COLRAIN — The town held an efficient annual meeting this year, approving every item bar one in under two hours.
The only defeated item concerned a recently instated state law to impose a 6 percent local lodging tax on short-term rental housing. The law targets online short-term housing companies like AirBnB to even the playing field for traditional bed-and-breakfasts.
All other items on the warrant were approved.
First up, the town tackled its operating budget, approving $1.7 million for municipal expenses in fiscal 2020 —representing an increase of $50,000 from the current year.
Education costs were approved next — $1.98 million for Mohawk Trail Regional District and $320,000 for Franklin County Technical School District. Capital expenses for both schools — $59,000 for Mohawk Trail and $6,000 for Franklin Tech — were also accepted.
The town then passed a bevy of miscellaneous expenses, including $47,000 toward a new fire department pickup truck and $88,000 to maintain the Franklin Regional Retirement System.
The town approved funding its share of the county’s regional public health service of $11,000 for fiscal 2020.
Colrain joined the health cooperative this year, though it was conceived in 2012. The consortium seeks to provide professional public health services to towns mostly under the purview of volunteer Board of Health bodies. Four Franklin Regional Council of Governments employees – a part-time nurse, a full-time health director, and as of next week, two full-time health agents – work for the cooperative, providing an array of public health services including inspections, food safety permits, septic repairs and reviews, as well as a nurse.
The dozen towns in the cooperative include Monroe, Rowe, Heath, Colrain, Leyden, Charlemont, Buckland, Shelburne, Gill, Hawley, Conway and Deerfield.
All four items submitted by citizens petition were approved:
■ Support for a state bill to create a commission concerning the state flag and seal.
■ Renaming a Highway Department Garage meeting room the Judith Sullivan Meeting Room.
■ To call for U.S. leaders to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons, making it illegal under international law to develop, test, produce, possess, stockpile, transfer, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.
■ An item calling for the town to discuss possible uses for the historic Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge was undertaken. The town has $25,000 in leftover funds after restoring and reopening the historic structure in 2007, though only to pedestrians. Most residents dismissed allowing vehicles on the bridge though expressed interest in other proposed options, including landscaping the bridge or renting the bridge for gatherings, Selectboard member Eileen Sauvageau said.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.