WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board agreed Monday to start accepting applications to fill empty seats on the town's diversity committee.

 

With a resolution in sight for a long conversation between the board and the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee about the latter's purpose, Select Board members said it was time to fill two vacant spots on the DIRE Committee.

 

Randy Fippinger, who fills the Select Board's ex officio spot on the diversity panel, asked his colleagues at Monday's meeting whether it could fulfill a longstanding request from the current DIRE Committee members to fill out their roster.

 

Select Board Chair Hugh Daley said he projects the body could be able to make appointments at either its Nov. 28 or Dec. 13 meetings after reaching an understanding with the current DIRE members on a charge to develop a "Diversity Strategic Plan" for the town.

 

At Monday's meeting, Daley again emphasized that work on said plan should be a priority for the DIRE Committee in the year ahead.

 

Jeff Johnson, who served on the DIRE Committee prior to his election to the Select Board in 2021, countered that the strategic plan cannot be the sole focus for the panel, a point that current DIRE Committee members have made in the past.

 

"For that person who is screaming now that they're being discriminated against, we can't put the DIRE Committee on the shelf," Johnson said. "There's a way to do it all."

 

Daley clarified that he was not hoping to shelve the committee during the planning process.

 

"I really believe we have to have the strategic plan done," Daley said. "I think it will yield the best way to go forward."

 

Fippinger reported that there was support from the current DIRE Committee members for committing to the work of developing the plan that the Select Board seeks. The board, in turn, has authorized the town manager to prepare a request for proposals for a consultant to work with the DIRE Committee on the plan.

 

At the same time it is looking to fill seats on the 2-year-old diversity committee, the Select Board Monday discussed formalizing the process for appointing residents to other boards and committees under its jurisdiction.

 

In an effort to ensure that all residents have an equal opportunity to serve on those bodies, the board is moving toward requiring a minimum of two weeks public notice of vacancies – on the town's website, through social media channels and at the twice-monthly Select Board meetings.

 

In other business on Monday, the Select Board heard a report from interim Police Chief Mike Ziemba on efforts to update and publicize WPD policies, fill vacancies on the local force and complete an accreditation process that would make Williamstown's the second accredited police force in the county after Great Barrington's.

 

The board also continued its discussion of a request from Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation to be assigned the town's right of first refusal on a 10-acre South Williamstown property.

 

WRLF officials said they are continuing to attempt to raise funds to purchase the Phelps property on Oblong Road. And the non-profit committed to preserve some sort of public access to the property, either through a walking trail or pull-off, if and when it owns the property.

 

Likewise, farmer Sarah Lipinski of Sweet Brook Farm, who currently grazes cattle on the acreage in question, told the Select Board that she has no objection to public access.

 

"I personally love the idea of opening up the farm more to the public," Lipinski said. "It's good for people to see their food being produced and know it's being produced in a humane and safe way. We have cows out there up to maybe two months a year.

 

"Something like a bench or table or accessible pull-off area is something we're in favor of. As far as having people walk through the field, it's not super safe when the cows are there, but along the perimeter."

 

The property's current owner was represented at Monday's meeting by attorney Elisabeth Goodman, who told the board the seller's only interest is making sure the deal goes through but that they have no preference on whether it goes to the buyer on the current purchase and sales agreement, the town or a non-profit.

 

"They want to sell the land, and they're happy to cooperate with your assignment of right of first refusal," Goodman said. "If Rural Lands is going to buy, great. Money is fungible."

 

The board has until January to make the assignment to a non-profit or waive its right of first refusal but Daley reiterated to WRLF's representatives that he anticipates the board will make that decision at its Nov. 28 meeting.