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Williamstown Prudential Committee Criticized at Fire District Meeting
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
03:59AM / Thursday, June 01, 2017
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Corydon Thurston, left, and John Notsley retained their positions in the annual fire district election.


Prudential Committee members Ed McGowan, left, and Ed Briggs participate in the Fire District's annual meeting on Tuesday.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A frequent critic of the town's fire district used Tuesday's annual district meeting to offer advice to the Prudential Committee that governs the district, express his respect for the members of that committee and put them on notice that he may run for one of the panel's three seats if they don't follow it.
 
Dan Gendron of the town's Finance Committee spoke from the floor of the fire district meeting to suggest that the Prudential Committee should ask Williams College for more financial support to the district.
 
The college is simultaneously the largest owner of non-taxed land and largest property taxpayer in town. That is because while the bulk of Williams' land is tax exempt, the school also owns a considerable commercial property and homes that it rents to faculty and staff.
 
In addition to that, the college has a century-old payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, arrangement with the Williamstown Fire District. Under a formula based on the fire hydrants and street lights on the college campus, the school pays the district its share of the call-volunteer fire department's annual operating expenses.
 
In fiscal 2018, that amount comes to $29,560, which Gendron argued is low.
 
"Why have you not renegotiated," he asked the three-person Prudential Committee. "The college has given [Mount Greylock Regional School] a million dollars plus. The town manager can tell us what the college has done for the town.
 
"If you want the fire district to remain viable and grow, one might think it's important to re-examine your plan."
 
The members of the Prudential Committee argued that the fire district already benefits from its relationship with the college.
 
The current PILOT does not have an equivalent at Town Hall (the district is a separate taxing entity apart from town government), and the district plans to approach the college for financial assistance if and when it moves forward with plans to replace its cramped and aging station, Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley told Gendron.
 
"In addition, the college has been very generous in allowing five to seven men who are employees of Williams College to respond to fires on a 24-hour basis," Notsley said. "There has never been a question [about missed work time from their employer]. If you don't think that's a valuable asset, think again.
 
"This is a call volunteer fire department. We have a roster of 24 individuals. Obviously, all are not able to respond to a fire at one particular time. Day times are of critical importance. If it were not for Williams College, the five guys we have, we probably would be going to a full-time department. Then you'd take five guys at $40,000 per year plus benefits. That's what you're getting [in in-kind contributions from the college]."
 
Prudential Committee member Ed Briggs picked up on the point.
 
"I've had many people tell me — for years — that we should be beating up on the college," Briggs said. "We don't want to rock the boat on that because when we have a call, these guys are generally pretty close to [the fire house], and they're in here.
 
"I personally do a log at home of when the alarm sounds. Usually, we have a truck on the road within two minutes. That's pretty good."
 
Like Notsley, Briggs praised the college's contribution to the district — financial and otherwise.
 
"If Williams College wasn't in this town, this town wouldn't look very good," he said. "Our other biggest employer in this town is the Clark Art Institute, and they give us zero. We've approached them for some help, and they've just blown us off. They are not, in my mind, being good neighbors.
 
"We have up to 30 calls a year down there [at the South Street museum] that are false alarms. We haven't had more than two or three needless calls to Williams College a year."
 
Gendron denied that he was encouraging the committee to "beat up" on the college.
 
"What I'm suggesting is that their arms re open, and they've been forthcoming with a lot of money," Gendron said. "That's because there's a new generation of people there who believe ... there's a responsibility to make good on things in town that should be made good.
 
"You're missing an opportunity there."
 
Gendron also questioned the Prudential Committee's continued reliance on its stabilization fund — at about $500,000 as of June 30, 2016 — for acquiring new fire trucks. He told the committee, not for the first time, that it should finance large capital expenses.
 
And he criticized the committee's practice of holding its meetings at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, a time he said is inconvenient for working people to attend.
 
Notsley dismissed that complaint, noting that Gendron himself is semi-retired and does not attend the Prudential Committee meetings, a point which was driven home from the floor by Bill Barkin.
 
Barkin, the town's principal assessor, noted that the Prudential Committee discussed the FY18 budget at three posted meetings prior to Tuesday's annual fire district meeting.
 
"How many meetings did you go to?" Barkin asked Gendron.
 
"Purposely none," Gendron said.
 
"You had every opportunity to discuss with them the $29,000 from the college," Barkin said, turning in his seat to address Gendron directly in the audience.
 
"This is an example of why I don't come," Gendron said. "You got angry and raised your voice. I don't come to these meetings because it's a club."
 
It is a club that Gendron hinted he wants to join.
 
At one point during Tuesday's sometimes heated discussion, Briggs said he did not realize himself how old the agreement is between the college and the fire district and that he was open to the idea of reopening that discussion with the school.
 
"We'll come back next year with a new agreement," Briggs said.
 
"You'll have to because I didn't run [for the Prudential Committee], I didn't ask anyone to vote for me and I got seven votes," Gendron said.
 
He received seven write-in votes among the 40 ballots cast on Tuesday for the one open seat. Notsley, the only candidate on the printed ballot, received 31 votes. Each of the three committee seats has a three-year term, and one is up for election each spring.
 
The other two positions on the ballot were again won by Corydon Thurston, who received 36 votes for the district's clerk/treasurer and 36 votes for district moderator. Town Manager Jason Hoch received one write-in vote for clerk/treasurer. Selectman Jeffrey Thomas received one write-in vote for moderator.
 
Hoch attended Tuesday's meeting but did not speak from the floor except to laugh when Thurston jokingly suggested the two split the clerk/treasurer post.
 
About two dozen voters attended the annual meeting that followed the paper balloting for the three posts.
 
The main order of business before the meeting was passage of the FY18 district budget.
 
The spending plan is down by about $10,000 from the current fiscal year, mostly because of anticipated savings from the soon to be activated town solar photovoltaic installation on the capped landfill off Simonds Road.
 
The largest article on the nine-article meeting warrant, Article 5, covers the district's regular operating expenses, which are budgeted at just more than $479,000 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The current fiscal year's operating budget is just less than $489,000.
 
Article 5 passed without a dissenting vote. Gendron cast a lone dissenting vote against Article 6, which puts $42,000 in the district's stabilization fund.
 
Despite his disagreement about specific issues in the way the fire district is managed, Gendron emphasized that his criticisms are not meant as personal attacks.
 
"John, I have the utmost respect for you and your father and all the people here," Gendron said. "I just disagree with some of the things you do."
 
Gendron stuck around after most of the crowd departed at the end of the annual district meeting and participated in the brief Prudential Committee meeting that followed.
 
In between, he chatted amiably with Notsley. During the committee meeting, he followed up on the question of recruitment of volunteer firefighters, which came up during the annual meeting.
 
He suggested to the committee that it seek help from outside marketers to bolster its recruiting effort and that the district may want to increase the financial incentive for the call-volunteer department. Firefighters receive a small compensation for the time they spend on calls.
 
"It's not that pay, I think that motivates people to do this work, but I don't think extra money would be a problem," he said. "I look at your budgets, and I think they're very lean. Do we pay firefighters enough, and is that attractive enough to get people to come out and volunteer?"
 
The members of the committee commented that the department does not have so many fire calls that a few dollars more per call would make a difference for firefighters. But at least one appeared open to the idea of creating a financial incentive.
 
"What we might want to consider is to put a stipend on an annual basis over and above the hourly rate," Briggs said.
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