NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — School officials began their campaign on Wednesday to drum up support for a $10 million school project that could include the renovation of the closed Conte Middle School.

Mayor Richard Alcombright had hoped to present a single option to voters but the Massachusetts School Building Authority had bumped the project from its agenda on Wednesday, delaying a decision until its April meeting. So the five options are being presented over the next month.

The MSBA had charged the city to find a solution for 620 pupils after the middle school was closed in 2009 over budgetary and building issues. Alcombright said the city had serious capital needs, including a new public safety building that could cost $25 million.

"We have so many high-ticket items, we have to start somewhere and this is the one that's in front of us and the only one that's going to give us 80 percent back," said the mayor of the state's reimbursement rate.

The two dozen citizens and officials at Drury High School for a presentation on the project raised questions about costs and safety related to revamping Conte School.

Returning pupils, especially younger ones, to the downtown facility raised concerns over traffic, walking and the loitering of "undesireables" around the school area. The 1916 building had housed high school students and middle school students after the new Drury High was built in 1974.

Councilor Lisa Blackmer said the children walking down steep East Main Street would have to deal with snow-covered sidewalks, cars parked blocking the way and heavy traffic. "These are not middle school students, they're third- and fourth-graders, it's a different mentality," she said. "But considerning the obesity problem in this country, I would like to see kids walking."

Upcoming Public Meetings • April 5 - 6 p.m., Conte School, agenda item for School Committee meeting • April 7 - 6 p.m., Conte School, lower level, School Building Committee meeting • April 12 - 7:30 p.m., City Hall, agenda on City Council meeting

The mayor and Superintendent of Schools James Montepare said those issues would have to be addressed, but Montepare added most of the children walking would likely be coming east of the school, from a largely residential area.

"Your assuming it's going to be a problem; we don't know if it's going to be a problem," said Montepare. "We haven't got to that point yet. ... We can find solutions."

One man took issue with the preference for renovating Conte despite it being "least desirable" for reconfiguring into teaching clusters, describing it as short-term benefits being placed above long-term educational gains. "It's not good for the kids."

Margo Jones, architect for the project, said the words could have been better chosen and that the other option, to renovate Sullivan School, would be problematic - it would better provide for clustering but would be spread over five floors on a steep hillside. Conte was not ideal but clustering by grades on each floor provided the appropriate space.

The team of Margo Jones Architects ran through a similar presentation to what they offered to the School Building Committee last month, with the addition of a more extensive renovation of Greylock School based on their meeting with the School Building Authority on Feb. 25.

The preferred option of the School Building Committee is the renovation of Conte Middle School into the new kindergarten through Grade 7 format and building a new Greylock School, each to accommodate 310 pupils.

"Since the MSBA meeting, they've expresed some interest in the Greylock site; we've added a 1B, a major renovation," said Kristian Whitsett. The new plan would tear down one section of the aging elementary school, creating more of an L-shaped configuration, and renovate and add on to the building.

Costs for each of the five options includes nonreimbursables (furniture, fees, designs, and any costs related to relocating students) plus an expected overrun. Carl Weber said current MSBA projects have been running under cost by as much as 20 percent because of competitive bidding.

The lowest cost option is the minor renovation of Greylock School and a major renovation of Conte, which comes in at about $44 million and would cost the city  $9.2 million.

The most expensive is the renovation of Conte and construction of a new Greylock School (while children continue to attend the old one). The cost would be $48 million total, $9.8 million to be paid by the city.

The city would have 120 days to confirm support for the project once the MSBA makes a decision on the option it prefers. Carl Weber of Strategic Building, the city's liaison to the MSBA, said the funds, secured from 1 percent of the sales tax, are in place. He couldn't answer to what exactly would happen should the city reject the project but it would probably drop in priority.

"You're still going to have a need but they're looking for communities that want a school, that are going to support a school," he said. "They'd probably go to other districts that had the same needs you do but who support it."

Alcombright said a big concern was that the 80 percent reimbursement would no longer be available if the project is delayed for more years. Montepare added that the elementary schools are "jam-packed."

"Even if you put 350 kids in one new school it wouldn't solve the problem," said Montepare. "It took us three years to get where we are today and we're another three years out ... it's taken three years of constant filing of studies, discussions and trips to Boston to get where we are today." 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council Chambers are being wired up for new sight and sound by Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp.

Four movable cameras — one on each wall — will replace the single camera that's been used for years to focus on the councilors. The new perspective will give the viewing audience a look at those attending council meetings (including yours truly) and closeups of speakers as well as councilors and the mayor.

The public access station's director David Fabiano told us last week that the new $30,000 system should be up and running by the first meeting in April.

"We've been talking about this for a couple of years now," said Fabiano. "We were having trouble where to put the control equipment."

The solution was to wire the controls into the old judge's chamber, unused since District Court moved to the former Sprague research building some years ago. That way, said Fabiano, the camera operator will be in a separate room and will be less of a distraction.

The controller is portable and about the size of a laptop. "Just push a botton and it just goes to the shot you want; it's a much more complex and sophisticated system," he said, adding it could be used for other events. "It should be a pretty flexible system."

The new system will also include goose-neck microphones for each councilor (they've been sharing a couple at each table) and three wireless microphones for speakers that will eliminate wires underfoot and come in handy for giving presentations. Not all the sound equipment may be ready for the April meeting but should be installed not long after.

(An important note, the microphones are not for the audience in chambers to hear the councilors but rather to pick up voice for the television audience.)

The funding comes from the cable company, part of the contract made with the participating towns.

"We're excited to get it going," said Fabiano.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The mayor released a schedule at the City Council meeting on Tuesday for upcoming meetings to discuss building proposals for the school district.

Mayor Richard Alcombright had said last week that the city was hoping to have feedback from the Massachusetts School Building Authority before making community presentations. The MSBA board is scheduled to meet March 30 but the mayor said he did not expect the city to get direction until April.

The city has submitted five options for dealing with the new kindergarten-through-seventh grade configuration, with its preference the renovation of the currently closed Conte School and a new or renovated Greylock School.

The target date for completion is the beginning of the 2013 school year; Alcombright said it was necessary to begin informing the community of the details and seeking support for project.

"The discussion has to be had because of funding down the road," he said.

The mayor had taken some flack from councilors and School Committee members for not being kept in the loop for the project.

The meetings are as follows:

• March 30 - 3:30 p.m., Drury High School auditorium; all North Adams Public School faculty, School Committee, Building Committee and City Council

Public Meetings

• March 30 - 6:30 p.m., Drury High School auditorium; community meeting with City Council and School and Building committees

• April 5 - 6 p.m., Conte School, agenda item for School Committee meeting

• April 7 - 6 p.m., Conte School, lower level, School Building Committee meeting

• April 12 - 7:30 p.m., City Hall, agenda on City Council meeting

All of the meetings will include the options being discussed and will include presentations by the project manager and architect.

Council President Ronald Boucher expressed his concern that owners are not being responsible for their dogs, noting messes left on Main Street and an incident over the weekend involving hikers at the Cascades.

"I know if I was from out of town I'd be appalled at that," he said of what he found on Main Street. On Tuesday afternoon, a woman had called saying she and others had been harassed by three unleashed dogs. She had reported the incident to the animal control officer, who had not returned her call, said Boucher.

"I don't think the dog officer is that busy that they can't make a return phone call," said the council president, who added he would follow up through the mayor's office and come back with a communique about signage regarding dogs at Cascades.

Michael Chalifoux of the Vietnam Veterans of America addressed the council about the clean up work the VVA's volunteers and paid staff have doing for years in the city. "What we've found over the last four years is the more we pick up the less people throw it down," he said. The other day, they had filled three trash bags at the cemetery.

Chalifoux also encouraged the city to go after the state aid owed it and said he would return to speak on the failed efforts of the state regarding veterans.

Donna Dickinson said she was speaking on behalf of others who were afraid to come to the council meetings. "Some people, they feel very uncomfortable and intimidated that if they say something the wrong way they'll be told to sit down," Dickinson told the council. "I feel us taxpayers all have the right to come here and join in and be part of the group."

Boucher did tell one citizen to sit down after he began talking about being sexually abused. "This is not the place for this," Boucher told him.

Alcombright read on behalf of Human Services Commission Chairwoman Suzy Helme the seven applicants granted $500 for services benefiting local families: Child Care of the Berkshires, Family Life Support Center, Elder Services, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Berkshire Community Action Council, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition and United Cerebral Palsy Fun Club.

The council also:

• Reapppointed to the Hoosac Water Quality District Dr. John Moresi, who has served for 24 years, and Boucher, who has served for 12 years. Boucher abstained from the vote.

• Appointed Alan Horbal and Darrell English to the Historical Commission. All terms will expire in 2014.

• Referred a communication from the council president on adopting state anti-idling legislation to the Public Safety Committee.

• Approved the renewal of a secondhand license for Hudsons antiques shop at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Councilors Lisa Blackmer and Alan Marden were absent.

NA_CityCouncil_0322011

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — What's now a field of snow will bloom with tents in June as music lovers descend on the city for the Solid Sound 2 Festival.

The city is teaming with Solid Sound host Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts and the local ROPES program to organize and operate the temporary camping area, dubbed "Solid Ground." Up to 300 tent campsites and 10 recreational vehicle spots will be marked out at the Noel Field Athletic Complex between Steele and Disanti fields behind the former Modern Liquors for June 24, 25 and 26.

More than 5,000 people attended last August's festival — curated by band Wilco — filling inns and hotels and packing into the Historic Valley Campground. Noel Field was suggested last year as a possible camping site; this year, the city's being proactive in placing Wilco fans within walking distance of MoCA and the downtown. 

Half the tent sites and all but one of the RV lots have been reserved as of Friday, said Chiara Morrison at MoCA's box office.

The Parks and Recreation Commission last Wednesday reviewed preliminary plans for usage of the fields and where the tents will be located. Portable showers and toilets will be placed at the field and Paul Markland, public works director, said his department would mark out the sites with lime. Open fires will be prohibited. Golf carts will be used to shuttle campers and equipment from the parking areas and ROPES will provide an element of security and a concession.

"I went to ROPES because they have a solid support in place," said Mayor Richard Alcombright. "A good majority of them either were or are involved in law enforcement. ... It puts some form of security automatically in place."

ROPES, or Respecting Other People, Encouraging Self-esteem, is an annual summer day camp for kids that the North Adams Police Department has been operating for years. Many of its volunteer staff are local emergency responders.

"They just needed an organization willing to take on this event," said police Lt. David Sacco, one of ROPES' founders. "Because it is a city-based organization, it's kind of a win-win for the city."

Campers are being charged $80 for a 15-by-18-foot, single tent site for the weekend. An RV spot is $100. The MoCA box office is handling reservations and notifications and will get a small slice of the fee; the rest will be shared between the city and ROPES after costs, such as field repair or portable conveniences.

The Parks Commission expressed concern over damage to the field but the mayor said he expected the costs to be covered by the fees.

"Unless we have a really, really soggy weekend, I don't see a problem," he said. "Basically we committed to the fact that any repairs will come out of the proceeds."

Sacco said he didn't also see an issue with security at the site, based on last year's family-friendly, laidback crowd.

"I have never ever seen a more well-behaved crowd," said Sacco. "We're not anticipating any problems."

The dates will bump the annual LaFesta Baseball Exchange to July.

For more information on Solid Ground, click here.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city is running a deficit in several of its line items — including police and fire — because of unexpected costs.

Four accounts are significantly over budget or close to being emptied. Police and fire have accounts that have expended more than 80 percent of their balances because of overtime; the snow and ice account is more than $84,000 in the red and the veterans account is expected to be $170,000 over.

The update was the first of what Mayor Richard Alcombright said will be regular budget control reports to the Finance Committee.

"We were budgeting for the exact dollar salary ... we kept the budget accurate and projected overtime but we didn't project for four [officers] to go to the academy and we didn't project for five firefighters on long-term disability," the mayor told the committee on Tuesday. "That's something to keep in mind as we begin budgeting for next year."

Public Safety Commissioner E. John Morocco said the department paid extra officer salaries for about 48 weeks to cover four officers at the academy plus two long-term disabilities on the force. Morocco said it was unusual for four officers to attend the academy in one year. It was caused by the number of retirements and departures and the fact the state scheduled the academies back to back. Another officer has retired as of March 1 and that means his replacement will attend the next academy.

Morocco did note that some revenues, such as the $15,000 reimbursed by the Solid Sound Festival last summer for overtime, do not show up against his budget but in the general receipts.

Nevertheless, "we're looking at a very sizable shortfall here but I think you're going to see there are a lot of smaller things that we — turnbacks — use," said the mayor. "There are some places we will not spend up to our budget."

The snow and ice account, the only account municipalities can overspend, will get some relief from federal reimbursements for the Jan. 12 snowstorm. The mayor said he expected to get $47,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency toward the $58,000 spent in man-hours, material and equipment to battle the massive Nor'easter.

The veterans services account is already $47,000 over and is expected to spend another $31,000 a month for the next four months. Seventy-five percent of those funds will be reimbursed by the federal government but not until the next fiscal year.

Alcombright said the uptick reflects the large number of veterans who have served in the Middle East and Afghanistan. "We're serving a lot of veterans through this district office," he said. "This money goes back into the community; it pays for rent, it buys groceries, it does all these things. It's a program that needs to be there."

The mayor said city is also keeping an eye on Department of Public Works salaries, which were elevated becuase of the amount of overtime to fight the near-constant snowstorms, and the health insurance account, which is currently projected to be about $100,000 over, "but we're hoping it will fall in line."

Also in deficit: the mayor's office because he didn't realize he had to budget $2,000 in dues to the National Mayor's Association. He promised to do it right next year.

Overall, the city is running about where it should be three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year, said Alcombright, with half its expected revenues received and most accounts having spent between 60 percent and 70 percent of their budgeted amounts. The fiscal year ends June 30. 

Among the good signs are some $90,000 collected in back water fees; a projected increase in school tuition and about $50,000 more in transfer station revenues; more back excise taxes collected; savings of up to $50,000 from taking over the water filtration plant; and bundling of utility costs for all departments which could mean another $70,000 in savings.

The city is also preparing to sell off a number of properties later this summer, including two 64-acre lots off West Shaft Road. A solicitation for bids from auctioneers is being prepared for publication.

The sewer fee is expected to show a deficit its first year because a first-quarter payment couldn't instituted in time.

"It ain't pretty but I think it's doable," said the mayor. "We're going to continue to watch revenues very closely."

Alcombright also provided the committee and those in attendance with the city's responses to recommendations from the state management review and the audit done by Scanlon & Associates. Many of the issues were in the process of being developed or implemented; others, such as adopting current budget procedures as ordinances, were found to be too complex to adopt before the fiscal year begins. They will continue to be worked on.

He said the city was also following the Governmental Accounting and Standards Board, or GASB, rules by accounting for unfunded post-retirement benefits. The city is projected to have future liabilities of $92 million.

"If were to start funding it it would be $3 million a year," said Alcombright. "The accounting practice says you should be banking for this but it would bankrupt every city in the state."