SHELBURNE FALLS — The Shelburne Falls Water Department will be shutting off water on Monday, from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. on North Street and William Street in Buckland, while new water mains are put into place in those areas.
The shut-off will affect the following addresses:
State Street, 9 to 13, 27 and 95 State St. All of William Street. And 37 to 135 North St.
Those affected should draw some water ahead of time for personal use. Water may be rusty or contain bubbles when it is turned back on. Do not wash a white load of clothes first when the water is turned back on. For questions or concerns, contact the on-site Construction Supervisor Rob Colantonio at 860-867-6427.
BUCKLAND — Residents are asked to return to a special town meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. to consider two Mohawk Trail Regional School District agreement changes that were not acted upon at the May 4 annual town meeting.
The meeting will be held in Town Hall.
One article asks if the town will approve a regional agreement change that would enable Rowe to rejoin the Mohawk school district, for secondary education only. Rowe currently tuitions its middle and high school students to Mohawk. But if it joins the district, it will have a vote on the School Committee and will share in other assessment costs, such as capital improvements to the high school. For Rowe, the change would reduce its transportation cost, because it would qualify for state reimbursement, as part of the district’s regional transportation.
The second Mohawk article cleans up obsolete references from when Mohawk first became a K-12 district in 1994. It also adds pre-kindergarten costs to Mohawk’s town assessments.
All towns that have voted on these two articles have so far approved them. However, Heath passed over voting on the Rowe article and defeated a third article that would allow regional agreement changes to be made if at least two-thirds of all member towns approved the change.
Now, any change to the regional agreement must be approved by all town meeting votes by the member towns.
A third article seeks a transfer of $1,100 for an unpaid bill from fiscal year 2015.
HAWLEY — After Hawley’s annual town meeting on Monday, town officials realized that a general bylaw, such as the Stretch Energy Code Bylaw, requires only a simple majority to pass. Only zoning bylaws, such as the solar bylaw, require a two-thirds vote. Pamela Shrimpton, Hawley’s town vlerk, confirmed this rule with the Attorney General’s Office and with Donna MacNicol, town counsel. The vote on Article 18 was 22 to 13, so the article passed and Hawley will adopt the Stretch Energy Code, effective Jan. 1, 2017. The Selectboard said in a statement it is sorry for the confusion and plans to put the matter on the warrant again for the next special town meeting.