Mount Greylock School Committee Delays Cost-Share Vote

By Patrick RonaniBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee pushed back its vote on the proposed shared-administrative agreement Tuesday night, following more changes to the language in the contract.

The agreement, which would help share administrative costs between the district and School Union 71, will now be voted on by the committee on Monday night.

"We made a bunch of wordsmith changes, and we want to see the next agreement before we vote," Committee Chairman David Archibald said. "We didn't change the context, we changed the wording. They were relatively minor, but when you try to wordsmith by committee, it can take awhile."

Archibald said one of the revisions pertained to the legal basis of retirement plans for cost-sharing employees.

"We're making word changes that make our contract clearer," he added.

The district's legal counsel, Fred Dupere, provided assistance in scripting the draft and was a strong proponent of the vote being delayed. While the consensus was that a revised contract should be viewed before a vote takes place, there was a sense of urgency within the committee.

David Langston, who on May 1 was the single 'no' vote to continue discussion of the agreement and who sought a longer time line, on Tuesday expressed concerns in delaying the vote too long.

"We can't wait forever to get this result," Langston said Tuesday night. "It's suicide."

Archibald agreed that time is of the essence because of the pending retirement of Mount Greylock Superintendent William Travis, whose last day is June 30. If the district votes in favor of the cost-share agreement, then School Union 71, which includes the Williamstown and Lanesborough elementary schools, will vote.

"If too much time passes, we'll have to find an interim superintendent," Archibald said.

In other business Tuesday night, the committee agreed to carry Mount Greylock's budget proposal to the Lanesborough town meeting in June. The decision comes a week after Lanesborough's Finance Committee approved, in its budget, an assessment $60,000 short of what the school had originally negotiated. Lanesborough is having a difficult financial year.

Archibald says he'll ask to speak at both the Williamstown and Lanesborough town meetings, and he'll stress the importance of town aid in response to the significant drop in state aid for the 2011 fiscal year.
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Williamstown CPA Requests Come in Well Above Available Funds

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee faces nearly $300,000 in funding requests for fiscal year 2026.
 
Problem is, the town only anticipates having about $200,000 worth of funds available.
 
Seven non-profits have submitted eight applications totaling $293,797 for FY26. A spreadsheet detailing both FY26 revenue and known expenses already earmarked from Community Preservation Act revenues shows the town will have $202,535 in "unrestricted balance available" for the year that begins on July 1.
 
Ultimately, the annual town meeting in May will decide whether to allocate any of that $202,535.
 
Starting on Wednesday, the CPC will begin hearing from applicants to begin a process by which the committee drafts warrant articles recommending the May meeting approve any of the funding requests.
 
Part of that process will include how to address the $91,262 gap between funds available and funds requested. In the past, the committee has worked with applicants to either scale back or delay requests to another year. Ultimately, it will be the panel's job to send the meeting articles that reflect the fiscal reality.
 
The individual requests range from a high of $100,000 from the trustees of the town's Affordable Housing Trust to a low of $8,000 from the Williamstown Historical Museum.
 
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