Adams' Valley Street Shed Still Needs Funding

By Brian RhodesiBerkshires Staff
05:13AM / Friday, August 12, 2022Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — Construction of the new shed at Valley Street Field may be delayed due to a lack of funding.

Mike Benson of the Adams/Cheshire Little League attended Monday's Parks Commission meeting and said the league is still working on obtaining funds for the shed. The town appropriated $3,000 for the shed as part of the fiscal 2023 budget and asked the league to match.

"I've done a ton of fundraising this year to try to keep the costs low for the kids," Benson said, noting he could probably contribute about half of the $3,000 needed right now.

The league, Benson said, is in the process of ordering a new scoreboard for the field, one similar to the one recently installed at Russell Field. He said financing the scoreboard came first, as it was in the works before planning for the new shed began.

"We had started the scoreboard thing before we heard anything about the shed," he said. "... We haven't asked the town for anything to do to help with the scoreboard. We're doing it all on our own, it's $3,500."

Mark Pizani, an equipment operator at DPW, said they would likely be able to get more time out of the old shed if the league needs more time for funding. Benson said he would happily work with the town to clean the shed.

"We can work it out with what we have. If we need another year out of it, it's really not a big deal," Pizani said. "That's my personal feeling. It would have been nice to have."

Commission Chair James Fassell agreed the current shed can keep being used and said the group will revisit the issue in the future.

"I just want to make sure it's for the good of the league and for the good of Adams," he said.

In other business, Pizani updated the board on a berm near Russell Field, which the group was concerned could overflow onto the field. He said a significant amount of brush and debris was removed from the water since the last meeting, making an overflow less likely.

"We cleaned that whole river out," he said. "We cleaned it out; it's in good shape. We took truckloads of debris and stuff out of the river."

Tags: parks commission,

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Community Feedback Essential During Ed Collaborative

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:29AM / Tuesday, January 06, 2026

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Ensuring everyone's voices are heard will be a constant during all stages of exploring secondary education collaborative efforts to achieve long-term sustainability in North Berkshire.

Hoosac Valley Regional School District Superintendent Aaron Dean presented an update to at the Select Board last meeting of 2025 on the collaboration to pool resources and explore the possibility of regionalizing the three high schools and the elementary districts in the North Berkshire School Union.

"I think it's something that we have to make sure we bring everybody's voice to the table and bring everybody's concerns to the table through this, so we do it the right way and we don't have a bad taste in people's mouths as we go and take those next steps," he said.

"The communities have learned from some history, unfortunately, on how things have gone. So, I think we have to be mindful of that and kind of make sure that there's a high level of engagement as we go through the process."

NBSU, Hoosac Valley, North Adams Public Schools and the Mount Greylock Regional School District are in the initial stages of the initiative that may take three to five years to complete, he said.

"It's really looking at what are some models, and maybe even what are some different models of regionalization that the communities could utilize, that might be most effective in terms of providing opportunities for kids," Dean said.

With a $100,000 state grant that Dean referred to as "seed money," the task force has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to hire a consultant. The bids are due by 4 p.m. on Jan. 20. The resulting study will guide next steps with the goal of maximizing funding and resources while reducing pressure on communities.

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