iBerkshire Briefs: Meeting Roundups
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council unanimously approved a bottle bill resolution, a new sick time for employees and a taxi license during a whirlwind 8-minute meeting on Wednesday.
The council normally meets Tuesdays but pushed this week's meeting a day later so as not to conflict with the Senate primaries.
It gave final approval to a sick-day, buy-back policy passed to a second reading at the last meeting. The policy, which changes compensation to employees not part of any bargaining unit, was referred to the Finance Committee at the same time.
The change had been submitted by Mayor John Barrett III as part of revisions to the employee handbook. He believed the rate of $16 per day buy-back for retirees had not been adjusted since 1982; the change would increase the payment to $20 per day up to 200 days; those working 25 years or more would get another $5 for days past 200 days.
After meeting with the mayor, the committee supported the policy change, said committee Chairman Michael Bloom, after it determined it would have "minimal impact on the budget." Only three to four people are expected to take advantage of the buy-back this year.
The benefit is similar to that already given to union workers and would not apply to the mayor.
The council also endorsed the bottle bills currently in the state House and Senate that would expand deposits currently on required on cans and bottles of carbonated beverages to other beverages, such as sports drinks.
The resolution to support expanding the state's bottle redemption law was brought forward by City Council President Alan Marden. It stated that Northern Berkshire Container Service, operated by Berkshire Family And Individual Resources, would benefit from the penny-per-bottle reimbursement increase. The rate has sat at 2.25 cents a bottle for 19 years.
Passage of the bill would also bring an estimated $20 million into state coffers and take some 1.2 billion plastic bottles off the state's byways and out of its landfills. Marden said he believed the Pittsfield City Council endorsed a similar resolution.
The council also approved a taxi license for David Bushey of Pines Lodge Park, Williamstown, to drive for Lori Smith.
Four nominations for the License Board and the Housing Authority were referred back to the mayor's office at his request.
A tax classification hearing was set for the council's next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 7:30 p.m.
Clarksburg House Coming Down
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Selectmen declared 430 North Houghton St. a public hazard on Wednesday night and slated it to be razed.
The deteriorating single-family house had been owned by an elderly couple but has been vacant for years.
"I really don't feel the structure in this condition is safe or safe to the community," said Building Inspector Vincent Lively. "I'm recommending that we have it removed. ... It's in real bad shape."
Owner Roger F. Daub said he had been paying the taxes on the property for some time and, about five years ago, took ownership only to find Medicaid demanding tens of thousands because of missing paperwork from the death of the previous owner, an elderly family member.
"I finally got the title. The next day I got a bill from Worcester saying they wanted $87,000," said Daub. "That's why I stopped paying the taxes. Why put more money in? I'd never get it back; you can't sell that place for $87,000."
The estimated cost to take the down the building is about $10,000. Town Administrator Michael Canales said and the Finance Committee had put aside money leftover in several accounts last year in anticipation of the demolition.
Once the house is down, the town will take the property by tax title and sell it. Selectman Carl McKinney asked that the garage on the site be inspected to see if it was salvagable since it was the property's only asset.
Town Administrator Michael Canales said the town is moving forward with the senior housing project. Project applications have to be mailed by Friday. The town will also have to drill a well for the 24-unit development that will be a public water supply, he said, which requires approval of the Department of Environmental Protection.
The town is still waiting to hear back from the state Department of Revenue so it can set a tax classification hearing. The DOR has not certified property values and tax rates for nearly half the municipalities in the county, a delay of two months that's put some towns in a pinch because they can't mail tax bills.
Clarksburg, which bills quarterly tax estimates, will not be able to send its third-quarter bill until after certification, likely in January. "We don't foresee that being an issue," said Canales, because the first two preliminary quarters have already been paid.
However, Canales said the town is also waiting on the DOR to answer how it should designate the $156,000 in stimulus funding the school received to ensure it doesn't affect the tax rate.
Clarksburg is also joining North Adams in applying for a grant to install solar energy panels for Drury High School.
