Williams College President Thanks Berkshires Healthcare Heroes

By Maud S. MandelGuest Column
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In 2020, COVID-19 turned our lives upside down. Medical and public health experts rushed to treat the sick and contain the spread. At Williams, we closed our campus and helped students leave for their safety — a sad milestone in our 227-year history. 
 
Today, the college is once again bustling with students, faculty and staff, learning, living and working on campus. Throughout the Berkshires, communities are starting to emerge and look to the future again.
 
Thursday, March 17, was the second anniversary of Williams' closure. Today, the college's senior staff and I want to thank the outstanding medical and public health professionals of Berkshire County and the region for caring for area residents so well throughout the pandemic.
 
Presidents and CEOs Dave Phelps and Darlene Rodowicz at Berkshire Health Systems and Tom Dee at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center provided strong leadership as they and their teams of devoted doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers organized and ran testing programs, traced close contacts and provided dedicated care in extraordinary circumstances. At the same time, they also offered expert counsel to Williams and other area employers and organizations.
 
Our gratitude extends, too, to all the heroic first responders, health-care professionals and public health specialists who have worked so hard these last two years.
  
The people of the Berkshires have been through a lot. We mourn the many whom we have lost, and work to support others still on the long path to recovery. But with spring finally on the way, we at Williams want to take this moment to publicly thank the good people — partners, colleagues, friends and neighbors — who have helped bring hope back to our beloved Berkshires. 
 
Maud S. Mandel is the president of Williams College. 




Tags: COVID-19,   Williams College,   


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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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