Cheshire Selectmen, Finance Committee Want to Fix Poor Road Conditons

By Brian RhodesiBerkshires Staff
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CHESHIRE, Mass. — The poor condition of several town roads was a topic of discussion for the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee in the ongoing town budget discussion. 

Board Chair Michelle Francesconi said she had recently heard complaints about Notch Road, Pleasantview Drive and more. She said she would prefer to use $125,000 that is currently budgeted for a new backhoe on road work, noting that Adams Ambulance may not always be able to respond. 
 
"The reality is, we're mandating fire trucks be patched togethe. And that is a public safety issue. The roads are a public safety issue ... We're in this critical juncture, and I cannot support buying a brand-new backhoe when we might not have a medical staff to respond to medical calls," Francesconi said at Tuesdays Board of Selectmen meeting.
 
The two boards decided to wait for more information on the backhoe purchase before changing its position on the budget. Town Administrator Jennifer Morse said she is also working on other road-safety solutions, such as more consistent police enforcement and better signage.
 
Francesconi said the town needs to find a funding method for roads, even if it means raising taxes. 
 
"Almost every single person I've talked to said our taxes need to go up or we're not going to be able to fix this stuff," She said. 
 
The boards also discussed the condition of town buildings, such as Town Hall, the fire station and the former Cheshire Elementary School. Selectman Ron DeAngelis said the town should create a plan for renovating the elementary school, noting they formed a committee to do so in his previous term as selectman. 
 
"What I worry about is we go by another year and it's some more money, another year some more money and at the end of the day, 10 years from now we're going to be sitting here and pumped a ton of money into this building and got nothing," he said. 
 
The building is one of several properties in Cheshire on the national register of historic places. 
 
In other business, the board reorganized following the May 2 town election and unanimously elected Francesconi to remain chair. The board voted for Shawn McGrath as the vice chair.
 
The board voted that the building commissioner send a cease-and-desist for construction on 612 West Mountain Road as construction is ongoing without a permit. 

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Adams Clerk, Treasurer & Assessor Request Raises

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen has begun a deep review of the fiscal 2026 budget of $19,548,441, up $717,916, or 3.7 percent over this year.
 
The annual budget workshops started with a preliminary review and presentation of the budget books last week and continued on Tuesday with the Executive, Finance and Technology and General Government sections. 
 
That included the elected town clerk, assessor and treasurer/collector who all asked for a 5 percent raise to start bringing their salaries closer to other department heads and citing increased responsibilities and workloads in their offices.
 
Each began with reading a statement that they had emailed interim Town Administrator Kenneth Walto, Chair John Duval and Finance Director Ashley Satko on Feb. 27 requesting the raises that would amount to $7,000 total in the budget.
 
"This 5 percent increase would help to align these three positions with the salaries of the other department heads throughout the town of Adams. The average of these other department positions is approximately $89,000," said Assessor Paula Grover. "It would bring our salaries to $81,933, which is still well below the average salary."
 
Town Clerk Haley Meczywor said, "this disparity raises questions about fairness and equally, the allocation of resources." 
 
Treasurer Kelly F. Rice noted that raises of between 4 and 10 percent had been given to other departments and positions, above the regular 2 percent cost of living. 
 
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