The Berkshire County town of Cheshire, Massachusetts is a bedroom community of about 600 people some 10 miles north of the county seat, Pittsfield. WAMC spoke with Town Administrator Ed St. John to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic downturn has impacted one of the region’s smallest municipalities.
ST. JOHN: I think we can say that we've seen the impact most by the effect that it had on our schools and on the services that we're able to provide for our community. You know, from the get go, the schools were closed, our Council on Aging was closed to the public. And that, you know, reaches a large cross section of our residents and community members.
WAMC: So what's the reaction there? How do you compensate for those lacking services?
Well, the reaction is you find a different way to fulfill these services. Obviously, we you know, we don't control the education component of it. But from what we can control is we try to operate under, obviously, a new set of rules, if you will, with how we interact with the public and find different ways to serve the public. For instance, the Council on Aging, we used to have a congregate meal site through Elder Services of Berkshire County right at the, at the property, but that had to go. But we were able to pivot if you will, and find a new way to provide these services and provide basically takeout or drive-thru services for the meals for people who want them and we've actually seen a great success with that.
Do you think anything you've learned during this time will affect the ongoing way that Cheshire provides services, even if we can imagine it, in a world after the pandemic?
Absolutely. One of the major issues that we saw through this was that we really had no capacity to work remotely if we needed to. And thankfully, through the CARES Act funding, we were able to start putting into place a plan and an infrastructure that does allow, should the need arise again, for the ability to work remotely so that everybody is safe and stays healthy.
Budgeting across the region this season has been a nightmare. What was it like in Cheshire putting together a fiscal year 2021 plan?
It, you know, it's- I don't want to say it's a nightmare for the budgeting because, you know, so many people have gone through so much worse with actually dealing with the virus. But, you know, scheduling, for instance, town meeting. We still don't have one on the books just yet. We're looking hopefully for the middle of August. We're relying on information that we get as far as budgeting numbers from the state. So we're waiting on that. You know, luckily, you know, as you mentioned before, we're a largely bedroom community, and we don't have a meals tax or lodging tax. So we've been able to avoid that drop off. But we are, you know, keeping a very close eye to see what the state numbers look like, especially as it relates to local aid for the town but also local aid for the schools as well. And trying to put all those together and come up with multiple contingency plans should one or the other not work- Or come through, I should say.
At this point, do you foresee any cuts happening in Cheshire, due to the economic, economic downturn in a possible 2021 budget?
I don't, to be honest with you. I think we are stable enough to absorb any types of decreases in state aid. Obviously, it's, it’s part of a larger conversation with all the stakeholders and all the departments but I think we can maintain our level of services through FY21.
What have your relationships been like with nearby communities during the pandemic? Have you increased your relationships with other Berkshire towns and cities during this era?
Yeah, I would say so. I think they've been stronger than ever. You know, one of the byproducts of obviously this is the decreased amount of physical face to face meetings, but the increase of virtual meetings. And it's been great in the sense that we've been able to increase the amount of times that we can chat, either through Zoom or whatever platform we want to use, as well as making sure that we make, you know, making sure that we maintain contact because, you know, good communication is something that we need to absolutely have to get through all of this.
Looking into the back half of 2020, what's the biggest thing on the docket for Cheshire?
Well, prior to the outbreak, we were going to hopefully go heavy on our road repairs, put together a plan of action that says, "All right, these are the roads and these are the commitments that we are going to take to improve the qualities of our infrastructure." Commit to a capital improvement plan so that we can maximize the use out of all of our equipment, but also capitalize the dollars that we invest on- Or maximize, I should say, the dollars that we invest on the equipment as well. So that we're not running into situations where we have in the past where we run into really old and outdated machinery, so that we can provide the best services for town.
Good or bad, what are some of the unexpected things about the COVID-19 era that are changing how things happen in Cheshire? Are there any things coming up that sort of surprised you that maybe didn't expect to see impacted by the pandemic?
Well, I think in a sense of good ways, we're making investments into the actual town hall itself to provide more safety for residents and employees. So that people are, you know, people are, are kept healthy. You know, such as like installing like plexiglass barriers, because you know, whether it's COVID related or just the plain cold and flu season, we have a small staff and we want to make sure that everybody is kept healthy and kept safe. So that's been kind of a good push to redoing some of the way we, we handle business in town.
Looking into that possible August town meeting- In Great Barrington, they had the drive-in meeting where folks sat in their cars in the parking lot to conduct business. How do you foresee a COVID-19 era town meeting happening later this summer?
Well, right now we're planning on an indoor meeting and, but obviously socially distance so that people are not crammed right on top of each other. We had made plans anyway to go up to the Hoosick Valley Middle and High School to host our town meeting in that auditorium. So if we need to, we'll be able to distance people out by, by seating arrangements, obviously having masks, and then also be able to accommodate an overflow crowd into the gymnasium and provide for a safe seating arrangement there as well.
A lot of communities are waiting to hear about Chapter 70 funding for schools in Massachusetts. What's the Cheshire experience with state aid like looking deeper into the year?
Well, we're still waiting on our numbers as well. And we're looking, anticipating that there's going to be a cut. We're hoping that there won't be, but we, as I mentioned before, we are kind of looking at different scenarios and planning on different contingencies to see how we can absorb any reductions in state aid. Without having to kind of essential services and essential programming to our community.
