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Lanesborough Selectmen Approve New Survey On School Project
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
03:30AM / Thursday, January 07, 2016
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Robert Barton presented the Selectmen with another survey, which the board ultimately opted not to use.

Update January 7, 2016 at 3:30 p.m.:
Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch refutes a sentence in the draft survey which claims Williams College does not pay property taxes.

"Williams College is the largest taxpayer in Williamstown. In FY 2015, Williams College paid $775,497 in property taxes to the Town of Williamstown based on a taxable assessed value of $49,679,500," Hoch wrote in an e-mail to Paul Sieloff.


LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen will both hold a special town meeting to discuss the upcoming building project as well as survey registered voters.
 
The Selectmen on Wednesday approved mailing a questionnaire out to all registered voters with four questions. The survey is completely different from a prior draft, which asked voters to check one of three statements. The new survey is available in its entirety below.
 
The first question asks residents to check one of three boxes: I urge the Selectmen to support the Mount Greylock Regional building project; I urge the Selectmen to not support the Mount Greylock Regional School building project; none of the above.
 
The second question asks "should the town of Lanesborough explore regionalizing with another high school?" And asks residents to check yes, no, or no opinion.
 
The third asks voters to rate on a scale of 1-5 "how important to you is the regional school affiliation that the town of Lanesborough has with Mount Greylock Regional school?
 
The fourth, asks voters to rate on the same scale "how important should it be for the town to try to collect financial support from Williams College to offset the cost of the Mount Greylock Regional School building project?"
 
The new survey, which will have a change to the language on the final question, does not include an introductory letter like the first draft. Nor does it include introductory language to the questions. Both changes were made after significant discussion in town arose over bias in the questions.
 
"It is a feeler. It is not going to mean anything. There will be a vote," said Selectman Henry "Hank" Sayers.
 
The goal is for the Selectmen to gain insight into residents' opinions on the upcoming part-renovation part-new build of the Mount Greylock Regional School project. Voters will be asked to approve a debt exclusion to move the $64.8 million project for which Lanesborough would be responsible for about a third of the $31.9 to $35.8 million of the district's share. The rest is being paid for by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
 
The Mount Greylock School Committee will be voting on setting a project budget on Jan. 14 and in the spring, voters will cast votes on the debt exclusion. 
 
In the meantime, the Selectmen want to know if they should be helping to usher the project through or trying to stop it. The survey results will be coupled with a discussion at a town meeting, expected to be called in February, to provide additional information and that could include a non-binding vote.
 
The Selectmen were unanimous in their support for the new survey. Previously Selectman Robert Ericson voted against the last draft because he felt it pushed respondents toward a specific position. He said a town meeting would be a better forum for getting feedback. His vote on Wednesday in favor of the survey came after assurances that a town meeting will also be called.
 
The version approved by the Selectmen was actually the third version presented. Resident and former Selectman Robert Barton crafted his own survey and asked the Selectmen to use his instead.
 
"The idea is this would provide input for Lanesborough leaders in the coming months," Barton said of polling residents. "As a Selectman, I would have loved to have that information."
 
His version eliminates questions about affiliation because he says a change would be "highly unlikely" but instead focused on the agreement apportioning capital expenses. Voters just recently approved a change to that agreement that sets each town's share every year based on a five-year average of property values and enrollment figures instead of being set once at the time the bond is taken out.
 
That agreement does not include tax-exempt properties when calculating the town's equalization value and Barton suggests using the town's support for the building project as leverage to negotiate that into the agreement. But, he said he wouldn't want to push for negotiations without knowing the residents would support it.
 
"There is a current agreement and it was changed. It can be changed again," Barton said. "Once the school project goes forward we lost leverage."
 
The Mount Greylock School Committee is responsible for crafting an agreement, which will then have to be approved by both towns. Williamstown rejected the notion that tax-exempt properties should be included because they don't contribute to the tax base. The Mount Greylock School Committee put forth an agreement that earned support from both towns. 
 
The Selectmen were split on Barton's survey but they agreed on the new draft from Town Manager Paul Sieloff. Ericson said Barton's version also included leading wording. 
 
Others in town, however, oppose having a survey at all. They have voiced concern about not getting a fair representation and biased wording, and say town meeting is the venue for getting opinions.
 
Richard Cohen has even gone so far as write to Siena College, where Sieloff suggested hiring a consultant from to review it, urging the college to avoid getting involved.
 
Others, and Cohen, say the Selectmen are going beyond their role because the School Committee is responsible for the project and voters give the approval. The Selectmen will have no authority over the school system or the project..
 
Selectman Chairman John Goerlach said it worries him that so many people are opposing such a survey and wondered if that meant proponents of the new school were afraid of the results.
 
"I'd like to get this survey done. It worries me that people are derailing it," Goerlach said.
 
Christine Galib, a member of the Finance Committee, says the changes to the capital agreement and the allocation of money for a feasibility study were both "overwhelmingly supported" at town meetings. And in March there will be a ballot question for voters to approve the project.
 
Another Finance Committee member Ray Jones, however, wants the survey because he says voters are "intimidated" by their peers when voting in public at town meeting.
 
Nonetheless, the Selectmen decided to do both: Hold an informational town meeting and to conduct the survey. Sieloff said he expects it to be mailed by the end of the month.
 
"The survey is not a life or death situation. It is a survey," Sayers said. 
 
Below is the draft of the survey. Please note question four is expected to be edited to read: 
 
"As you may know, Williams College does not pay any property taxes on its property, which is within the Mount Greylock Regional School region and is worth about $200 million dollars, diminishing the percentage of funding that Williamstown can contribute to the new school. On a scale of 1-5, how important should it be for the town to try to collect financial support from Williams College to offset the cost of the Mount Greylock Regional School building project?"

Lanesborough Building Project Survey

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