HUNTINGTON – Twenty people from Gateway member towns gathered at the first regular Gateway Collaborative Task Force meeting in Stanton Hall Thursday to consider the weighty issues facing the region, and ways to begin to find solutions. Among the group were selectmen, finance committee members, school committee members, school officials, staff, former students, and parents.
Derrick Mason, co-moderator of the Gateway Towns Advisory Committee (GTAC) which formed the task force, said the first meeting would be more organizational than a discussion of the issues. He gave a brief background on the formation of the task force by a small group that had been meeting since the summer, and passed around talking points that had been developed. He also said that several members would be meeting with the Governor’s western Massachusetts office next week to share their concerns and seek assistance.
Joe Kearns, selectman from Middlefield, suggested that an attorney be consulted regarding the official status of the group, and whether it must adhere to open meeting laws. GTAC co-moderator Darlene McVeigh, Huntington Finance Committee chair, agreed to speak with James Lampke, attorney for Huntington, who is representing several towns in their lawsuit surrounding the withdrawal of Worthington from the district.
“This group isn’t just focusing on the schools,” McVeigh said. “We’ll also be looking at our towns and how they spend money, and is there a way to share services and costs. We’re at the point where we need to figure out how to run the towns efficiently.”
“I would like to see us divide into teams, working groups,” Mason said. Some of the teams suggested over the course of the meeting would focus on the current budget crisis, financial concerns of schools and towns, government liaison and lobbying, innovative ideas, public relations with the towns, and civic service.
“Each team should provide its own list of needs,” Mason said, also suggesting student participation from Gateway.
“Each town performs similar functions,” Blandford Finance Committee member Tony van Werkhooven said. “There are a lot of opportunities to share services.”
“For us to have any type of reasonable discussion, we have to come armed with the facts,” McVeigh said.
It was suggested that a survey form be sent around to town representatives to get a comparable picture of each town’s finances, demographics, services, equipment and challenges.
“I do believe we need some professional help for some of that,” said Andy Myers of Chester, who is coordinating a Trails Advisory Committee for the hilltowns.
“The good news is the state has some funds for that,” he said.
“Does this group have plans to tackle the crisis of unfunded mandates and mitigation funds?” asked parent and School Committee member Jeff Wyand of Huntington. He suggested forming a small team around these issues.
“I just feel we have a crisis situation we should concentrate on,” he said.
“GTAC is still active, and I think will still be essential for that crisis management as you pointed out,” Mason said.
“I see there are a lot of the same faces,” Wyand said, and suggested forming one more powerful group instead of splitting up into two less effective groups.
“I see the Task Force as being the next evolution of GTAC,” McVeigh said. “Worthington’s withdrawal has only sped the process up. We could have had more time, but I think this task force would have evolved as a matter of course because we’re heading in that direction.”
“The idea of the task force is to broaden that base, to establish a communication within the towns,” said Linda Smith, Finance Committee chair from Blandford. “It’s pretty exciting to find out that we have more commonality than differences.”
Derrick Mason said one of the topics that will be discussed at the meeting with the Governor’s office is the possibility of forming a community compact, the partnership program of the new administration in which a community agrees to implement self-selected best practices, and the Commonwealth agrees to fulfill a set of commitments and to work to provide assistance for a community based on their chosen best practice.
Mason said the community compact protocol requires that each town send in its own compact, using shared language and stating its wish to collaborate with the other towns.
“We’re going to have to move fast,” Mason said.
The next meeting of the task force is scheduled for January 7 at 7 p.m. in Stanton Hall, with agenda items including town presentations, a community compact presentation, and report on the meeting with the Governor’s office.
