The mats are attached to the ground through pins and nubs.
DALTON, Mass. — The Americans with Disabilities Act Committee is exploring adding playground mats to town parks.
These mats would be laid out to provide accessible routes to playground equipment and swings.
ADA coordinator Alyssa Maschino heard about these mats while attending an Advanced Community Access Monitor Training.
"[The state Division of Professional Licensure Office of Public Safety and Inspections Architectural Access Board] brought this up which I thought was very clever," Maschino said.
"It's like a rubber matting system, which is very inexpensive compared to paving a pathway in the parks."
The mats are fixed to the ground using pins and nubs. They are also secured to play equipment and swing sets using plastic stakes and stainless steel pins. The mats are connected to each other using zip ties. The mats are "relatively" quick to install and easy to maintain and repair.
Newton paid approximately $3,000 to cover the costs of the mats at one of its parks but it looks like they did quite a bit, Maschino said.
"Anything we can do to accentuate the beautiful parks we have and to make Dalton a more enjoyable, livable, accessible place," committee member Lyn Clements said.
"It not only makes it easier for those children and adults who already live here. It makes us more attractive to diversify our community more and I think that's a great thing."
These mats could also help in case the town considers investing in an ADA swing so disabled children can also enjoy the town parks, similar to Springside Park, Maschino said.
The Green Committee is going to need something like this because it is putting electric vehicle chargers at Pine Grove Park, committee member David Wasielewski said. Wasielewski also serves as the town's Green Committee chair.
"We're gonna need something to stabilize that area as well and make it accessible," he said.
Maschino is currently in communication with Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall to gauge his interest.
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Big Votes Await Pittsfield City Council
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tuesday is a big day for Pittsfield, as the City Council will take a final vote on the fiscal 2025 budget, a five-year trash contract, and water and sewer rates.
These will be taken in council chambers at the meeting beginning at 6 p.m.
The proposed $215,955,210 spending plan is a 5 percent increase from the previous year and includes a $200,000 cut to the schools. Councilors preliminarily OKed the number a couple of weeks ago with a last-minute cut to the district's budget after "unprofessional" comments from School Committee members.
This drops the school budget to $82.6 million.
All other city departments were preliminarily approved without adjustments over four hearings.
The Pittsfield Police Department budget is proposed to rise 4 percent from $14,364,673 in FY24 to $14,998,410, an increase of about $614,000. A 2.5 percent increase is proposed for the Department of Public Services, rising about $287,000 from $11,095,563 in FY24 to $11,382,122.
Mayor Peter Marchetti has also submitted orders to appropriate $2.5 million from certified free cash to reduce the FY25 tax rate, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $10,192,500 for general fund capital expenditures, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $7,700,000 for enterprise fund capital expenditures, and transfer and appropriate $234,000 from the public works stabilization fund to the Department of Public Services.
Councilors will also be tasked with the city's trash collection for the next five years, with contracts on the table between the City of Pittsfield and Casella Waste Management, Inc. for solid waste and recyclables collection and for the operation of the Casella-owned transfer station at 500 Hubbard Avenue.
Following three community meetings to engage residents, the council preliminarily approved the five-year contracts with Casella last week. This agreement uses automated collection instead of unlimited trash pickup VIA 48-gallon trash and recycling toters provided at no cost.
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