Peter Fohlin addresses the Board of Selectmen for the first — and likely final — time from a podium donated in his honor.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Peter Fohlin will be missed in the Selectmen's Meeting Room.

 

But his name will be hard to miss.

 

On Monday, the Board of Selectmen presented Fohlin with a going away present that he will not be taking away from Town Hall when he retires for good later this summer.

 

A new wooden podium was brought in at the end of Monday's meeting to replace the metal music stand that served that role for presentations from the public and, usually, for Fohlin's own town manager reports.

 

The new lectern came complete with a gold plaque reading, "With Gratitude for Outstanding Service; Peter Fohlin; Williamstown Town Manager; 2000-2015."

 

Chairwoman Jane Patton noted that the board had complied with Fohlin's preference to keep public displays of recognition to a minimum, but the podium was an exception.

 

"Think of it this way," Patton said. "It isn't for you. It's for everyone else."

 

A grateful Fohlin called the move "a master stroke" and thanked the board and Jeffrey Thomas, who built the podium.

 

"I notice the plaque is affixed with two easily removable screws," Fohlin quipped.

 

Patton got choked up as she addressed Fohlin and recalled is role in securing the Federal Hazard Mitigation Grant that allowed the town to acquire and close the flood-prone Spruces Mobile Home Park.

 

"They were lucky to have you," Patton said, referring to the residents forced from their homes after Tropical Storm Irene and those who continue to relocate from the park.

 

"It's not rewarding and not pleasing to have to disband a community, but the mobile home park shouldn't have been built there in the first place," Fohlin said. "And another storm is coming."

 

Barring an emergency meeting of the board, Monday's will be the last while Fohlin is serving as the interim town manager. After officially retiring on April 26, he agreed to return on an interim capacity this summer while the town found a permanent replacement. Jason Hoch, who was hired in June, will arrive in the corner office on Sept. 8.

 

The podium arrived toward the end of a meeting that saw the board decide to table, for now, a request from residents of Lee Terrace to ban parking for a 400-foot stretch that runs from the intersection with North Street.

 

Fohlin told the board that after consultations between himself, the chief of police, the public works director and the town planner, he had recommended lengths for a no-parking zone if that was the way the selectmen decided to go.

 

"With respect to either of those outcomes, the police chief, the DPW director, the town planner and I don't see the need but have no objection if that's what the Board of Selectmen decides," Fohlin said.

 

The Lee Terrace residents asked the town to implement the parking ban in anticipation of increased on-street parking with the opening of a mixed-use commercial and residential structure on the corner of North Street and Lee Terrace.

 

The owner of that building, Vincent Guntlow, attended Monday's meeting and said that while construction workers had parked on Lee Terrace during the redevelopment of Mather House, that construction period is over, and he expects the 17-spot off-street lot on the parcel to be more than adequate.

 

"I don't anticipate any issues with parking needs from my building on the street, except on occasion with a gathering, just like for anyone else," said Guntlow, who told the board the building in question was half occupied.

 

Patton said she made a point of driving by the road in question 14 times since the last board meeting and had not seen any cars parked in the street.

 

She and the other selectmen expressed a preference to take a wait and see attitude.

 

"To solve a problem like this one before it genuinely exists, I don't think it's necessary in this case," she said. "If there is a problem, we'd be willing to act."

 

In other business on Monday, the board approved a request from the attorney general's office for 60 more days to review the plastic bag bylaw approved at town meeting. The AGO has 90 days by statute to review town meeting articles but was asking for additional time in this case, Fohlin said.

 

And the board heard a report from resident Wendy Penner, who serves as the director of prevention programs for the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition.

 

Penner told the NBCC's plans for a "Voices for Recovery" event scheduled for Sept. 12 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Noel Field in North Adams. The event will feature education booths, activities for children, keynote speakers and a walk through downtown North Adams. The evening also will feature NBCC's third annual Candelight Vigil of Healing and Remembrance.