfed the town over the last year and a pandemic that has forced a new mode of conducting meetings in a virtual environment. I would be willing to work to plan and facilitate a training/retreat of some kind that would give you all an opportunity to collectively think about your roles as Select Board members, particularly in light of new levels of civic participation, Nicoll said. This is acknowledging the fact that this is not unique to Williamstown. I think a lot of elected bodies and public officials are rethinking how they interact with the public because the public is more engaged at every moment, in part because it is wonderfully more convenient for people to engage from their own home.