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LENOX â Asserting that the town has so much on its plate that it needs the full-time service of Christopher Ketchen, the Select Board voted 5-0 in a closed-door session Wednesday night to terminate the inter-municipal agreement with the town of Lee and bring him back to Lenox as the full-time town manager.
Under that pact, approved four years ago by the boards of both towns and further reinforced in 2020 by Lenox, Ketchen also served as Lee-Lenox Chief Administrative Officer, splitting his time between the communities.
Returning to public session briefly on Wednesday night, Select Board Chairwoman Marybeth Mitts stressed that Ketchen had not requested the change to his contract, which takes effect in two months. Letters with the Lenox boardâs written decision are being sent to the chairman of the Lee Select Board and the town clerks of Lee and Lenox.
LENOX The Mount, home of Edith Wharton Restoration, hopes to embark on a historical renovation project to restore the Laurel Lake shorefront farmhouse built by Wharton and her husband,
LENOX â A proposed recreational marijuana operation at the Cork âN Hearth restaurant location, just over the Lee town line, has raised opposition about a host of issues, from the impact on the adjacent Laurel Lake waterfront to traffic and environmental concerns.
At last weekâs Select Board meeting, Selectman David Roche pointed out that he has received âa relatively large number of emails and letters from residents of the area who are against it.â He also noted concern expressed by parents whose families frequent the town beach on Laurel Lake, which is directly below the restaurantâs parking lot.
âItâs a touchy situation,â Roche said, as he requested that the topic be included on the agenda of the next Select Board meeting, at 7 p.m. Feb. 10.
LENOX â It appears to be the final answer: The Environmental Protection Agency is going ahead with the Rest of River settlement requiring General Electric to clean up the Housatonic River from the toxic PCB pollution it deposited there over four decades ending in the late 1970s.
The EPA unveiled the plan last February, at an event in the Lenox railroad station. A hue and cry followed when some, probably many, Lee and Lenox Dale residents saw that the less-toxic sediment would be stored in the grandly titled Upland Disposal Facility, aka The Dump, as opponents called it.
Despite months of meetings and public comment, the final revised plan is basically the same as the cleanup permit released then. The Housatonic River Initiative, led by Tim Gray, plans an appeal to an EPA review board in Washington, D.C., with the help of attorneys working pro bono, seeking a better deal that takes more PCBs out of the river and ships all the toxins out of Massachusetts. The opposition is also