Great Barrington Board of Health Appoints Collaborative Inspectors Through Fiscal Year 2027

LENOX — May 14, 2026 — Great Barrington Board of Health votes to appoint Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative inspectors as town agents through June 2027. The three-member board — Chair Michael Lanute, Dr. Ruby Chang, and Peter Stanton — voted 3-0 at its May 14 meeting to authorize all inspectors affiliated with the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative to conduct inspections on behalf of the town, a move Health Agent Rebecca Jurczyk said will address the department's capacity shortage with roughly 15 hours of inspection work per week. Collaborative representative Jane Smith outlined a $10,000 equity grant available for tick-education materials, a new inspector with 25 years of restaurant experience named Rebecca Clerget, and an initiative to form a Southern Berkshire hub for wraparound social services. The board also learned that a proposed water-quality intern whose duties would have included daily goose-waste raking at Lake Mansfield lost its funding source when a Proposition 2½ override failed at the ballot last week, leaving beach management an open question ahead of a Memorial Day season opening.