Great Barrington Select Board Meeting Summary: October 20, 2025

The Great Barrington Select Board met at 6:00 p.m. on October 20, 2025. The board approved routine minutes, liquor license transfers and manager changes, a temporary beer and wine license, departmental equipment useful-life schedules, and two positive special-permit recommendations to the Zoning Board of Appeals. It also heard public comment regarding utility wires, sign enforcement, water system communications, and other issues, then voted to enter executive session without returning to open session.

Election & Ballot Reminders

• Officials reminded residents that sewer bills and abatement requests are due Monday, October 27, 2025; questions should be directed to Public Works.
• The special election on the school project will be Tuesday, November 4, 2025. The voter registration deadline is Friday, October 24 at 5:00 p.m.; absentee/mail-in ballot requests are due October 28 at 5:00 p.m.; in-person absentee voting ends November 3; and polls will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Residents will receive two ballots on November 4: one authorizing the school question and one exempting the cost of the new school from the town's Proposition 2½ tax limit.
• The incoming town manager requested a priority-planning discussion at the November 3, 2025 board meeting.

Consent Calendar / Minutes

• Minutes of September 29, September 30, October 6, and October 14, 2025 were approved unanimously; the board directed a name-spelling correction to the September 29 minutes.

License Hearings

• Latin Grocery Inc., doing business as Fiesta Bar and Grill, 284 Main Street #11: Attorney Anthony Doyle said Latin Grocery, a neighboring business, planned to buy Fiesta Bar and Grill from current owner Sandra Sosa if the license transfer and manager change were approved. The buyer was described as a Massachusetts resident and naturalized U.S. citizen who would manage the business; no significant changes to menu or operation were anticipated. The board opened and closed the hearing and unanimously approved the transfer and manager change.
• Fuel Restaurant Group, LLC, 293 Main Street: Owner Lydia Merkel said she was becoming the manager so Fuel could resume evening events and use its liquor license. The board unanimously approved the manager change.
• Board of Library Trustees, Mason Library, 231 Main Street: The board unanimously approved a temporary beer and wine license for the library's poetry series, for six Saturdays from January through August 2026, with the fee waived.

Equipment Useful-Life Extension

• Financial coordinator Ellie Crespo explained that the annual schedule supports borrowing and repayment planning. The board unanimously adopted useful lives for equipment financed by the May 3, 2025 town meeting authorization, Article 5:
  • $127,001 item: 10 years
  • Fire radios: $115,000, 10 years
  • DPW field mower: $35,000, 10 years
  • DPW dump truck: $400,000, 10 years
  • DPW excavator: $250,000, 15 years
  • DPW pickup: $66,000, 10 years
  • DPW utility van: $66,000, 10 years

Special Permit Recommendations to the Zoning Board of Appeals

• 23 Rosseter Street: Catherine Dover Hearst (referred to in the transcript as Catherine Hurst) requested a positive recommendation for demolition of a nonconforming house on a nonconforming lot and construction of a new residence. The proposal includes four units in two buildings, stays below the allowed 75% lot coverage, uses prefabricated modules, and includes spiral staircases as a second means of egress. The board voted to recommend approval. Hearst also reported that an online posting of the application exposed her personal contact information and led to an attempted $4,800 fee scam; the board agreed to redact personal details from online materials while keeping a full copy available as a public record.
• 271 Monument Valley Road: Architect Brian Bordonero presented a proposal for an addition to a nonconforming house that already sits 18 feet from the road against a 50-foot front setback. The addition would sit about 26 feet from the road and extend roughly 12 feet farther north. The board voted to issue a positive recommendation to the ZBA.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Charles Williamson, 48 Blue Hill Road, said phone lines on Blue Hill Road are hanging low, with old and new utility poles side by side; he described a near miss involving his son's excavator, two power outages, and police reports, and asked the town to get the wires moved and the area cleaned up.
• Select Board member Phil said Verizon had previously promised to add the lines to a work order, and he would follow up.
• Michelle Lubair praised Great Barrington Police Officer Triano for helping reunite a lost kitten, then raised concerns about unequal sign enforcement. She said she supported the message of the No Kings rally but objected to what she called different treatment over street and sidewalk obstruction, and she asked the board to address sign and enforcement consistency at the November 3 priority-planning session.
• A resident asked for a roughly $4.7 million breakdown of major budget items discussed at the September 29 finance and select board meeting, saying the information had not been provided and expressing concern about transparency.
• Donna Jacobs, 60 Park Street, said hydrant flushing in Housatonic was not well communicated and asked Housatonic Water Works to publish a flushing schedule so residents could protect their filters. The board said it would ask for that schedule again.
• A resident alleged he had photos and video of the Fire Department connecting to a cleanout station, rather than a hydrant, during a garage fire; he said the incident was not included in the fire chief's report and raised broader Housatonic Water Works concerns. He added that he had dealt with the water problem for 30 years and urged support for a Housatonic Water Works takeover.

Key Outcomes

• Unanimous votes approved: the four sets of meeting minutes; the Latin Grocery/Fiesta Bar and Grill license transfer and manager change; the Fuel Restaurant Group manager change; the Mason Library temporary beer and wine license; the equipment useful-life schedule; and positive recommendations to the ZBA for both special permit applications.
• The board agreed to redact personal contact information from online versions of the Rosseter Street application packet.
• The board committed to following up on Blue Hill Road utility wires and to asking Housatonic Water Works for a hydrant-flushing schedule.
• The board voted unanimously to enter executive session under state open-meeting law for two purposes: (1) to consider purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real estate related to Housatonic Water Works, and (2) to discuss a complaint against the Assistant Town Manager and Director of Planning and Community Development. The board stated it would not return to open session.