Shelburne and Buckland Select Boards are now using Zoom for virtual meetings. Falls Cable can not broadcast them live but they are available for viewing/listening here on this web site. And, they are rebroadcast on Channel 17 – Shelburne at 2 and 7 PM on Monday and Wednesday and at about 4PM on Saturday and Sunday – Buckland at 2 PM and 7 PM on Tuesday and Thursday and 2 PM on Saturday and Sunday.

The Shelburne Select Board meeting on April 16, 2020 was held via Zoom and participants phoned in to connect. Hence, the meeting recording you’ll find here on fallscable.com is audio only. You’ll be able to hear all the participants.

A special meeting of the Buckland Select Board was held on Tuesday, March 17 to approve a Declaration of Emergency. Details of the Declaration will be available on the Buckland town web site.

https://www.town.buckland.ma.us/

The video of the meeting is available here on this web site. Due to social distancing considerations the meeting was held in the main hall at Buckland Town Hall. Because of the size of the room the sound quality is somewhat less than what we are used to recording.

The March 10 meeting is now available for viewing. Thank you for your patience.

The new equipment is installed. We hope that anyone who saw the live broadcast noticed a difference. Unfortunately, with new equipment there is a “learning curve” and we are working on getting the recorded version of the meeting ready for re-broadcast and to be seen here on the Falls Cable web site. Hopefully it will be ready on Friday. Our apologies for any inconvenience. We’ll post the Town Administrator’s text update here as soon as we receive it.

Once again, the dreaded DVD gremlin was in attendance at the Buckland Select Board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25. It decided to stop recording before the end of the meeting and the last 30  minutes is missing. I’ve been told that the new equipment will be in place by the next meeting on Tuesday, March 10.

The Comcast Survey for Buckland residents is now available to be filled out at the Buckland Town Hall on State Street and at the Buckland Public Library on Upper Street.

The Towns of Buckland and Shelburne have entered the negotiation phase for a new Television Services contract with Comcast. The current contract does not expire until 2022 but negotiations can start within 36 months of the expiration date. The contract term will be 10 years. The Town’s respective Cable Committees have joined together in a joint cable advisory committee that will represent the towns in a joint negotiation with Comcast.

As part of the “ascertainment” process the towns are required to hold a public hearing to provide a forum for local residents to express their comments about Comcast and their suggestions for the Towns to consider in a negotiation for Comcast Television Services ( the contract is only for Television Services, it does not include Internet or Phone or Mobile services provided by Comcast/Xfinity ).

Preliminary to setting a date for the public hearing Buckland and Shelburne will be distributing a survey to local residents to gauge their satisfaction levels with Comcast. The Town of Shelburne’s upcoming 2020 Census mailing will include a one page survey that Shelburne residents can fill out and return. The survey will also be available at soon to be selected locations.

The Town of Buckland will make the survey available to their residents at the Town Hall and other soon to be selected locations in January 2020.

In addition, Falls Cable will be developing a survey for Buckland and Shelburne residents regarding Falls Cable’s Channel 17. It will be available online and at soon to be selected locations. More information will be coming in January 2020. The questions will be focused on the resident’s viewing habits, satisfaction levels and will ask for comments and/or suggestions about Falls Cable’s programming on Channel 17. It will also ask for feedback about this web site.

Updates will be provided when available.

Well, it happened again. Faulty recording equipment caused us to only record 1:28 of the meeting that actually lasted 1:58. So, only the first 1:28 of the meeting is available for viewing here on the web site.

New equipment has been ordered. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Below,

I have added the summary of the Town Administrator’s portion of the agenda.

SELECT BOARD, TOWN OF BUCKLAND
TOWN ADMINISTRATORS UPDATE
NOV. 12, 2019
Senior Center
I attended one of the three forums for the Senior Center expansion committee and heard
their presentation and survey instruction for site selection. It was very informative, and I am glad
I went. They focused on the four primary sites and two alternative sites during the presentation.
I have attached the presentation and TWO surveys here for your review and copies are
available on the Town’s website. It was noted that one of the surveys is very subjective and
looking for residents’ feelings about the six possible sites and the 2nd survey is much more
objective and is more of a data collection exercise. Residents should be encouraged to fill out
both surveys and return them to the senior center before the first week in December. There is a
request that residents put their names and towns on the surveys but for those concerned about
privacy the committee made it very clear that the consultants will be responsible for reviewing
and compiling the results. There is one more forum on and a meeting is planned for Dec. 4th at
6:30 p.m. for the Select Board’s of the three member Towns. That meeting will be held in the
Shelburne Town Hall.

Brownfields Program
FRCOG is conducting its RFP process to hire a consulting firm to conduct the
environmental site assessments. They are scheduled to have a firm under contract by the end
of December and their Brownfields Steering Committee would begin review and prioritizing
application in January or February, depending on scheduling. If our project is prioritized, the
actual assessment work will need to be scheduled with the consultant and we would go forward
from there.

MassWorks
The Town’s application for a MassWorks grant for Charlemont Road was not successful.
We will wait and get DOT’s feedback about what our application lacked before revising it for a
FY20 submission. I would also like to consider working with Charlemont on a joint application if
that is something this Board supports.

Meanwhile Upper Street is finishing up and after two rainouts we hope to have final
pavement down on this Friday.

Williams Street
We are working through the punch list of items for this CDBG project but have heard that
by and large residents are happy with the work and we are looking forward to getting Phase II
designed and out to bid soon.

Tax Classification
As you know a majority of the Board met with the Assessors last Thursday and voted to
keep the single tax rate for residential and commercials taxpayers. This is consistent with the
vote the Select Board has taken historically and one that, I wholly agree, makes the most sense
for the Town. The Finance Team is working hard to finalize year end.

Recreation
The Friends of Buckland Recreation, Inc. are now official in the eyes of the IRS and
have been provided their own EIN. They are working with Attorney Will Flanders and will soon
be kicking off their Pool fundraising program.

The Open Space & Recreation Committee continues to meet to update the OSRP. They too
have a survey and are looking for residents’ input. That survey is also on the Town’s website.

Dog Complaint Form

Animal Control Officer Kyle Dragon has created a new form for Dog Complaints. It’s on
the Town’s website as well.

In addition, the meeting

Acknowledged the volunteer efforts of the Women’s Club of Shelburne Falls for a great season on the Bridge of Flowers.

Announced the final forum on site selection by the Senior Center Expansion Committee on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. in Ashfield.

Heard public comment from resident Marilyn Kelsey regarding the Senior Center’s expansion plan