Oversight board votes to recommend 10‑year interim municipal agreement to select boards

The oversight board voted July 29 to recommend a revised 10‑year interim municipal agreement (IMA) to the select boards of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, moving the joint fire and EMS governance plan to each town for final approval. Committee member (lead) said the document "is gonna be our our bible for the next 10 years," noting he had highlighted sections previously discussed.

The board discussed several substantive edits before the vote. Members agreed to combine administrator performance evaluations into a single joint evaluation under Article 6, add an at‑large community member to the oversight board while making the fire chief a nonvoting participant, and keep fee‑for‑service partners off the board unless both towns amend the IMA. On withdrawal terms, the board adopted language in Article 9b that allows a town to notify by January 1 with withdrawal effective the following June 30, providing roughly six to 18 months for transition. "That gives us 6 plus months...which means that no one's withdrawing in an instant," the committee member (lead) said.

A motion to forward the IMA to each town's select board was made by Committee member (lead), seconded by Committee member (4), and approved by voice vote with the chair and members present voting in favor. The board also removed a standalone "termination for cause" clause and retained a dispute‑resolution and cost clause to handle inter‑town conflicts. The oversight board agreed to place the IMA on Stockbridge's August 20 agenda and West Stockbridge's August 17 agenda for select‑board consideration.

Next steps: the oversight board will ask the select boards to consider the recommended IMA at their stated dates; the oversight board also agreed that the current five‑member interim board can continue until the permanent, expanded board takes effect under the finalized agreement.