Great Barrington Special Town Meeting Approves $628,000 in Community and Legal Spending

Town Meeting · Meeting of June 29, 2026

LENOX — Great Barrington voters approved roughly $628,000 in spending at a June 29 special town meeting, including $341,964 from free cash for seven community services and a $200,000 draw from the stabilization fund for legal costs tied to a procurement investigation. Finance Committee Chair Madonna Marr's committee recommended all but one item unanimously; the Housatonic Water Works legal proceeding drew a 2-2 committee split but still passed. Voters also approved an $86,899 payment to Southern Berkshire Ambulance Squad, clearing the way for a three-year contract with built-in oversight.

The meeting's sharpest exchanges came over Article 2, a proposed $500,000 reserve against a contractor lawsuit stemming from the 2024 Phase 1 street reconstruction project; after residents demanded to know why the April 7 filing in Hampden County Superior Court had not been disclosed at the May 2 annual town meeting, Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove said she could not answer that question, and the Select Board's motion to indefinitely postpone the reserve passed over vocal opposition. Reo Matsuzaki, a political science professor and voter, framed the evening's stakes with a chart showing the town's free cash had fallen from $11.25 million to approximately $1.4 million, driven partly by a $3.7 million drop in cannabis tax revenue since 2022.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,591 words

Source: the Town Meeting meeting of June 29, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.