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| News and events in Williamstown, Mass.
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Williamstown Year in Review 2022: Progress and ProcessBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:55AM / Thursday, December 29, 2022 | |
 It was a year of big change at town hall and hesitancy to make major changes at town meeting. For the third straight year, the Village Beautiful dealt with an ugly national legacy of racism as ongoing work to increase diversity, equity and inclusion drove much of the public discourse. And while some long-term projects reached some resolution in 2022, other issues ring in 2023 with questions still to be answered. Under new management The top story of last year took more than a full year to resolve but finally concluded in April when the Select Board selected Robert Menicocci to serve as the new town manager. In keeping with the job requirements the board stressed 1 Comment
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SVHC Honors Employees with Putnam Awards| 11:25AM / Tuesday, December 27, 2022 | |
 BENNINGTON, Vt—Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) leaders and staff gathered last month to honor employees for their service to the organization's mission. One award every year is presented for each of the organization's five core values: quality, empathy, safety, teamwork, and stewardship. The employees who received the awards are noted standard bearers and role models within the organization. The 2022 Putnam Award Honorees are: Quality: Rebecca Hewson-Steller, RN, CN-BN, nurse navigator, Cancer Center Empathy: Misty Arnold, RN, nurse, Med/Surg Stewardship: Dennis Vosburgh, engineering technician Teamwork: Gabrielle Loomis, MSOT, OTR/L, occupational 0 Comments
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SVHC President of Administration Recognized with Statewide Award| 09:53AM / Tuesday, December 27, 2022 | |
 BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southwestern Vermont Health Care's (SVHC) Vice President of Administration and Chief Human Resources Officer Kevin Dailey was honored with the 2022 Dolly Shaw Vermont Human Resources Professional of the Year Award from the Vermont State Council, an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management. "Vermont is home to many exceptionally qualified human resources professionals, so I am humbled to have received this recognition," Dailey said. "I share the honor with the talented and dedicated members of the HR teams I have worked with at Southwestern Vermont Health Care and Mack Molding Company. Their hard work has driven so much of what 0 Comments
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SVHC Weekly Health Update: Dec. 23| 08:44AM / Tuesday, December 27, 2022 | |
 December 23, 2022 #5 in SVHC's 8-Week Healthy Holiday Challenge Radiation Oncologist Matthew Vernon, MD, shares the fifth challenge in SVHC's 8-Week Healthy Holiday Challenge. Get a fresh goal every Friday through January 13, and share your progress on social media
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Wahconah Boys Lacrosse Made History in 2022By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires.com Sports
05:39AM / Monday, December 26, 2022 | |
 It was a year filled with the usual complement of team and individual glory, but one Berkshire County squad went where none of its peers have gone before: to the top of the heap in high school lacrosse. That was enough of a milestone to give the Wahconah boys lax team the nod as the story of the year in Berkshire County athletics. It was an accomplishment several years in the making as Wahconah worked its way through the post-season — a one-goal loss in the Central/Western Mass quarterfinals in 2019, a Central/Western Mass title in 2021, the next year the tournament was held. But in the 10th year of the program's existence – just a decade after the 15 Comments
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In Feat of Strength, Williamstown Resident Braves Weather with Festivus GatheringBy Stephen Dravis,
06:24AM / Saturday, December 24, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – At about 2 p.m. Friday afternoon, Mike Miller was busy putting the finishing touches on his Festivus pole in preparation for the town’s inaugural celebration. It was damp, gray and gloomy at the bottom of Spring Street. Perfect weather for the “Seinfeld”-inspired anti-holiday, no? “Yes,” Miller said. “But blowing wind and driving rain would not have been conducive with all this paper. Like I told people, though, it would just be one more thing to have a grievance about.” By about the midway point of the planned two-hour festivities, the rain and wind had arrived. By the time things 48 Comments
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Williamstown Fire District's Building Committee Discusses Site Work, Sees Cost EstimateBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:00PM / Friday, December 23, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Fire District's Building Committee recently saw revised cost estimates for a new station on Main Street and discussed whether the district's site needs to be preloaded to address soil compaction before construction gets underway. The latest estimated bottom line for the project, including so-called "soft costs," is just less than $25 million, according to the district's owners project manager, Colliers International. The latest estimate, dated Dec. 13, of $24.9 million fell in the middle of a range of mid-November numbers from Colliers, which at the time said the project could cost between $21.8 and $28.5 1 Comment
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Letter: Building Codes Put Homeowners in the MiddleLetter to the Editor,
04:00PM / Wednesday, December 21, 2022 | |
 To the Editor: I have to admit — I have no interest in showers. We bought one at Home Depot in Pittsfield and I never gave it a second thought until I received a violation letter from Ryan Contenta, Williamstown's building inspector. He noted that the glass had not been etched, which is against state code, he said.
The glass was labeled "tempered" with a sticker; and it had the telltale signs of being tempered (soft edges, etc.). The glass manufacturer was certified by ANSI, which the code recognizes as an authority on tempered glass. Intertek Testing Services had also studied the glass and certified that it met criteria. But alas, it had not been etched.
After about
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Letter: Replace Williamstown Town Meeting With BallotsLetter to the Editor,
03:00PM / Wednesday, December 21, 2022 | |
 To the Editor:
If you have a car that will cost $15,000 to repair and then it will only be trustworthy for short trips. Do you fix it? Very few would do that. Instead you replace it.
If you have a quaint, but broken form of town governance, why spend taxpayers' money to keep a quaint, but outdated broken failed system?
The Williamstown Town Meeting should be fully replaced by the Australian ballot. Why does it need total replacement?
First, the town's population is older than it used to be. Why torture old geezers like me any more than necessary to sit through long meetings of limited value?
Second, the iBerkshires.com article on town meeting notes that typical town meeting
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Williamstown Picks Interim Chief Ziemba for Permanent PostBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:59PM / Tuesday, December 20, 2022 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Nearly two years after the last chief resigned, the Williamstown Police Department has a new permanent chief. On Tuesday afternoon, Town Manager Robert Menicocci announced that Michael Ziemba will be the next chief of police in the town after serving for nearly two years as an acting and later interim chief. Ziemba said Tuesday afternoon that it was an easy decision to apply for the full-time decision. "I've been here 22-plus years, and I'm committed to the town and the department and the betterment of both of those," Ziemba said. "I'm honored that I have the support of the town manager and town leaders 29 Comments
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SVMC Staff Share the Holiday Spirit with Foster Families| 04:06PM / Tuesday, December 20, 2022 | |
 BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southwestern Vermont Medical Center connected with Wendy Nolan, resources coordinator with the state Department for Children and Families, to deliver festive holiday meal ingredients to share with foster families in Bennington. Staff from departments organization-wide gathered nine boxes packed with hams, turkeys, stuffing mix, canned vegetables, breakfast items, pie-making ingredients, cookie mixes, and much more. The boxes will be delivered to nine families through DCF "Some of the families we work with can't really afford to have holiday dinners," Nolan said. "I am so grateful to the staff of SVMC for making these donations. The 0 Comments
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1Berkshire Accepting Applications for 2023-2024 Youth Leadership Program| 11:59AM / Tuesday, December 20, 2022 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — 1Berkshire's Youth Leadership Program (YLP) announced the launch of the application process for the YLP class of 2023-2024. The 1Berkshire Youth Leadership Program, open to all current sophomores in the Berkshires, selects a cohort of up to 30 motivated students from all backgrounds for this ten-month experience that will help them to explore the regional economy and develop their leadership skills. Once selected, students will begin the program with a 2.5-day, 2-night retreat in June 2023. At the retreat, students will meet for the first time, begin to build deep connections, and learn about and advance their individual leadership 0 Comments
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