Editorial

It’s Wonderful!

It’s Messy, it takes a while, and it is asymmetrical, but it is how democracy works.

I don’t know why they thought they could do away with an American citizens’ right to speak to their representatives. However, they did. So, the citizens stood up. Some objected publicly like Anita Schwerner. Others wrote private emails to the Town Administrator and the SB members. You know what? A tad begrudgingly with a soupçon of pedantry, and with limitations galore, they reinstated public speak.

As one reader wrote to Stockbridge Updates: it is a quaint old-fashioned way of doing things in New England. They call it democracy.

There’s more…

People were concerned. People didn’t like the wording of a public announcement for an executive session; it appeared to malign a hometown boy who loved this town and worked tirelessly for it. Others were upset that email to our Town Administrator and elected representatives went unanswered; still others felt words suggested to be read at the beginning of meetings were off-putting — stiffling. They contacted Stockbridge Updates. SU wrote it all down and distributed it. What happened? The government addressed the people’s issues.

Here we are: public concerns were addressed; public comment is back.

SU did its job. Will SU ever be popular with those who are in power? Maybe. Maybe not. Once our Town Administartor was a frequant, reliable contributor to SU. For the entirety of his service as Select Board member, Patrick White supported transparency and demonstrated that commitment on these pages. Both men contributed to our understanding of what was going on with our tax dollars and how it affected our town.

The press can and often does serve as the check and balance for government. It is why, in 1787, when asked his preference, “a government without newspapers or newspapers without government,” Thomas Jefferson said, “I should not hesitate a moment before choosing the latter.”

Never forget, Stockbridge Updates is yours — for you — you cannot do your part if you do not know what is going on or if you cannot stand in front of your representatives and speak your mind without retaliation. I am proud of SU and sincerely thank the Select Board.

It’s wonderful — it is democracy at work.

Carole Owens
Executive Editor

by Carole Owens, Executive Editor

News

SU FYI: All About Trees

All About Trees

A reader contacted SU concerned about removal of a tree near their house. SU has invited our Tree Warden, Lisa Bozzuto to write a piece for SU so we can all better understand . (See her response in Reader to Reader). Thank you, Lisa and as we await your article, here is just a general explanation. The Tree Warden oversees the care, maintenance, or removal of public shade trees. As both advocate and manager, the Tree Warden must protect the trees and, where necessary, protect the public from the trees.

Contact the Tree Warden for permission to prune a public shade tree, permission to plant in the public way, permission to remove a public tree and with any other questions concerning a public tree.

About SU

Contact Stockbridge Updates anytime about an issue on your mind or a problem — we will get the word out and help wherever we can. SU is us.

News

Fire Warning

Stockbridge Fire Chief Vincent Garofoli issued a warning via recorded telephone message to avoid burning and any open flames.

The National Weather Service explains: “A prolonged period of dry weather and dry fuels result in elevated fire weather conditions across Berkshire County.”

This warning was issued September 19, and repeated on September 20.

The weather service continued, “Although winds will be rather light from the north to northeast at 5 to 10 mph, the relative humidity will be lower than Friday. Minimum relative humidity values will drop to between 25 and 35 percent. Therefore, exercise caution handling any potential ignition sources, including machinery, cigarettes, and matches. Any fires that ignite will have potential to spread quickly.”

By the time you read this, September 23, 2025, conditions may have improved but check and be sure before any burning.

News

Notes from the Select Board meeting, September 18, 2025, Hybrid meeting

There were approximately 30 attendees in person and via Zoom.

1. Chair Jamie Minacci opened the meeting reading a statement first read in August about recording, identifying speakers, and speaking in the SB meeting.

2. Chair announced a Prop 2 1/2 override will be necessary to vote in the affirmative on the new high school. Superintendent Peter Dillon explained there would be two votes at a Special Town Meeting. Select Board member Jorja Marsden explained how important it was for everyone to understand the two votes. There will be further discussion and explanations. In the meantime, Dillon explained the override voted on by the Great Barrington, West Stockbridge and Stockbridge Select Boards was necessary just to go forward with the November 4th meeting. Dillon added Great Barrington and West Stockbridge had already voted in the affirmative. Stockbridge SB voted in the affirmative unanimously.

3. Between 7 and 9 Main Street, work was required to provide power to 7 Main — approved.

4. Entertainment license for Berkshire Botanical Garden — Harvest Festival — October 11 and 12. Approved

5. According to the Chair, Nancy Mills was the only person who sought a seat on the “250th Committee.” SB member Marsden suggested that the SB reach out and invite the library and other town institutions to join in and send a member

6. Town Administrator Michael Canales requested $25,000 to hire a Project Manager (PM) for the proposed new fire house “from step one.” Although it is required by law to have a PM for projects over $1.5million during construction (step two), Canales explained he wants a PM for step one which is the apparently the feasibility study. SB approved unanimously.

There were questions from the floor about cost and location of the new fore house– no answers yet.

7. Canales wanted to hire Preservation Inc for fabrication of the Revolutionary War Memorial. Marsden wanted to make clear that there will not be two stones as once proposed, but all militia members would be listed alphabetically on one stone whether Stockbridge Munsee or what they once called “the English.” Also Canales mentioned a dedication on July 4th although alternate dates had been suggested. Marsden wanted it known that she is working with Preservation Inc at St Paul’s and Canales reminded everyone they have done then work at the cemetery. SB approved their involvement.

8. Canales updated the SB on projects:

a. The boat ramp will be repaired by the state and regulations, for example, no swimming or picnicking will be enforced

b. Mass DOT will be blacktopping Rte. 183 in 2026 “before Tanglewood and after The Josh Billings Run Aground

9. Minacci and Cardillo then spent time explaining their take on issues raised:

a. About reading the suggested announcement at beginning of each meeting. The Chair explained the Mass Attorney General’s Office received a complaint (apparently against the Stockbridge Board of Assessors) that the BOA did not let the public know that the meetings are recorded. The AG Office determined it did constitute a violation of the Open Meeting Law, and as is common, suggested a correction for the violation. The correction was reading a statement at the beginning of the meeting to make clear it is recorded.

b. Cardillo reported that Stockbridge is not required by law to post Zoom recordings on CTSBTV and it costs money to do so. Cardillo also said public comment was always allowed when items were on the agenda. There was polite pushback on that assertion. One attendee noting she had been told she could not speak but could email her comment in.

c. Marsden said public comment was important

d. There was discussion about whether or not someone who wished to speak was required to give name and address to speak.

e. Anita Schwerner gave a closing remark about the importance of allowing and in fact promoting free speech at this time when it is being threatened.

f. With limits of 2 minutes per speaker and 10 minutes total of meeting time, and an understanding the SB will not answer questions or enter into a dialogue, the measure passed.

Adjourned

Editor’s note: 1. Proposition 2 1/2 is a Massachusetts law passed in 1980 that limits the amount of property tax revenue a municipality can raise each year. The tax levy a city or town can collect cannot increase by more than 2.5% over the previous year’s levy limit. 2. It is common that the corrective statement for an Open Meeting Law is read by the chair of the offending committee, commission or board once. 3. Lee responded and a SU reader consulted Lenox and Great Barrington meeting recordings on CTSBTV. See Reader to Reader. 4. There is no law, but at Town Meeting it was voted to do so, and Patrick White while a SB member put money in the budget to cover costs.

Watch Now!

Gold Star Families Memorial Dedication

Smitty Pignatelli hosted this event to dedicate the Gold Star Families memorial in Lenox. More photos at the end of the issue. Video by Patrick White

Events

Stockbridge Farmer’s Market

Final Day This Wednesday, Sept. 24

Stockbridge Farmer’s Market was guided into existence by the Agricultural and Forestry Commission (AFC) and the good work of Stuart Kelso.

AFC Chair Matt Boudreau wants us to know Tuesday, September 24 is the last Farmer’s Market of 2025. Boudreau writes:

To Stockbridge Updates:

From: Matt B

Re: Thank you for all your help

September 24th at the Stockbridge Farmers market: Lion’s Tooth Farm will be at the market with a variety of meats and herbal salts. (scroll down for a detailed description of what they will have available). We will have fresh picked organic sweet corn fresh baked goods from Berkshire Mountain Bakery, organic cherry tomatoes organic raspberries, and a wide variety of organic leafy green vegetables, honey, beef tallow products, and maple syrup products.? The market is on the front lawn of the town offices, 50 Main St., from 3 PM to 6 PM ?.Some vendors close at 5:45 pm.

If you can’t find a parking place right in front of the market on the street, you can park at the back of the town hall anytime the market is open. After 4 PM you can also park in any open spaces near the basketball court.

SNAP recipients will be able to use the Market match program to make the produce very affordable.

Lion’s Tooth Farm is a small family farm in Windsor whose products are made as cleanly and organically as possible.

Our beef, lamb, and goat is entirely grass-fed and finished. Our pork is pasture-raised and fed a local certified organic soy-free grain. Our animals receive no antibiotics. They forage on pesticide-free trees and grasses as well as our own hay.

We grow and blend our own herbal cosmetics, herbal wellness products and animal based cosmetics. Everything organically grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.

Stockbridge Land Trust Annual Meeting

The Stockbridge Land Trust will hold its annual meeting (open to members and the public) on Saturday, October 4th at 11:00 AM. The meeting will be held at Mohawk Lake at the end of Mohawk Lake Road (directions and map below). There is ample parking; light refreshments will be served. Besides very brief business at the meeting, we will hear more about the newly-preserved Stowe parcel, the lands around it and their history, including the “train to nowhere.” After the meeting, we will offer a walk around the lake. Our rain date is Sunday the October 5th at 11:00 AM (check our website for any updates – https://www.stockbridgelandtrust.org/).

Also at the meeting, we will remember past SLT President Shep Evans, who recently passed. Among Shep’s achievements in service to the SLT and our Town was an instrumental role in the saving of the invaluable 23-acre “4 Corners” parcel at the northwest corner of Routes 102 and 183. We have more about Shep on our website.

Editor’s note: Rich, thank you for remembering Shep. He was a good man, an asset to every job he took on and every committee he sat on. Most of all, he was a good friend.

Perspective

Not So Fast

By Patrick White

I will leave it to others to celebrate the restoration of some public comment to your select board meetings.

For me, not so fast.

This is a board that just stated that they will deign to allow up to five of you (maybe six or seven if you are brief) to speak up to two minutes each for a total of ten minutes per meeting. What if seven or ten or 20 of you take time out of your day to show up?

This is a board so officious it will not engage with its citizens during this speak time.

This is a board worried about a few thousand dollars to format videos so you might know what is going on. That’s about 1/5000th of the taxes we collect from you, or less than $1.50 each. Per year.

This is a board that is ignoring the clear will of the voters when at Town Meeting you voted to keep all meetings on Zoom and available on CTSB so you could be informed of what your leaders are doing, on your schedule, not theirs.

I remind this board that it conducts roughly 23 scheduled meetings a year, and a handful of others such as executive sessions.

I remind this board that between health insurance and compensation, its three members receive between $5,500 and $26,000 each of total compensation, depending on insurance and whether that includes a family plan.

For the highest paid member, that’s over $1,000 per meeting.

The fourth person on the dais, Michael Canales, costs the town nearly $200,000 in overall compensation. We worked closely together for five years. He is excellent at the types of tasks you would expect from a Town Administrator. This includes budgeting, grant applications, and in understanding the myriad bylaws and regulations that affect Stockbridge.

These four folks cost you over $250,000 in taxes each year, and they are telling you how you are limited in interacting with them. Michael, trimming videos is easy. Assign the task of prepping and posting CTSB videos to a staffer. It is not your highest, best use.

This town has 1,900 full-time residents and at least that number of part-time residents, If 5 or 10 or 50 or 100 show up to speak, they should be allowed without a time limit. The problem with a time limit is what many of you observed during the Desisto hearings: The chair was so obsessed with her stopwatch that she didn’t appear to be listening to what the speakers had to say.

Jamie, with what you are paid, if you need to sit there for an extra hour once in a while and listen to your constituents, it’s still a great financial deal as the rest of your meetings average 30 minutes or less.

Precisely because so many of us are elderly and so many of us are only here part-time, I put a return of Public Speak in my email of June 4th that was received by my colleagues with such hostility. From the cheap seats, it appears as if nothing has changed.

You’ve come up with the minimum you could do to try to put this disaster behind you. To many of us, you seem no more committed to listening to your constituents as you’ve been over the past two years. You see this as a burden, not an opportunity to gain insight and perspective.

Yes, the three of you are the biggest fish but please remember, this is a very small pond. Many of the fish know one another and whether you are a big ole’ bass or the tiniest of minnows, we all gotta share the water.

Speaking of fish, it’s no secret that sometimes Carole and I get along swimmingly, and sometimes not so much. But whether when we get along or get annoyed with each other, my position on this subject never changes. When it comes to a free press, we all must have her back. We all must make it clear that we will not stand for our leaders labeling journalism and editorial content as misinformation. If leaders want to correct the record, they are free to write something for Stockbridge Updates. Her issues are open to all who want to contribute. Do not label those who disagree with you as purveyors of misinformation. That may work in Washington, but here in Stockbridge we debate ideas. We will not suffer under a leadership that seeks to malign the character of those with whom we disagree.

by Patrick White

The Last Word

Reader to Reader

Hello Carole,

I can’t attend tonight’s selectboard meeting.

However, I wrote to the Board before last week’s meeting to ask for an

explanation, “in words I can understand,” why there’s no public comment at their Board

meetings. I said this is especially significant in the Town that is home to Rockwell’s Four Freedoms

displayed in the Selectboard’s conference room. This was before they announced it would be discussed this week. Unsurprisingly, I have not received a reply. So please feel free to speak for me in favor of public comment at all meetings. You may also ask why citizen memos to the Board go unanswered.

GRRRRR.

Thanks,

Laura Flint

From: Town of Lee

To: Stockbridge Updates

FYI

As required by law, at the beginning of every meeting we announce that the meeting is being audio and video recorded… That’s it. We move on to discussing (if necessary) the minutes of the previous meeting and approving them. We then open up the meeting for “Public Comment”, where anyone can bring forward any concerns they might have. Then, on to the main agenda, which has been duly posted so that everyone is aware of Town business at hand.

At the conclusion of discussion of each agenda item, we give the public the opportunity to offer input/opinion/comment before the SB votes. I think it’s called democracy. My understanding is that it is a quaint, old New England tradition. Seems like the neighborly thing to do. Not complicated and it works.

From: Town of Lenox

To: Stockbridge Updates

FYI

In the CTSBTV tape of the Finance Committee meeting, the Chair is shown informing the public that CTSBTV is taping the meeting and that he sees Clarence Fanto in the audience who may be taping as well. He then asks, anyone else? He then moves to minutes and agenda.

Editor’s note: a CTSBTV recording of the GB SB meeting shows the chair reading a longer statement something like Stockbridge’s but not exactly.

Carole,

I’m very sorry but I have to be away for part of the weekend and just do not have time to write an article for SU on short notice. I would be very happy to write something for a future edition and I could include both the duties of the TW as well as ways I am trying to integrate suggestions and concerns from Town Commissions and individual citizens. One example of this is active collaboration with the Agricultural/Forestry Commission to submit an application for Stockbridge to be designated a Tree City USA. I am also working closely with the Parks Commission to remove dangerous trees and consider new areas for plantings. I would be very happy to write a brief article about these activities.

As for National Grid, they are currently implementing a Hazard Tree Pruning/Removal Survey that was prepared by a consulting arborist and approved by a previous Tree Warden. This work is important for both safety reasons and to help avoid extensive power outages.

Thank you for your good work,

Lisa Bozzuto

To Laura, Lenore, and others who asked:

I am glad public comment is restored.

My only “but” is that I remain concerned about giving name and address as a requirement to speak — please insist on protecting yourself. Cameras mitigate against giving one’s address. The median age in the Commonwealth is 40+; median age in Stockbridge is 60+. It is unwise for anyone standing in front of a camera, looking 70 or 80, to state their address in Stockbridge. If I were a house breaker, I would watch CTSBTV as take notes. Besides, In the Constitution, speech is not a right contingent upon anything. I want everyone to protect themselves.

Carole

Yes, I want to check on that…

I agree! Thanks Carole….

Laura Dubester

Hi Carole –

After the back and forth discussion I got the impression that Name and Town was going to be sufficient. Let’s see if that works at the next meeting.

Lenore Sundberg