WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen on Monday opened its meeting by announcing the close of a debate that has snarled another town body this winter.

 

"Several things here, not the least of which is the South Williamstown Community Association has graciously decided to withdraw its proposal for a dog park at [the former Little Red Schoolhouse]," Chairwoman Jane Patton said.

 

That proposal touched off lengthy discussions at the year's first meetings of the Community Preservation Committee, which Patton also chairs.

 

Although the SWCA made a relatively modest request for CPA funds, $3,500, the application touched off the first public discussion of the dog park idea. Several residents have complained that a dog park on the grounds would negatively impact the planned relocation of the Williamstown Historical Museum.

 

Annual town meeting 2015 authorized the board to negotiate a 50-year lease with the museum for the school and a portion of the grounds. Museum officials have said they envisioned utilizing much if not all of the school's "back yard" for displays of large artifacts, like farm equipment.

 

In making her announcement on Monday, Patton thanked the SWCA for taking the issue off the table and acknowledged her receipt of emails and comments from residents expressing opinions about the proposal.

 

"I appreciate that, for many folks, it was an emotional issue for them," Patton said. "Speaking about something so personal takes courage and comes at an emotional cost."

 

Patton also echoed the explanation Town Manaager Jason Hoch gave at the most recent Community Preservation Committee meeting for a delay signing a lease between the town and the museum.

 

"Transition [to a new town manager], people were busy, we were trying to work out things with the building to make sure it was in good shape when the Williamstown Historical Museum got the building," Patton said.

 

She said the board hopes to have a lease to sign by the end of February.

 

As expected on Monday, the Board of Selectmen approved warrants for two ballot elections on March 1: the presidential primary and a debt exclusion vote to support the renovation/addition project at Mount Greylock Regional School.

 

Hoch explained that the latter will require a simple majority for passage because it is not an override of Proposition 2 1/2.

 

The two elections will be run concurrently (with separate check-ins) at Williamstown Elementary School on Tuesday, March 1, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are available now for the presidential primary and are expected the first week in February for the school project vote. The deadline to register for the March 1 vote is Wednesday, Feb. 10, and the town clerk's office will be open until 8 p.m. that day, Hoch said.

 

Earlier Monday, the Lanesborough Board of Selectmen set a town meeting for Feb. 23 for a non-binding vote on the Mount Greylock project and scheduled a ballot vote on the debt exclusion for March 15.

 

The main topic of discussion at Monday's Williamstown Selectmen's meeting was the receipt of the town's annual audit from certified public accoutant David Erwin of Pittsfield's Adelson & Company.

 

Erwin reported that the town's finances once again are in fine shape and took the members of the board through some of the minutiae of the audit report.

 

Selectman Hugh Daley asked Erwin to explain a little more fully the town's contribution to the Other Postemployment Benefits trust fund or OPEB. Erwin said since the town is on a pay-as-it-goes basis in maintaining retiree benefits, the money it pays to the trust fund likely will not be utilized. The advantage of contributing to the fund is that it helps improve the town's bond rating, he said.

 

Erwin said his firm had no recommendations for changes in the town's accounting system and noted that with just $3.9 million in long-term debt on the books, Williamstown is well under the $43 million in debt it legally could incur.

 

"From a balance sheet standpoint, you have a healthy balance sheet," he said.

 

Erwin and the board commended the work of Town Accountant Donna Estes and Treasurer Janet Sadler for keeping the books in order.

 

In other business on Monday, the board approved Hoch's appointment of Stephanie Boyd to fill Sarah Gardner's unexpired term on the Conservation Commission. Gardner resigned the post to fill an unexpired term on the Planning Board.

 

Hoch reported that the town's building department is working on a temporary certificate of occupancy for the new senior apartments at Highland Woods and that the Board of Health met Monday to hear requests from Tunnel City Coffee and Dunkin Brands (Dunkin' Donuts) for temporary relief from enforcement of a ban on polystyrene hot cup lids. The ban comes out of an article approved at town meeting 2015.