CUMMINGTON — Staging a protest against the Berkshire Regional School District’s closing Berkshire Trail Elementary School two years ago, voters at Friday’s Annual Town Meeting refused to fund the district’s $794,975 in operating expenses.
This brought the town’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget down to a total of $1,405,978 from its earlier $2,200,953.
This reduced the total Schools and Library budget from $1,004,707 down to $209,732, which included only $37,316 for the Central Berkshire Regional School District, $164,866 for vocational and $7,550 for the Bryant Library.
Sixty of the town’s 665 registered voters turned out for Friday’s meeting.
Most in attendance were still smarting from the elementary school’s closure, including Select Board member Monica Vandoloski, who told Central Berkshire Regional School District Superintendent Laurie Casna that “residents are still broken-hearted” over the loss of the school.
In 2016, voters also refused to fund the operating expenses of the regional school, but due to a regional agreement that the town has with the district, the budget was fully funded at a Special Town Meeting in June, making the protest vote symbolic.
According to Casna, Cummington has 77 students either at the district’s schools or who participate in school choice, all of whom fall under the Central Berkshire Regional School District expenses.
Voters also unanimously passed an article that would allow the Select Board to negotiate and enter into a contract with a Delaware company — Revenergy C2 Franklin LLC — for a proposed commercial solar electric generating facility to be located on Plainfield Road.
Residents then showed their support for the crucial role that bees and other pollinators play in a healthy ecosystem, and declared Cummington a “Pollinator-Friendly Community” that encourages the adoption of policies and practices that support pollinator health.
By passing the “Resolution to Protect Pollinators and Enhancement of Pollinator Habitat, voters agreed to adopt pollinator-friendly practices such as adopting organic or chemical-free lawn and landscaping practices and avoiding the planting of flowering plants which are treated with insecticide. They also urge property owners, residents, town departments, and business owners to adopt pollinator-friendly practices.
The resolution received applause when passed.
“I have a lot of plans for educating the public including workshops movies informational handouts with a variety resources on the topic,” said Cummington resident Amy Pulley, of the Western Mass Pollinators Network.
By majority vote, residents also passed a second bipartisan, non-binding resolution “supporting state and federal legislation to provide greater transparency in political donations and limit the influence of money in politics.”