SHELBURNE — Today, April 12, is the last day for those seeking town office to submit nomination papers and appear on the ballot for the May 2 annual town election. Town Clerk Joseph Judd will be accepting nomination papers until 5 p.m.
So far, there are no contested races, and there are vacant seats on the following boards: one School Committee seat for a three-year term, which had been filled by appointee Lori Grant; a five-year seat on the Recreation Commission and an open five-year term on the Planning Board.
ASHFIELD — A discussion on whether to form an Ashfield Business Association will be held today at 5 p.m. in Harry Dodson’s business office on 463 Main St. The discussion will include coordinating the promotion and welfare of town businesses. If you can’t attend, but are interested, contact Linda Taylor at lintaylor@verizon.net.
SHELBURNE FALLS — Drug abuse in the hilltowns is the topic of a discussion Wednesday, by Marisa Hebble, director of the Opioid Task Force for Franklin County. The talk, sponsored by the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center on Main Street.
A social hour for club members and guests begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the regular monthly business meeting at 7 p.m.
Hebble will also talk about what is being done by government and social agencies to fight the problem, and how others can help.
HAWLEY — There will be a public information session Wednesday at 7:30 in the Town Office, to talk about adopting state “stretch code” building standards that would help Hawley leverage money for Green Community projects.
According to Planning Board Chairman Lloyd Crawford, the town will vote on an article at the annual town meeting to adopt the Stretch Code.
“Adopting this measure is required for Hawley to become a Green Community which would qualify the town for an initial $130,000 grant to make major energy improvements on our town buildings,” Crawford said. “It would also make us eligible for other energy related grants in the future.”
The Stretch Code is a performance based substitute for the regular building code energy requirements. Since the regular code is slated to be updated, says Crawford, “it will essentially require the same things anyway so that this won’t be that much of a ‘stretch’ for the town.”
Come to this session and ask questions; Green Community experts will be on hand.
SHELBURNE FALLS — At least 50 people attended a “Talk About Town” brain-storming session in February to discuss what they like and don’t like about village. Now, there is a survey to gather the opinions of others living within Shelburne Falls.
The Shelburne Falls Village Network has put out surveys at local businesses and gathering places. The organizers hope to bring the results from these surveys to a second community forum meeting on May 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Buckland Town Hall on State Street.
In the first responses, residents listed the following priorities: Preserving the Deerfield River and community character; repairing infrastructure; and improving the economy for village businesses and residents.
“Better than half of the respondents think businesses are struggling or just getting by,” says a news release put out by the Network organizers White Sanford, Noah Grunberg and Kate Pousont Scarborough.
The expanded Survey results will be shared at the May meeting. For more information, contact the group through its Shelburne Falls Village Network Facebook page or by email, at:
shelburnefallsvillagenetwork@gmail.com
BUCKLAND — The Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school districts are in the middle of an online fund-drive, through the Mary Lyon Education Foundation, to raise $35,000 to purchase about 140 Chromebooks to be used in every school in the system. Chromebooks are essentially inexpensive laptops that run on cloud-based Google apps and software. They can be used by students to take online classes, link to web resources, and research, collaborate or problem-solve.
“This is an issue of educational equity, particularly in the hilltowns, where access to broadband is limited at best,” said Superintendent Michael Buoniconti.
So far, the district has raised about $5,000.
The crow-funding site is located at www.youcaring.com/mary-lyon-foundation