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Hilltown officials attend shared financial services workshop By AMY PORTER Correspondent HUNTINGTON – Selectmen and financial officers from the six Gateway hilltowns met on Saturday morning to consider opportunities for sharing accounting and assessor services. The workshop was sponsored by the Hilltown Collaborative, the state Division of Local Services (DLS) and Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) as part of the Community Compact agreement signed by the six towns of Chester, Blandford, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell last year with the Baker-Polito Administration. As part of the Community Compact, Zack Blake of the DLS met with the finance teams in all six towns, to see if sharing personnel, most of whom are part-time, would result in cost savings. Blake’s study found that using an outside service provider to support financial services in the town would bring some cost savings, and help prevent the difficulties that occur in small towns
when key employees leave their positions. When he presented his report in June, Blake had said one thing the team discovered was multiple people holding multiple jobs in the towns. “If they leave, how do we find bodies to fill the role(s),” Blake said, noting the difficulties in finding people at the salaries paid for very part-time jobs requiring high skills. He also spoke about the demographics of the communities, which he said were “aging in place,” with a shortage of young people, and the fact that some of the financial roles in the towns were elected, and some appointed. “The DLS has a longstanding bias of appointed financial services due to the sophistication required,” Blake said. On Saturday, three companies providing financial services to multiple towns throughout Massachusetts introduced themselves. Robert Dean, director of regional services for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments presented their Town
Accounting Program, which was started in 2005 to respond to the need of Franklin County communities for professional accounting services. Currently, the group serves 12 towns in Franklin County. Dean said if the Gateway towns used their service, they would have a FRCOG staff member appointed as town accountant, who would be on site in the town hall one day or one half-day a week. He said the program runs like an Enterprise Fund, with all of the expenses contained in the budget. He said while the accountant may be present less often, the towns would have professionally qualified and trained staff along with back-up staff, and access to software through a shared license. He said the program would reduce human resource costs of hiring and retirement, and provide “peace of mind.” Dean said some of the challenges they have faced include travel expenses that are passed onto the towns, as well as costs from attending staff meetings and budget devel-
Assessor Harald Scheid said assessors typically work for more than one community. opment. “We have found if the budget is too tight, there is not enough time in the budget to cover sick time, vacation, travel, and the staff gets burned out.“ He added they try to keep increases under 2.5% per year. “As the future of this, the more you can do remotely, the less cost to the towns, the more I can attract talented staff who might not want to travel,” Dean said.
Blandford selectman William Levakis asked if the town would still have an accountant in place, and Dean responded that they wouldn’t need to have both. He said they would be contracting with the towns with a Select Board sign-off. “I’m working on the budget with the finance director, which is submitted to the Finance See Workshop, Page 3
ReStore Westfield celebrates anniversary with creativity contest By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—If you’re into repurposed items and home improvement, then you may want to check out ReStore Westfield for its ReStore RePurpose Rivalry happening over the next couple of months. In support of the store’s new Sunday operation, as well as their two-year anniversary celebrated earlier this year, ReStore Westfield on East Main Street will have nine contestants to take furnishings or furLight fixtures inside niture found at the Westfield ReStore Westfield that store and repurpose them. The event will culminate Nov. 19 were for sale. with a silent auction on the items, and voting from customers who come to the store will occur in the weeks before the auction. “We have nine contestants that are going to take a piece of furnishing or furniture from our store and make it bold, refreshed,” Bill Zagorski, store manager for ReStore Westfield, said. The store, which celebrated its two-year anniversary in See ReStore Contest, Page 6
The ReStore Westfield on East Main Street provides shoppers with more affordable home improvement items.
Priscila Torres is an alto in the Atonement Choir at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement.
Rose Ferraro is a soprano in the Atonement Choir at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement.
Corey Langlois is a bass in the Atonement Choir at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement.
Choral scholars ‘enrich’ church services By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD-Westfield State University senior Sam Asuque said joining the Atonement Choir at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement as a choral scholar was a “godsend.” Prior to the first fall rehearsal with the full choir on Thursday night in the church sanctuary, Asuque noted he was a “pilot student” four years ago when the church launched its choral scholars program. “I had recently regained my faith and I kept praying to find a spiritual connection to others,” said Asuque who sings tenor, noting one night members of his hometown church community had prayed over him for a message. “The next day Scott Bailey offered me the job as choral scholar,” said Asuque. “It was a godsend.” Bailey has served as the music director at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement on Court Street since December of 2013. He received a
Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance in 2003 from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, and completed a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Accompanying from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2005. “Many churches that have good choirs either have well-established training programs or they have paid singers,” said Bailey. “Most small or medium-sized churches do not often have that luxury.” Bailey noted that the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts offers grants for new ministries in a church. “We applied for the grant in 2014 and ended up receiving funds to start the choral scholars program,” said Bailey. “We have since had many generous donations to the program and have offered fundraising concerts to pay for it.” Bailey added that the church sees the choral scholars program as an exten-
sion of its ministry to the university and students are able to receive paid work experience in their field, which can often be difficult to find for collegeaged musicians. “An added benefit for us is that they invite their friends to sing from time to time,” said Bailey. “The choir members love having the students around and provide for them a safe and nurturing environment for them to grow as musicians.” As choir members were gathering and getting reacquainted, there were hugs for all of the choral scholars joining for the fall semester – especially from Rev. Nancy Webb Stroud, rector. “I’m so excited and so grateful for these students,” said Webb Stroud, adding the full choir would be performing Sept. 17. Each choral scholar makes a commitment to sing at 10 services during a semester. “The students often provide one extra See Choral Scholars, Page 3
Sept. 28 lecture to examine fake news By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD-Can you spot fake news? On Sept. 28, Dr. Kyle Moody, assistant professor, Communications Media Department, Fitchburg State University, will present an informative lecture on the proliferation of fake news in our society. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum. The lecture, “Getting to the Truth about Fake News in the Era of President Trump,” starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Lang Auditorium of the Athenaeum. In an interview, Moody noted that he first noticed the “proliferation of fake news” with the announcement of Donald Trump’s candidacy in 2015.
“More people were sharing stories from websites that had no stake in real journalism, largely because of our collective fascination with Trump as a candidate and now as our president,” said Moody. Moody added that a “hunger” for news relating to Trump – and his Democratic Party opponent Hillary Clinton – created an industry where the American news consumer wanted more information than they could find on credible websites, allowing for the rise of these sites. “Often these sites also functioned as opinionvalidation for their respective readers, creating a fake news industry where the same false story could be shared across multiple political lines with no side growing wise to its existence,” he said.
Moody said that consumers should begin to look closely at details of a news story for information, such as the name and URL of the site, whether the author has a bio and where the site is hosted. “Consumers should also begin to use factcheckers to look at claims made by suspicious stories,” he said, noting he would be giving examples during his presentation and providing journal articles on the culture of fake news. Daniel Paquette, director, Westfield Athenaeum, echoed those sentiments. “Libraries are still a vital resource in the community, especially when it comes to combating fake news,” said Paquette. “Librarians are trained See Lecture, Page 3
Dr. Kyle Moody, assistant professor, Communications Media Department, Fitchburg State University, will present “Getting to the Truth about Fake News in the Era of President Trump” on Sept. 28 at the Westfield Athenaeum.