Lenox Board of Selectmen addresses a variety of issues

LENOX – The board of selectmen recently enjoyed a meeting that was high in consensus.

The meeting began with two questions from the citizens’ open forum.

Lenox resident Carolyn Barry followed up a question she’d asked at an earlier meeting about the state of the town’s collections from those who use the town ambulance service. She was informed by Town Manager Gregory T. Federspiel that collections had improved this year.

“We’re hitting 95 percent at this point,” said the town manager.

The second question came from Newton Kam, general manager of the Eastover Resort. Mr. Kam asked the town if they could provide some promotional assistance for the June 28-29 car show and swap meet that the Piston Poppers car club will be putting on at Eastover.

Noting that the town events committee had decided to not support the car show this year, the selectmen suggested that Eastover work with the chamber of commerce and the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, as the town wasn’t prepared to devote resources to the show’s promotion.

The selectmen then held two public hearings.

The first hearing was for an Annual All Alcoholic License Request for The Cornell Inn. The second was to amend the license of the Stockbridge Wine Cellar, also known as Nejaime’s Wine Cellar, because of the business’ recent expansion.

Both requests were unanimously approved by the selectmen, as was a Seasonal License Approval for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The selectmen were then asked to approve Berkshire Regional Transit Authority’s (BRTA) free ridership promotion by Lenox BRTA representative L. Scott Laugneour.

The promotion, which Lenox has participated in for the past few years, allows for free bus rides within Lenox on Friday and Saturday from early spring to mid-fall.

“It would run from the weekend of April 19 to Oct. 14; we’ve always done it from Earth Day to Columbus Day,” said Mr. Laugenour, who explained increasing ridership reduced the amount of money Lenox paid to the BRTA. “The more we ride the less we pay.”

Mr. Laugenour said Lenox’s ridership had increased by 31.8 percent last year, while ridership in the rest of the county had stayed level. He also asked the selectmen to approve free rides between Lenox and Lee during Apple Squeeze in Lenox, if Apple Squeeze and Founder’s Day in Lee fell on the same day again.

The selectmen voted unanimously to approve both proposals, which will now need to be approved by the BRTA.

No motion was made on the Town of Lenox hiring a temporary town events consultant, as Selectman Channing Gibson said the group interviewing the candidates, consisting of himself, Town Manager Federspiel and Cranwell Resort General Manager Carl Pratt, could not yet recommend an applicant for the position, although four qualified applicants had applied.

“I felt everybody understood that this is about face time and…a little bit of selling,” said Selectman Gibson, speaking of the applicants, and added a recommendation would be coming soon.

A discussion was also held about the money allocated for marketing in the proposed budget, which the finance committee has recommended reducing.

Selectman Edward P. Lane expressed his hesitancy towards funding a full-time events coordinator position, which the budget provides for: “I hate to lock ourselves in.”

Selectman Lane was assured, however, that providing money for the position would not force the selectmen to create it.

“We still have to vote for it,” said Selectman W. David Roche. “I am not prepared to vote for an events coordinator any time in the near future.”

This settled the concerns, as a majority of the board members, specifically Selectmen John McNinch, Roche and Lane, are currently not comfortable with creating a full-time events coordinator position.

Of the town meeting warrant items, only the proposal to sell the house Lenox co-owns with Lee on Laurel Lake caused much debate.

“It might be premature to make a decision about what to do with that house,” said Selectman Gibson, suggesting the property might be able to be incorporated into an open space plan.

“You really want to get into the real estate business?” said Selectman Roche, who expressed support for selling the property.

“I for one am…loath to proceed quickly into getting rid of a piece of land that we own, especially one that’s on the waterfront,” said Chairman Fowler.

The selectmen then discussed the warrant item asking the town to fund the $18,000 worth of expenses the town has accrued so far fighting the lawsuit of the Ten Citizens against the Town of Lenox over the Kennedy Park Belvedere.

The selectmen will be giving their final approval to the town meeting warrant at their April 3 meeting.

Next, the board of selectmen voted to hold a public information meeting on this year’s town meeting on April 24 at 7 p.m.

A bid to sell two dump trucks to the town for $226,715 was then approved. This was the lowest bid for the project that the town had received. $82,418.28 was also allocated to finish the contract on the pump station in Lenox.

The selectmen also voted to proceed with efforts to make aggregate electricity pricing an option for Lenox residents.

On the consent agenda, the selectmen voted to grant an entertainment and common victualler license to the Burger King on routes 7 and 20. They also voted to accept a deed from the estate of Lillian H. Weldon, per a vote at a previous town meeting. A proposal for Arbor Day celebrations was tabled.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on March 28, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry