For our usually quiet village is going through an unusually stressful six days so rest up, hydrate, eat well, and give everyone a mulligan.

1. On the 15th there are two meetings at the same time at Town Offices. One is about groundwater. Now folks have been stirring the pot without proper foundation and scaring people. Fear-based politics has no place in Stockbridge, but give them a mulligan anyway, and read what an expert said. (It is below under Our Warrant.)

2. Also, on the 15th the Select Board, acting as permitting authority, will make a difficult decision re: 37 Interlaken. Whatever the decision is — yes, no, or postpone, some folks will be very unhappy.

3. The 19th at Town Offices is Town Meeting. Tense items include moving over $2 million from Free Cash to the Stabilization fund. That’s an unusually large amount. There is a trend in American politics to take rights away from the people. Hopefully it is not a trend that arrived in Stockbridge, but it cannot be denied that Town Meeting can spend out of Free Cash with a simple majority and they need a 2/3 vote to spend out of the Stabilization Fund. Town Meeting, that’s us, is the legislature in our village government just as Select Board is the executive branch. We approve expenditures or the expenditures do nota get spent so, almost looks as if the officials aren’t trusting the voters. Vote no? Maybe so.

4. Look at all the Articles below. Nice to have the Warrant in advance, isn’t it? There are comments offering more information about Articles 9, 10, 17, 18, and Article 13 #18.

5. May 20th is Election Day! May 14th was the last day to register for a mail-in ballot, so see you at the polls! There is only one contested race — it is for Select Board. It is so hotly contested that Stockbridge Updates could not post the letters of support because they were actually letters disproportionately critical of the opponent.