Lanesborough to Vote on Public Safety Building in Two WeeksBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
04:58AM / Tuesday, February 14, 2023 | |
 The Select Board was making phone calls for advice on how to ensure a proper process for voting on the public safety building articles. The meeting was continued to Tuesday at 11 a.m. to approve the special town meeting warrant. |
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Residents will vote on the new public safety building's location at a special meeting on March 1.
Police Station Building Committee Chair Kristen Tool told the Select Board on Monday that it is important to have the special meeting at this time to secure funding for the nearly $6 million build at 405 South Main St.
The window for grant opportunities closes in March and that could extend the search for funding into another year if missed, Tool reported.
"The USDA Loan Program, the interest rate of 3.7 percent, which all of our presentation numbers were based on, the tax burden numbers are based on, that most likely will go up on March 31 so it's really important to keep the special meeting for these votes in order to keep the cost down as low as possible," she said.
"We don't want to risk losing the funds that we have that are low right now and I think it's really important that we keep it on the special [meeting] and I understand there's always going to be somebody who's not happy about it being on the special [meeting,] there's probably people who will be unhappy about it being on the annual meeting, too. I think everybody's got to do the best they can to get to the meeting and vote. It is very important. It's a big project."
Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. over Zoom, Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m. at Town Hall, and a tentative meeting on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. with the Council on Aging at Town Hall. In order to have the warrant sent out two weeks before the special meeting, the Select Board continued its meeting until Tuesday at 11 a.m. so that it can vote on the articles.
All of the project's details are compiled into a nearly 45-minute slideshow that was posted 11 days ago. The proposed site formerly housed the Skyline Country Club's driving range and is owned by Pittsfield's Mill Town Capital.
After several months of negotiation, Tool told the Select Board last week that the 9-acre parcel will require approval at a special town meeting.
Tool has since learned that a warrant is not needed to accept a $150,000 gift from the Baker Hill Road District but is needed to approve the property's purchase, to transfer $236,000 from free cash to pay for the first year of the loan burden and to approve the $5.9 million project cost.
Since free cash was just certified, the $236,000 ask may not make it the final warrant. The average home would see an annual tax bill increase between $46 and $183.
"The largest article is to raise appropriate, transfer, raise funds for the full cost of the project so that we can have the money that's been awarded through the state released to the town and we can seek other grants and other funds to be able to cover costs and lower the tax burden," Tool explained.
The state has promised $1 million for the build, bringing the maximum taxpayer burden to $4.9 million.
There has been some concern about the timing of the special meeting, with some feeling that it is rushed.
Tool said the fully compiled information has been public for almost two weeks and some of the information was released late last year when the building plans were received.
"I understand that this is a big project and there's a lot of fear about it but the information has been available for quite a long time for people to review," she said.
There was some procedural question on how to get the warrant articles OK'd by Wednesday. The selectmen wound up calling an emergency meeting on Tuesday after making a few phone calls to ask for advice.
At the beginning of the meeting, former Selectman Gordon Hubbard was remembered during a moment of silence. Hubbard, 54, died unexpectedly earlier this month while working as a ski patrol member at Bousquet.
In the town's last election, Timothy Sorrell ran against Hubbard for the third seat on the board and won. Sorrell said Hubbard was a pleasure to work with.
"He was a very good man, pleasant to work with here," John Goerlach said. "It's a sad loss for our community."
Michael Murphy said he always enjoyed working with Hubbard and that he had a great sense of humor.
"He had a love for Lanesborough," he said. "And the thing I admired about him most was, especially when we disagreed, he did it in a very professional and respectful way that I admire."
Editor's note: the full cost of the public safety building was give erroneously one time in the article and has been fixed. The amount is $5.9 million.
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