Post date: Jan 17, 2017 2:48:3 PM
Williamstown is entering into a temporary (6 month) trial period of sharing land use planning services with Lanesborough. This idea was initiated by Tom Matuszko, Assistant Director at BRPC. Tom's concept was based on the state's former Peer to Peer program which would pay municipal planners to assist smaller near by communities on a part time basis. Further, BRPC believes that sharing services in this manner will further professionalize land use planning in the Berkshires, make both economic development and resource preservation much more streamlined. Andrew shares this belief, and notes that in the long run this should benefit Williamstown as we are already partners with Lanesbourgh. It also represents an excellent opportunity for Andrew to continue to develop professionally and learn lessons that can be applied to Williamstown by handling an increased diversity of situations.
Practically, what started as a simple goodwill agreement, does need some official paperwork to support the program and to cover each town and Andrew (like we would do for mutual aid agreements in the realm of public safety). Since enabling legislation for shared services postdates our charter, while personnel and contracts are usually my domain, in this case, the agreement does need BOS approval.
This codifies that Andrew will be assisting Lanesborough for 10 hours per month (which is time on top of his regular service in Williamstown.) Lanesborough will be compensating us, to then pay Andrew, at his current hourly rate, inclusive of taxes and benefits. Thus, there is no supplemental cost to the taxpayers in Williamstown. In addition, this is an interim approach, I do not anticipate it being feasible or responsible to expand the number of hours or to have it last longer than 12 months.