HUNTINGTON – After several months of planning, a forum on regional sustainability and public launch of the Gateway Collaborative Task Force will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in Stanton Hall, with speaker State Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli.
Derrick Mason, co-chair of the Gateway Towns Advisory Committee and member of the Task Force, said that parents, taxpayers, students, business owners, town officials and community service staff are encouraged to attend and get engaged in this important public effort.
Mason said the mission of the Task Force is to find answers to the region’s immediate financial problems, to help create a more sustainable economy, to support public services, and reduce local taxes wherever possible.
Last week, Governor Baker signed the Supplemental Budget that contained the long-promised mitigation funds for the Gateway School District to help reduce the impact of the town of Worthington’s withdrawal. The district now needs one additional town to vote for this year’s budget. Special town meetings are scheduled for Monday, November 16 in Chester, Wednesday, November 16 in Russell and Thursday, November 19 in Blandford.
Even with a positive outcome at these meetings, future mitigation funds are uncertain as the district begins to prepare its FY17 budget. One of the purposes of the Task Force is to research potential shared services with other districts and municipalities, both for the schools and the towns.
“Smitty has been saying that we have a very short window of time to show that we’re committed to economic sustainability so that the government will take us seriously and help support our efforts,” Mason said.
During the forum, all concerns and suggestions from the audience will be entertained as the Task Force unrolls its plans, and volunteers representing the Gateway District towns are introduced, Mason said. He is also hoping that people who come on Thursday will be inspired to join the effort.
“We’ve got a pretty good list now,” he said, but more representation from all of the towns and sectors in the Gateway district is still needed.
