NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The library trustees welcomed new Assistant Director Ryan Miller, who started on Feb. 21.
"We are happy to have him here," Library Director Veronica Clark said at Wednesday's meeting. "He has been meeting with patrons and making connections in the community."
Miller comes to North Adams from New Jersey, where he primarily dealt with adult services and outreach at the New Brunswick Library.
He is originally from West Virginia but actually went to high school in Dalton.
"I am here because I wanted to make it to the Berkshire for many years," Miller said. "So here I am, and I hope to be a valuable asset to this library and the community."
He said he came into the profession later in life and went back to graduate school in 2014. He became a librarian in 2019.
Miller said he is still reading the community and figuring out what the community wants in North Adams in regard to the public library and programming.
He said he was encouraged by the open communication throughout the building and enjoyed the freedom to explore different and new programming. He said he was especially excited about an upcoming job fair in the building.
"A job fair is something that I have wanted to do for years but just never could do," he said. "It seems communication is just much more open here. It is a relief to me."
He said he is not only impressed with the staff and patrons but the physical building and its location in the heart of downtown. He felt this helped make the space a true community hub.
"There is a real pride here in the library, and I am already catching that here," he said.
Also during the meeting, Clark gave a budget update and noted currently the budget is on track. Although, the technology budget seems to be missing.
Chairwoman Tara Jacobs affirmed that the trustees did present this aspect of the budget to the City Council during the last budget cycle.
Clark said she will continue to work with the city to locate the budget line.
She added that she has also blown through the supplies line item. However, this is not a surprise because the line item has not increased since the pandemic.
"We are over budget on supplies and costs are exponentially increasing," she said. "We never raised our supply budget and now we have people in here again. Before we didn't need as much paper products because it was just staff in-house."
Looking forward, Clark said she is working on the fiscal year 2024 budget. Budget requests are due this month.
"I have been digging deep looking for where we have to increase line items," Clark said.
Jacobs advocated at the very least Clark aims for funding levels that will maintain accreditation with the state.
She did acknowledge that the current administration has been supportive of the library budget and hopes that continues.
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North Adams Property Owners to See Tax Rates Fall, Bills Rise
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday voted to maintain the split tax shift, resulting in a drop in the residential and commercial tax rates.
However, higher property values also mean about a $222 higher tax bill.
The vote was unanimous with Councilor Deanna Morrow absent.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey recommended keeping a 1.715 shift to the commercial side, the same as last year. This sets the residential rate at $16.71 per $1,000 property valuation, down 43 cents, and the commercial/industrial to $35.22, down $1.12.
This is the lowest property tax rate since 2015, when it was $16.69.
"My job as the assessor is to assess based on full and fair cash value in an open market, willing buyer, willing seller, arms-length sales," said City Assessor Jessica Lincourt. "So every year, I have to do a sales analysis of everything that comes in."
All that documentation also has to be reviewed by the state Department of Revenue.
The City Council on Tuesday voted to maintain the split tax shift, resulting in a drop in the residential and commercial tax rates. However, higher property values also mean a $222 higher tax bill. click for more
The city of North Adams is hosting three community walks this week to solicit input on a study of the 60-year-old Central Artery project. click for more
There are several events this weekend, including a community day, hurricane relief benefit concert, craft fairs, bingo, live music, and more.
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