GREENIELD — It’s taken a full year, but a new Massachusetts rural policy commission is scheduled to hold its first meeting this week here.
The 15-member Massachusetts Rural Policy Commission, first proposed by state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, and Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, as part of the state’s current-year budget, is charged with enhancing “the health and well-being of rural residents (and) the economic vitality of rural communities.”
The commission, whose members include Franklin Regional Council of Governments Executive Director Linda Dunlavy and Greenfield real estate broker Corinne Fitzgerald, will meet at the John W. Olver Transit Center at 11 a.m. Friday.
The panel was originally envisioned by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership in its December 2014 report on rural housing as “a state office of rural policy to function as a research and policy clearinghouse for issues critical to the health and welfare of our rural communities, including housing, economic development, health care, transportation, and education.” The commission was included by Kulik and Wolf as a state budget amendment to see that a rural perspective is included in state policymaking.
“My hope is that as state policy is being created, there’s an automatic recognition that ‘one size fits all’ rarely works in Massachusetts, because there are so many differences between communities in Massachusetts,” said Dunlavy, adding that she has tried to get that point across with every state administration with which she has worked.
Dunlavy said she hopes that the commission will also try to see that there is targeted investment in parts of the largely urbanized state where rural communities are often forgotten.
Fitzgerald, a Northfield resident who was designated by Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, to sit on the panel, expressed appreciation that he recognized that “getting the perspective of the real estate community is a critical piece of this process. We deal with a lot of homeowners and prospective homeowners, and we have a lot to contribute to this effort.”
The immediate past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Fitzgerald said, “This is the first time that I’ve gone to a meeting at this level that’s local. I have to drive two hours to get to everything.”
She added, “It’s nice that the governor is taking an interest in rural communities,” although Gov. Charlie Baker — who appoints most of the commission’s members — had been criticized for failing to include anyone from rural Franklin, Hampshire or Berkshire counties to his cabinet and for taking as long as he has to appoint commission members.
The commission, which is under the jurisdiction of the Executive Office of Communities and Development, is charged with meeting quarterly in rotating locations around the state. Although it is not funded by the state, the commission is authorized to accept and solicit funding, including grants.
Among its other appointed members are Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, and Hilltown Community Development Corp. Executive Director Dave Christopolis.