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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust Meeting - July 21, 2026

Selectboard & Town Boards — Tuesday, July 21, 2026

BodyGreat Barrington, Massachusetts

SessionSelectboard & Town Boards

DateTuesday, July 21, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 33:54

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

And welcome tonight uh to the July 21st meeting of the uh 2026 meeting of the Affordable Housing Trust, pursuant to Governor Baker's March 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law and Governor Healy's March 2025 revised order extending remote participation by all members in any meeting of a public body, this meeting of the Great Barrington Affordable Trust will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible.

0:34

Specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and our parties with a right owner requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the town's website.

0:46

For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen to the meeting may do so per the instructions at the top of the agenda.

0:54

No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means.

1:07

All votes are roll call votes.

1:23

But with Ananda not present, I don't think that we should do it at this time.

1:29

So I'm gonna beg leave to postpone that.

1:34

Um if you don't mind.

Speaker 2

1:36

Okay.

Speaker 1

1:37

You don't care.

1:39

Um we have meeting minutes for the June 24th meeting.

1:44

This was the meeting that Construct presented.

1:48

We had an extra meeting in June to Construct presented their proposal for State Road.

1:54

Were you able to look at the meeting minutes that I sent yesterday?

Speaker 2

1:58

Yes.

Speaker 1

2:02

Yes.

2:03

Were they adequate?

2:04

They

Unassigned speaker

2:05

were.

Speaker 3

2:14

Second.

Speaker 1

2:16

I believe that was Peter seconding it.

2:19

Uh any discussion?

2:22

Hearing none.

2:23

Um Bill Cook, how do you vote?

2:26

Yes.

2:28

Uh Joseph Method.

Speaker 4

2:32

Absend.

Speaker 1

2:34

Abstain.

2:35

Uh Peter Most?

2:36

Yes.

2:37

And Fred Clark, yes.

2:39

Thank you, everybody.

2:40

Um the next item is the uh reports for construct and for habitat.

2:51

And so I think I can throw them up on the screen here if you like.

2:57

Uh I'm sorry about the confusion for the uh revised uh construct.

3:10

Um meeting uh what's going on here.

3:21

Give me one.

3:34

Is that uh can make it larger?

Unassigned speaker

3:38

Um

Speaker 1

3:40

that's

Unassigned speaker

3:40

good.

Speaker 1

3:42

This is the revised report that uh constructs submitted for the rental uh program.

3:51

As you may recall from the last report.

3:54

So we get these every three months.

3:55

As you may recall from the last report, they had not tapped into any of the funds that we had set aside as they've been able to use other funds either from CPA that they had previously or uh from other sources.

4:10

This quarter, they have made some changes, and I'm sorry about the confusion there.

4:16

You you got to see a little bit how the sausage was made.

4:19

That when we received the report, they were tracking who's atonic separately from Great Barrington, and uh we pointed out that that Who's Atonic is part of Great Barrington.

4:31

So they have funded 10 uh assists in Great Barrington for a total of 13, 12.

4:46

I believe there was about 23,000 remaining as of the last report.

Unassigned speaker

4:53

Uh and so there's still funds available that we previously allocated to them.

Speaker 1

5:03

So uh I think that you know this is fairly self-explanatory.

5:10

Uh you can see that the report the average assist is uh a little over a thousand dollars.

5:19

These are generally used

Unassigned speaker

5:21

uh

Speaker 1

5:22

to prevent evictions to uh help people in uh pretty extreme circumstances.

5:30

Does anybody have any questions?

5:39

Uh okay, so they're gonna continue.

5:41

You know, they they've they've gotten to in we've finally gotten them onto a schedule where they're submitting regular reports, so that's good.

5:50

Um

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Affordable Housing███████████████████████████████████████████43%

Procedural████████████████████████24%

Parks and Recreation████████████████16%

Pending Litigation█████████████13%

Budget Equity Analysis████4%

Summary of Proceedings

Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust Meeting - July 21, 2026

The Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust met on July 21, 2026, via remote participation. Members present approved meeting minutes, reviewed quarterly reports from Construct and Habitat for Humanity, and approved a routine invoice. A significant governance discussion arose regarding the bylaw requirements for signing authority on mortgages, which will be formally addressed at the August meeting. The committee also reappointed co-chairs and discussed the scope of a future Ball Field project RFP.

Consent Calendar

Minutes Approval: The meeting minutes from June 24, 2026 were approved by a vote of 3-0-1 (Bill Cook, Peter Most, Fred Clark in favor; Joseph Method absent/abstaining; Ananda Tim Pain absent).

Reports & Financial Actions

Construct Quarterly Report & Invoice: The Trust received the revised quarterly rental assistance report. A correction was made to track Who atonic data as part of Great Barrington. To date, 10 assists have been funded. Of the original $50,000 allocation, $47,149 has been spent, leaving $2,851 remaining. The current quarterly invoice is $13,120. A motion to approve payment carried unanimously (3-0-1).
Habitat for Humanity Prosperity Way Report: The quarterly progress report was presented. Phase 1 (7 houses) is concluding, with 2 homes already occupied. Phase 2 (6 houses) is in progress, with modulars on site and foundations poured. A total of 20 buildings are planned across three phases. No motion was required.
Financial Report & FY27 Budget: The financial report and fiscal year 2027 budget were postponed to a future meeting, as the materials depended on absent co-chair Ananda Tim Pain.

Program Updates

ADU Program: The program remains stalled pending the resolution of minor administrative details by Berkshire Regional Planning.
Annual Town Report: The committee reviewed and approved the standard annual report for submission to the town clerk for inclusion in the town's annual report.

Governance & Legal Discussion

Bylaw & Signing Authority: Co-chair Fred Clark raised a late item regarding a concern expressed by Habitat's closing attorney. The attorney noted that the trust's enabling bylaw, on file at the Registry of Deeds, requires a full committee vote to award mortgages (Down Payment Assistance) and suggested that all trust members must sign such documents.
- Fred Clark (Position): Acknowledged the concern but noted the bylaw allows the trust to designate agents to execute instruments. The trust has historically designated the co-chairs and Bill Cook as signing agents. He recommended reconfirming this authority or consulting the town attorney to ensure compliance.
- Peter Most (Position): Argued that the governing document takes precedence and noted that requiring every member to sign would be highly unusual for a voting body.
- Outcome: Fred Clark agreed to circulate the specific bylaw provision to members. The matter will be placed on the August 2026 agenda to formally reconfirm the agent signing authority.

Appointments

Reappointment of Co-Chairs: A motion to reappoint Fred Clark and Ananda Tim Pain as co-chairs was made, seconded, and carried unanimously (4-0). Members noted Ananda's strong financial oversight and Fred Clark's administrative work as key strengths of the dual-chair structure.

Future Agenda & Ball Field Project

August Meeting Preview: The Trust discussed the Ball Field project for the August 18, 2026 meeting. Members agreed to bring their ideas to the meeting in order to finalize the project scope and potentially form a subcommittee to draft the RFP.
- Bill Cook (Position): Expressed that the prior meeting had sufficiently narrowed the options and the next step was to finalize the scope.
State Legislation: Peter Most highlighted pending Massachusetts legislation permitting duplexes by right in single-family zones, suggesting its potential as a future tool for affordable housing projects.

Public Comments

No members of the media or public were present to speak.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 PM.

Meeting Transcript

And welcome tonight uh to the July 21st meeting of the uh 2026 meeting of the Affordable Housing Trust, pursuant to Governor Baker's March 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law and Governor Healy's March 2025 revised order extending remote participation by all members in any meeting of a public body, this meeting of the Great Barrington Affordable Trust will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and our parties with a right owner requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the town's website. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen to the meeting may do so per the instructions at the top of the agenda. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. All votes are roll call votes. But with Ananda not present, I don't think that we should do it at this time. So I'm gonna beg leave to postpone that. Um if you don't mind. Okay. You don't care. Um we have meeting minutes for the June 24th meeting. This was the meeting that Construct presented. We had an extra meeting in June to Construct presented their proposal for State Road. Were you able to look at the meeting minutes that I sent yesterday? Yes. Yes. Were they adequate? They were. Second. I believe that was Peter seconding it. Uh any discussion? Hearing none. Um Bill Cook, how do you vote? Yes. Uh Joseph Method. Absend. Abstain. Uh Peter Most? Yes. And Fred Clark, yes. Thank you, everybody. Um the next item is the uh reports for construct and for habitat. And so I think I can throw them up on the screen here if you like. Uh I'm sorry about the confusion for the uh revised uh construct. Um meeting uh what's going on here. Give me one. Is that uh can make it larger? Um that's good. This is the revised report that uh constructs submitted for the rental uh program. As you may recall from the last report. So we get these every three months. As you may recall from the last report, they had not tapped into any of the funds that we had set aside as they've been able to use other funds either from CPA that they had previously or uh from other sources. This quarter, they have made some changes, and I'm sorry about the confusion there. You you got to see a little bit how the sausage was made. That when we received the report, they were tracking who's atonic separately from Great Barrington, and uh we pointed out that that Who's Atonic is part of Great Barrington. So they have funded 10 uh assists in Great Barrington for a total of 13, 12. I believe there was about 23,000 remaining as of the last report.

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