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Williamstown Selectmen Weigh Requests from Museum, Town Committees
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
03:29AM / Tuesday, March 10, 2015
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It was a packed house at Monday's joint meetin of the Selectmen and Planning Board as the board heard several proposals for funding.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Historical Museum wants to ask town meeting for a 50-year lease at the Little Red Schoolhouse.

The president of the museum's board and its director asked the Board of Selectmen to place the issue on the town meeting warrant. They explained that the site, officially known as the South Center School, will serve the museum's needs and is a natural new home for the institution as it looks to move from its current digs at the David and Joyce Milne Public Library.

"The South Center School is the ideal setting because not only does it provide for our space needs but it allows for the opportunity to display the town's history in a structure that in itself is part of the town's history," WHM President Pat Leach said. "We hope to bring interest to the historic Five Corners neighborhood."

Leach said the museum — formerly known as the House of Local History — wants to relocate in order to "secure long-term space needs."

Previously, Town Manager Peter Fohlin told the Finance Committee that the museum was not able to reach an agreement with the library about a long-term extension of its current 20-year lease, which expires in 2017.

Selectmen Thomas Sheldon asked whether the museum was concerned that the South Williamstown location would be less visible than its current home on Main Street.

"People have said to us: 'You think you're visible? You're virtually invisible now.' " Leach said, referring to the museum's location in the back of the town's library.

"There's a lot more of Williamstown than the Williamstown that's within a five-minute drive of the library," she continued. "I think we believe our position at Little Red will ultimately be far more visible, and we will attract tourists to learn about our town. With good signage and good marketing, people will be interested in learning about the history of Williamstown in the South Center School."

Leach also noted that the location at the junction of Routes 7 and 43 is closer to Mount Greylock Regional School and to the assisted living facility at Sweetwood.

"Seniors are among our best volunteers," Leach said. "[The location] has some pluses we haven't enjoyed in the past. ... It's already a significant historic district. For so many reasons, it just makes sense."

To assist the museum in its move, Fohlin has incorporated into his proposed budget a $10,000 appropriation to help the museum cover the cost of operating the former school building. The town already supports the non-profit with an annual appropriation of $5,000.

"If the Historical Museum doesn't move, we're going to have take on that $10,000 per year anyway to keep our own building living," Fohlin said. "I'd prefer the money to go to them rather than us because I want them to be conscious of the thermostat and turning off the lights."

The president of the South Williamstown Community Association, which currently leases the school building from the town, appeared in support of the museum's request.

About a dozen residents also attended the meeting to support the museum's request, packing the Selectmen's Meeting Room to capacity when added to the crowd on hand to discuss several other items on the board's agenda.

Chairman Ronald Turbin asked Fohlin to draft a warrant article for the annual town meeting for the Selectmen to consider at its March 23 meeting.

While the appropriation for the museum is in the town's budget as drafted, two town committees on Monday asked that appropriations for them be added into the spending plan for fiscal 2016.

The Spruces Land Use Committee asked for $50,000 to fund three conceptual designs and one schematic design of what could be placed at the soon-to-be-closed mobile home park when it becomes town property next year.

The Economic Development Committee is looking to increase its budget from $2,000 to $25,000 to support its efforts to develop "an actionable strategy for economic development" in Williamstown.

Both requests were met were varying degrees of skepticism from the board.

Economic Development Committee Chairman Jeffrey Thomas laid out a detailed spending plan that described how the $25,000 would be used in various phases of the committee's planned yearlong effort.

The biggest budget items are $7,000 as stipends for a pair of Williams College interns and $8,000 to hire a consultant to develop the committee's final report.

Turbin questioned both those budget items.

Thomas said that $3,500 for a summer internship is not unreasonable, a point that was supported by Selectman Hugh Daley, who said he had hired such interns at his business in the past.

EDC Vice Chairwoman Karen Lartin defended the $8,000 appropriation and the budget request as a whole.

Planning Board Chairwoman Elizabeth McGowan addresses the Board of Selectmen.

"[EDC member] Tom Loughman said the Clark spent somewhere around $40,000 just in what would be our final stage, the reporting," Lartin said. "Because we know there are budgetary constraints, this is really bare bones. This is what we need to provide you the information you want."

Sheldon, Daley and Selectwoman Jane Patton each spoke favorably of the EDC request.

"I have total and complete confidence the [committee's] product will have a value exponential compared to the cost," Patton said.

The Spruces Land Use Committee's request faced tougher questioning.

Chairman Thomas Hyde ran down items from a list of about a dozen potential uses ranging from bicycle paths to a gazebo and outdoor performance space and explained that his committee is addding a survey question the questionnaire planned this spring by the Economic Development Committee.

Hyde said the committee wants to be able to take that input from residents, narrow the possible improvements on the land to a manageable list and ask a designer to propose a few conceptual designs for the town to consider.

Selectwoman Jane Patton asked whether the committee had sought the input of the town's Department of Public Works to see whether the intitial design work could be done in-house before putting the job out to bid.

Speaking from the floor of the meeting, Paul Harsch agreed with that approach.

"If the decision is to build a paddle ball court or walking paths, what have you, it probably doesn't require extra skill to lay that out on a large parcel," Harsch said.

Fohlin said he did not know exactly what the committee had in mind but indicated it was worth finding out what town personnel could do.

"We have spend tens of thousands of dollars over the last few years to enhance our [global information systems] capabilities," Fohlin said. "I don't think the Sprucues Land Use Committee is aware of all the things we can do."

Hyde said he would welcome such a conversation with staff.

If it turns out the reuse committee does need outside consulting, Chris Winters, a member of the Community Preservation Committee, recommended the Spruces panel consider applying for Community Preservation Act funds next year under the act's open space and recreation provision.

Winters was in the room as a member of the Planning Board, which held a joint meeting with the Selectmen.

Planning Board Chairwoman Elizabeth McGowan talked the Selectmen through a list of zoning changes her board wants to put before Town Meeting in May. And she explained that the town will not be asked to approve an expansion of the Village Business District in order to accommodate Williams College's planned inn a the bottom of Spring Street.

The Planning Board spent several meetings discussing the expansion with college officials. But McGowan reported that the college asked her to put the proposal on the back burner.

"I spoke to [Williams Vice President] Jim Kolesar last week, and he decided the timetable was too short for them to get their plans together for annual town meeting in May," McGowan said.

In other business on Monday night, the Board of Selectmen heard several proposals from residents about what developments could occur on the former town garage site on Water Street.

And Fohlin shared a piece of good news: Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the town's bond status from AA2 to AA1.

"We used to be one of three towns in Berkshire County with an AA2 rating," Fohlin said. "Now we are the only community in Berkshire County with a AA1 rating after it was elevated by Moody's today. And we're the only community our size in Massachusetts with an AA1 bond rating."

The town's bond rating was re-evaluated in anticipation of bidding on a $3.3 million general obligation bond that will cover refinancing of the bond that paid to build Williamstown Elementary School and about $1 million to cover the town's contribution to the Cable Mills housing project.

"We should recognize that every single Williamstown employee has contributed to this success," Fohlin said. "We have moderate, reasonable collective bargaining agreements [with union employees] and moderate expectations from non-union personnel.

"We are all the time looking for those nickels and dimes and trying to find ways to economize and run a balanced budget."

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