WILLIAMSTOWN — Frail, ill and disabled residents of The Spruces mobile home park, many of them elderly, will be spared the ordeal of walking up to a quarter mile to retrieve their mail, thanks to an agreement worked out late last week.
Richard T. Delmasto, congressional aide to U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, confirmed the agreement yesterday, and Spruces Tenants Association President Susan Fabregas said she was pleased with the outcome.
“Based on the fact that we’ll never get home delivery back for everyone, the agreement seems to provide for the needs of those handicapped and disabled residents, but it is yet to be seen if they follow through on that,†Fabregas said.
The agreement specifies that Fabregas will determine which tenants qualify for medical “hardship’ waivers, which will allow them to have mail delivered to their doors rather than to a central mailbox bank in the community center. Tenants will submit their applications to her, she will make the determination on who qualifies, then pass on the list to the Postal Service, she and Delmasto said.
“I already have a list of those people who are qualified for home delivery,†Fabregas said, “and I know who can manage without danger to themselves. We’re being very judicious about the way we do it.â€
Tenants had appealed to Olver, saying the U.S. Postal Service’s discontinuance of home delivery and its denial of hardship waivers to some seriously infirm residents, placed those residents in danger and imposed a severe hardship on them.
Some residents recounted their health issues which clearly restricted and, in some cases, prevented them from ordinary mobility, much less a hike to the bank of communal mailboxes.
Olver’s Sept. 30 letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter described the conditions of several Spruces residents who, despite manifest handicaps and illness, were denied waivers.
Yesterday, Fabregas said all those tenants “who are still alive and living at The Spruces, will get waivers.â€
Of the anticipated three dozen who originally applied for waivers over the past year, she said, “about eight have passed away or are in nursing homes now.â€
She said disabled residents who have able-bodied relatives living with them will not be granted waivers, because the relatives can get their mail. And for some, she said briskly, “Walking is healthy.â€
Fabregas said some residents will be on the list only during the winter months, and those recuperating from an injury will have temporary delivery.
Last Thursday Michael Powers, Postal Service district manager based in Reading met with Williamstown Postmaster John Bourdon and Fabregas in Williamstown, meeting later with Delmasto at Olver’s Pittsfield office. According to Delmasto, Powers said Fabregas would have “complete discretion†in compiling the list. Efforts to reach Bourdon for comment were unsuccessful.
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Letter: Is the Select Board Listening to Dalton Voters?
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
A reasonable expectation by the people of a community is that their Select Board rises above personal preference and represents the collective interests of the community. On Tuesday night [Nov. 12], what occurred is reason for concern that might not be true in Dalton.
This all began when a Select Board member submitted his resignation effective Oct. 1 to the Town Clerk. Wishing to fill the vacated Select Board seat, in good faith I followed the state law, prepared a petition, and collected the required 200-plus signatures of which the Town Clerk certified 223. The Town Manager, who already had a copy of the Select Board member's resignation, was notified of the certified petitions the following day. All required steps had been completed.
Or had they? At the Oct. 9 Select Board meeting when Board members discussed the submitted petition, there was no mention about how they were informed of the petition or that they had not seen the resignation letter. Then a month later at the Nov. 12 Select Board meeting we learn that providing the resignation letter and certified petitions to the Town Manager was insufficient. However, by informing the Town Manager back in October the Select Board had been informed. Thus, the contentions raised at the Nov. 12 meeting by John Boyle seem like a thinly veiled attempt to delay a decision until the end of January deadline to have a special election has passed.
If this is happening with the Special Election, can we realistically hope that the present Board will listen to the call by residents to halt the rapid increases in spending and our taxes that have been occurring the last few years and pass a level-funded budget for next year, or to not harness the taxpayers in town with the majority of the cost for a new police station? I am sure these issues are of concern to many in town. However, to make a change many people need to speak up.
Please reach out to a Select Board member and let them know you are concerned and want the Special Election issue addressed and finalized at their Nov. 25 meeting.
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