Stockbridge Select Board Closes Warrant, Tables Private Road Repair Bylaw to 2027

STOCKBRIDGE -- April 2, 2026, Stockbridge Select Board closes its annual town meeting warrant and approves $50,000 in emergency aid for a regional ambulance service. The board voted unanimously Thursday to place 17 articles before annual town meeting, including standard operating and school budget items, a $37,009 Berkshire Hills Regional School District capital assessment, and two one-time free cash allocations totaling $50,000 for the Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Service, $25,000 for Furnace district primary coverage the service has provided without compensation since 2014, and $25,000 toward an emergency ambulance replacement after one unit failed two weeks earlier at a cost exceeding $1 million. The board separately tabled a proposal by Wheatley Drive resident Adam Plummer to enact a bylaw under MGL Chapter 40, Section 6N authorizing coordinated betterment repairs on private ways, voting unanimously to defer the article to the 2027 warrant after members expressed concern about exposing the town to repair requests from "miles and miles" of private roads across Stockbridge. The board also voted unanimously to approve a new building inspection fee schedule, retain a $2,500 Stockbridge Bowl Stewardship Committee expert-consultation budget line by a 4-1 vote, add a $1,000-per-election stipend for the town clerk within the existing elections budget, and appoint Tammy (last name not captured) as town clerk while reassigning Erica Olson to town accountant.