Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Great Barrington Select Board convened on Monday, May 18, 2026. An executive session scheduled for 5:00 p.m. was postponed, and the Board proceeded directly with the open meeting, which ran past 6 p.m. The meeting covered the town manager's report, a public hearing, and numerous license approvals. The Board established subcommittees for policy review and a community care team, approved a historical kiosk for the Town Hall lawn, and heard a proposal for deeply affordable housing to address a lengthy waitlist.
Okay, let's call the meeting to order. It is five. We have a pursuit of MGL 7C38 20F after notifying the chair of the public body. Any person may make a video audio reporting or an open session of a meeting of a public body or may consumer the meeting for any media. At the beginning of the meeting, the chair shall inform other attendees of any such recordings. Meeting is being recorded by the Burch Red, CPSB, and the town of Great Barrington. Any member of the public working to speak at the meeting must receive permission of the chair, a listing of agenda items for those reasonably anticipated by the chair, which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussing other items not listed, maybe brought up a discussion of the extent permitted by law. So we have scheduled an executive session to start the meeting at five. That has been postponed. So we will move right into the meeting. The open meeting portion. Start with select board's announcements and statements. Bill nothing, thank you. Garfield, yeah. Yeah, thanks, Steve. Uh just wanted to speak to the great time I had an old maid's uh for the community event that had put on this class. It was uh some great weather, uh big turnout from the community, both Great Barrington and the Musitonic, just discussing uh the possibilities, and there's a lot of folks over there for their first time. And uh just want to give a shout out to Bete again. They did a really great job organizing it. There's some great music, there's free food, a lot of activities for the whole family. Uh, just a really enjoyable time and obviously the weather helped. So very excited about that in the future. Um, there's another meeting in mid-June at the Unitarian Church. More information will be coming out for that, and that will be for a real discussion on what everybody would like to see there. So, whether you're a neighbor or just the town member, anywhere in the community, very important that you get involved. Um, so you have a say on if any development happens there, if the place just stays exactly the way it is. Now is the time to come out and speak to your feeling. And then uh just minor bookkeeping stuff. Uh, I'm gonna reacuse myself from the public hearing, and then also from number 95, the item where it involves folkshire bus on Depot Street and then cruise the time. Thank you very much. Um manager's report. Yeah. Um so my top manager's report for May 18th. NASDAQ will be holding a design public hearing regarding the proposed replacement of Flatus week bridge this Thursday, May 21st at 6 p.m. at the fire station in Great Barrington. This is an important opportunity for residents, nearby property owners, businesses, and community members to learn more about the proposed project, ask questions, and provide input directly to Mass DOT as the design process moves forward. Given the long-standing impacts of the bridge, closure on neighborhood activity uh connectivity, traffic circulation, and access. I do strongly encourage community participation and additional project information is available on the Mass DOT website. As of May 18th, the News Atonic Waterworks reimbursement program just visited a total of 131,441.27 cents for FY26, supporting 171 households under this program. Therefore, approximately 49,966 in grant funding for nose out of the 250 for distribution to residents. Residents with questions about eligibility, required documentation, or anything about the reimbursement process is inferred.