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FALLS VILLAGE — The Board of Selectmen tabled a discussion of road work on Undermountain Road during the regular monthly meeting Monday, April 8.
Highway crew chief Tim Downs said he would prefer to redo the entire road from Route 63 to Route 7, rather than the stretch between Route 63 and Barnes Road, but doing so would require shifting some unexpended funds around in the current budget.
After a discussion of road work priorities, the board tabled the matter in anticipation of additional information from Downs.
The selectmen acknowledged that $30,000 in capital funds that was originally in the school board’s budget proposal for 2024-25 has been shifted to the municipal budget proposal at the request of the town’s auditing firm, King and King.
The town received about $1,700 in opioid lawsuit settlement funds. First Selectman Dave Barger said as per a previous agreement the funds would be turned over to the Northwest Hills Council of Governments for regional use.
At the April 8 meeting of the Board of Finance, the selectmen were asked to find $130,000 in spending cuts from their proposed spending plan for 2024-25. The current proposal has an increase of $124,593.
Both boards are holding special meetings Tuesday, April 16.
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Sharon readies budgets for hearing
Apr 17, 2024
After weeks of meetings, the Board of Finance voted unanimously at a special meeting on Wednesday, April 10 to send the proposed 2024-25 annual budgets for the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education to public hearing.
The proposed spending plan for Sharon Center School anticipates total expenditures of $4,328,390, a reduction from the current year by $185,937 (4.12%). When the Region One assessment is added, the total education budget rises to $6,045,960, but overall education costs still exhibit a savings of $57,396 (0.94%) when compared with the current year.
The Board of Selectmen’s budget proposal anticipates total town spending of $5,791,308, an increase of $461,580 (8.66%) over the current year. When expected revenues are taken into account, the total town spending budget is reduced to $4,969,207, an increase of $262,630 (5.58%) over the current year.
A portion of the increase in the selectmen’s budget is the result of recent negotiation of a three-year union contract for highway department employees, bringing wage levels closer to those offered by area towns similar to Sharon, First Selectman Casey Flanagan reported. Alignment with area towns improves retention rates among employees and ensures applications from qualified candidates when vacancies occur.
Residents can review the budget proposals on April 26 at a Board of Finance public hearing, at the Town Hall, beginning at 7 p.m. Copies of the proposed budgets are posted on the town website at www.sharonct.org.
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Shepaug tennis defeats HVRHS
Apr 17, 2024
Patrick L. Sullivan
LAKEVILLE — The Housatonic Valley Regional High School boys tennis team dropped a match 4-1 to Shepaug Valley High School Tuesday, April 9.
HVRHS’s Manny Matsudaira won a third set super tiebreaker over the last year’s Berkshire League runner-up.
Coach Jeff Tripp said Leo Clayton “ lost a tough match in 3 sets.
“He won the first set 6-1 and then lost the second set 6-4. Instead of a full third set, we play a 10 point super tiebreaker to decide the match. Leo lost that 10-6.
“Tennis is so unique in that there is no clock to run out” Tripp said. “So when you get a lead, you have to keep winning points and games to win the match.”
“It was a really well played match from both players with a lot of attacking at the net and great lobs to counter. Leo is a senior but only playing tennis for his second season. He’s gotten much better really fast and hopefully this match will provide him some lessons moving forward.”
This spring HVRHS is playing matches at the Salisbury town courts in Lakeville, as the courts at the high school, which are slated for improvements, did not weather the winter well.
Clayton started playing tennis two years ago.Patrick L. Sullivan
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A Reporter’s Career Day
Apr 17, 2024
Provided
SHARON — I was a guest speaker at Sharon Center School’s Career Day on Thursday, April 11.
For a week prior I carefully rehearsed and refined my remarks. I made careful notes.
Then I forgot to bring them.
I did remember my props. To wit, a pile of back issues of The Lakeville Journal and two stacks of Real Official Reporters Notebooks, as endorsed by H.L. Mencken, Woodward and Bernstein, and Clark Kent.
There were about a dozen of us. I knew Tom Bartram, who was representing the Sharon fire department along with Nikki Blass, Beth Klippel and Quentin Leibrock. Also on hand were Adam Smith, art sculptorist; Ashley Coon, formulation engineer; Sarah Coon, Owner of Paley’s Gardens; Zachary Rodriguez, electrician and Devon Sheehan, Sharon Center School nurse/hospital nurse.
At the appropriate moment we were herded into the gym/auditorium so the students could get a good look at us, and then it was off to the classrooms.
We each had three groups of six or eight students in rotation, each for about 15 minutes.
It’s a bit of a blur, but I explained what the Journal is, how I came to work for the paper, how we go about putting the paper together, how the seasoned reporter operates, and answered questions.
I found the way the middle school girls stared at me completely unnerving. As if they couldn’t quite believe it.
But as a whole the students were polite and engaged, asked good questions and even followed up a couple times.
One student asked how I became a reporter and received the unorthodox answer (“by accident”) with aplomb.
Another asked if a degree in journalism is required. Feeling diplomatic, I suggested that working on a newspaper — any newspaper — is the best way to learn the craft.
Good thing I brought the notebooks. That and the subsequent note taking advice chewed up five minutes easy.
The advice part went something like this:
Me: You should type or rewrite your notes as soon as possible after the class or event, before you forget what they mean. (Show page of old notebook to students.) Can you read that?
Students: No.
Me: Me neither. And I wrote it!
It’s been a long time since I stood before a classroom to impart Knowledge [sic on the capital K]. I admit to being a little rusty.
But by the third time through I was ready to take on all comers. Unfortunately, Career Day was over.
On the way out I thanked my host, School Counselor Elizabeth Foster, and reminded her that Lakeville Journal Managing Editor Riley Klein is much younger, considerably taller and overall a vastly better choice for such activities in the future.
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