This week, voters in Adams, Massachusetts overwhelmingly approved a new bylaw that will allow for marijuana cultivation in the industrial park zone. At the annual town meeting Monday, residents also approved a $16 million operating budget for fiscal year 2022, just under 1% less than the prior year’s spending plan. WAMC spoke to town administrator Jay Green about Adams’ budget, and what he thinks allowing marijuana cultivation will mean for the community.
GREEN: We've had a very similar budget over the last several years, at least in the past two, two and a half years that I've been here with the town of Adams. It's mostly level funded. We're able to maintain our existing level of services that we've had here in town without expanding the budget too far. That's probably one of the biggest concerns that we have here in the town of Adams, is just making sure that we're able to live within our means of the confines of Proposition 2½, and we were able to do that and town meeting past it.
WAMC: Now, the town also was authorized to borrow $5 million toward updating the Adams Wastewater Treatment Plant. What's the story there, Jay? What's being fixed?
So the Wastewater Treatment Plant went online here in Adams proximately 1970. It was built to handle about 10.5 million gallons of wastewater a day. And we're processing anywhere from two, two and a half to three depending upon time of year. Even though the plant is oversized for the amount of wastewater that we have in Adams because we're no longer an industrial center, which is why the plant was built that way, there's economic efficiencies that can be obtained by keeping the plant refurbished and updated. In fact, the town's done that with a very large project in 2005, and has been doing, has been investing in the plant in smaller amounts over year to year. However, we're at the point again where essentially the plant needs to finish the refurbishment that was done in 2005. So what that is, is an authorization to request approximately $5 million from the state revolving clean water fund and be able to fund the refurbishment project with those funds. They're low interest. In fact, the state has a program where some of the interest in some of the principal is actually abolished, is erased. So it's a really competitive program. And what those articles were on the town meeting warrant were to allow the town to position itself to access those competitive loans essentially to rehab the plant.
Now, Adams fiscal year 2020 budget is coming in at just over $16 million, which is just under 1% less than the prior year. In a time where a lot of municipalities have seen rising costs, how has Adams kept its budge, so stable?
A lot of hard work and a lot of dedication on behalf of our of our department heads. We've learned, you know, to use the- The often phrase, we've learned to do more with less. But we're also very conscientious of what the costs are in order to add people. Personnel is probably the, is the most valuable resource a municipality can have, and it is also the most expensive. Would it be nice to have another 10 people in DPW to handle all of the open space and all of the facilities we have? Absolutely it would. We can't afford it. So what we try to do is we try to work more efficiently. We look at all of the positions and make a value assessment as to whether or not we need those positions. And we ask people, frankly, to think outside the box and maybe expand the scope of their work which may be out of the ordinary for a particular position. So we're able to do that. We've had some we've had an excellent town accountant who just retired, Mary Beverly, who’s done a fantastic job working with the prior town administrators and working with the board of selectmen and finance committee to do that, and when I came in, the selectmen are very involved with the finances of the town, and we've been able to simply control costs and make very calculated decisions. And I feel that we have a very good municipal finance team here. And we're able to control those costs. Does it mean we always will? No, there's a lot of costs, frankly, that are fixed that we've been lucky with the last three or four years, such as insurance costs for personnel, etcetera, that have been very stable. So we've tried to be able to control any of our controlled costs down in anticipation of some of those uncontrolled costs that that will go up. Hopefully that will continue. But as you said, Josh, who knows what the future is going to bring, so I would say that's how we've been able to do it.
One of the biggest outcomes of the meeting was an overwhelming vote to approve a new zoning amendments that will allow marijuana cultivation to happen in Adams industrial park zone. Talk to me about that, Jay- What does that mean for the town of Adams and how was there this level of relative unanimity around the decision given how controversial it's been in other communities in the county?
You know, I think it's getting back to the finance part of it, Josh, that's really where the heart and soul of it is. Adams was quite progressive in 2016 or 2017, when marijuana was allowed to be retailed, cultivated and manufactured in the Commonwealth, and the town of Adams was one of the first communities here in the Berkshires that had a marijuana bylaw passed and allowed it. Unfortunately, Adams has not been able to realize the financial benefits from that industry. That industry seems to have settled in Pittsfield and in South County. We had one retail provider who came in early on and has still not opened up yet and we've had one cultivator who was delayed by a year because of impacts to COVID. However, that cultivator and manufacturer is moving ahead, and we anticipate them opening up late summer, early fall. However, over the past six months or so, myself and the community development department have received a lot of inquiries from manufacturing and cultivating interest. And they've been very interested in the type of buildings that are located in our relatively new industrial park: wide open spaces, large floor space, etcetera. However, when the town first passed its bylaw, it was a new industry. And with anything with a new industry, there is some reservation about where would fit, the character of the neighborhood, etcetera. The decision was made not to allow manufacturing or cultivation in the industrial park. We now see that there's a business interest in it, there's a demand for it. That reflects- You know, Adams is often maligned, saying that we have a very high tax rate. Now I could bore you for about an hour in explaining why that is, but really, at the end of the day, it's for two reasons. Adams is an old town, we're in a valley. We don't have a lot of new land to expand and turn into commercial industrial property. We need to make sure that those properties that we have, we can use them to the highest and best use. That's what we feel can be done in Adams’ industrial park. So we don't have as much of a tax base in that area, as say, other communities have. So we're trying to do is expand that tax base. And that's what this is for. We feel that there's a demand for it. It's a good fit. The ordinance- Excuse me, the bylaw that was put in front of town meeting allows for it on the issuance of a site plan approval and special permit. So that allows the planning board to take a look at the proposed business, have a conversation with the proponent of it, the developer, and take a look at if it's the best fit. And if it's not the planning board can say no. If it is they can allow it and allow it with some conditions. So we think it's a good middle of the road compromise. And we think it's going to help expand the tax base to the community.
Jay, I've covered a lot of town meetings in my day. What was the overall tenor of this meeting? Jovial, tense, friendly- What was the vibe of the Adams town meeting this year?
It was very businesslike, but also very friendly. And that's continued now, I would say, at least in my brief time here as town administrator in Adams. Adams residents are very interested in their community, they want to see it move forward. They're not afraid to tackle big issues. They're not afraid to have a debate about it. I would say our town meeting in our community is quintessential New England. But we try to put together a good warrant book for them with as much detail as possible. We offer a town meeting workshop ahead of the meeting for any interested town meeting member. It’s a representative town meeting government, so people are able to come in, have a conversation with their leaders, municipal leaders, and we go over the warrant articles and we answer any questions so that people can make an informed decision. So it was very friendly, it was jovial, but yet there was still good debate back and forth on these issues. And I think at the end of the day, we're able to move Adams forward through that process.
