CHARLEMONT — The town is looking at applying for a Community Development Block Grant that could help low to moderate-income homeowners pay for improvements to their owner-occupied homes.
Glen Ohlund of the Franklin County Regional Housing Authority told the Selectboard that if 20 percent of the town’s housing stock is substandard, the town is more likely to qualify for this competitive grant.
Tax Collector Lynn Hathaway said the town had an earlier grant, but not enough households applied for housing rehabilitation grants. Olund said a “windshield survey” — an assessment taken from a vehicle driving through town — might give town officials an idea of how many homes and properties are substandard.
Kimberly Noak MacPhee of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments said there is $4,000 worth of assistance available to the town through District Local Technical Assistance funding, which could be used to conduct a windshield survey of housing stock and abandoned and distressed properties. MacPhee said FRCOG is involved in a regional project to develop a “tool kit” for towns to address abandoned and distressed properties. “I feel that doing some specific work in the town would help with this tool kit,” she said.
BUCKLAND — Buckland Police Chief Jim Hicks has asked the Selectboard to post a sign prohibiting parking on Williams Street between the last marked parking space and the first driveway up the hill. The Town Hall sits on the Williams and State streets intersection, so the parking spaces often fill up. When cars are parked on the uphill curve, the roadway becomes too narrow for two-way parking, Hicks said. He said a no-parking sign beyond the designated spaces would be enforceable and safer for traffic.
SHELBURNE FALLS — “We Just Felt Like It: Four Feltmakers, Four Directions” is the featured exhibit at the Shelburne Arts Co-op now through Oct. 30.
Felting is a fiber-arts technique using barbed needles or hot water to roughen and tangle fleece and silk fibers into textured fabrics and three-dimensional sculptured objects.
Lynn Perry’s felted landscapes, animal figures and masks, Flo Rosenstock’s mushroom and fungus inspired wall sculptures, Sue McFarland’s wall hangings with embedded natural materials, and Paul Cohen’s kinetic, levitating characters operated by wooden gears represent distinctive ways of working with the medium of felt. The artists utilize both needle felting and wet felting techniques.
The Co-op is located at 26 Bridge St. in Shelburne Falls, and is open Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The gallery is closed Tuesdays.
An artist reception will be held on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 2 to 5 p.m. www.shelburneartscoop.com 413-625-9324
HAWLEY — Anybody lose two folding cots on the side of Route 8A (West Hawley Road), just north of the Plainfield town line? Town officials believe someone may have lost them when they fell off a truck, or other vehicle.
For now, the Town is holding them at the Town Garage. If they are yours, please call the Town Garage at (413)-339-5509, or the Town Office at (413)-339-5518.
You will be asked to describe the cots in more detail, to assure they are being returned to the right person.
BUCKLAND — School districts are responsible for identifying and offering educational programs and support services to 3 to 5-year-old children, living in their districts, who may have significant developmental delays or disabilities. Children already participating in the public school early childhood programs within the Mohawk system will be screened now through October 2017 or in April-May 2018.
In the Mohawk and Hawlemont School Districts, an early childhood screening is available as a first step to find children needing special education services and to plan for meeting those needs. The screening focuses on development in areas of large and small muscle control, speech/language, reasoning, vision and hearing. Research shows that appropriate early intervention gives young children with disabilities the best opportunity to reach their potential.
For more information, or to set up an appointment for a screening (3-5 year olds), please contact Kate Dwyer, early childhood coordinator, at 625-6194 or kdwyer@mohawkschools.org.