A quorum of about 160 Great Barrington voters showed up at the Monument Mountain High School auditorium for tonight’s Special Town Meeting to consider six articles, two of which were small fixes, three of which were funding requests and one of which would have removed the 45-room cap on hotel rooms in town, but on which the Selectboard voted to take no action.
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Article 1: $20 million in borrowing to upgrade wastewater treatment plant
⅔ vote and were secret ballot required.
Motion passed 148 to 9.
This was by far the biggest dollar item on the warrant, to approve $20 million in borrowing to proactivley upgrade the town’s wastewater treatment facility before it becomes inoperable.
The Selectboard and Finance Committees had unanimously approved Article 1’s appearance on the warrant.
DPC engineering and the plant manager did a presentation to explain the article.
The town’s wastewater treatment plant and pump station are a, “Mature asset,” built in the 1970s, and no longer dependable.
The improvements have been in the planning phases for years. They showed many photos of rusted-through metal damage to all manner of equipment, which rendered the exposed steel no longer functional or fixable. There’s concern about a complete system failure.
To offset other funding, they have gap grant $350,000 (awarded but contingent on tonight’s vote.)
A State Revolving Fund loan accounts for the $20.7 million, to be paid out over 20 years at a 2% interest rate. It would not affect the tax rate, but be paid solely by sewer users.
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Article 2: $500,000 to pay for clean-up and stabilization of Cook’s Garage
Motion passed not quite unanimously; about 20 voted against.
Liz Hartsgrove, the Town Manager, explained that the town owns Cooks Garage since a 2018 foreclosure and $140,000 in unpaid taxes dating to 2008. The building partially collapsed in August and since then the town has have been working with engineers on a “reasonable path forward” to get it ready to sell.
The half-million dollar vote was not a commitment to spend the full amount but to make the necessary funds available to stabilitize the property and clean up the hazardous materials — lead paint and asbestos — in the river and in danger of falling into the river.
“This is not optional,” she said.
The town, she said, would pursue outside funding wherever possible, with the ultimate objective to position the property for ownership beyond the town, who, she stressed will not become long-term developers of the site.
The building dates to 1914 and has 38,000 square feet of space.
In response to the question of why wasn’t the building sold sometime in the past eight years, and why didn’t town sell the lien, Hartsgrove she didn’t know.
Nancy Rogers wanted to know what other properties in town are in the same position of potential “calamity,” and Hartsgrove said she did not have the list handy but could provide it.
Rothenberg explained that Finance Committee did not agree 100% on what to do on the property, and not all were clear what the money would be spent on. He suggested a smaller amount such as $250,000 or $300,000 instead.
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Article 3: Correction of a typo to correct the year on Firefighter salary line item.
Vote: Unanimous
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Article 4: To approve two items to be paid out,a remaining from the last fiscal year, for $6,190.00 to Railroad Street Youth Project, and $294.00 to Eagle Shoe and Boot
Vote: Unanimous
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Article 5: To raise the 45-room cap on hotel rooms.
No action
Phil Orenstein voted to take no action on Article 5 from. This is thanks to the planning board’s recent public hearing and vote to continue that hearing until December. Members at theat hearing had expressed concern about not having had enough time to properly consider the zoning change.
Their failure to take action was not, he said, a withdrawal of support nor a determination of the article’s merits.
Michael Wise stated that as the Planning Board didn’t make a report on the article, voters would not be able to vote on it anyway.
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Article 6: To take $47,838 from free cash to pay Great Barrington’s share of two new ambulances for Southern Berkshire Ambulance Squad.
Motion passed overwhelmingly.
Ken Schumacher made the motion, there were multiple seconds, and he then reviewed the history of the article, which was a citizen’s petition made by Peter Most, member of the SBAS board. He stressed that the article was, “for you,” meaning the public.
Steve Bannon announced from the podium that the Selectboard had voted unanimously not to recommend the article, assuring the SBAS that their decision was not a statement about them and their work, but was rather to do with the fact that they wanted these requests to go through a contractual process and not be subjected to town meeting articles every year.
“I would like to see if we can solve this contractually so we do not need to pay for this through petition,” he said in conclusion.
Ed Abrahams stated that the other four SBAS towns had put in their money for ambulances and Great Barrington had not and the article corrected that.
David Long defended the professionalism of the squad and suggested it was “pretty awful” to get into a petty argument about contracts. He added, “I think all the other towns have contributed and Great Barrington should do the same.”