MY Turn: Bob Dane

Now it’s my turn
By BOB DANE
Published: 5/13/2019 6:48:59 AM

Many of us were very disappointed at the outcome of the vote at yesterday’s Town Meeting in Heath. People came out of the woodwork to vote against allowing the Selectboard to enter negotiations with Carnegie Arch to create a marijuana facility at the former elementary school. The naysayers prevailed. The irony of growing and selling marijuana in a building that had been a school was too much for them to bear.
This leaves the town with a White Elephant on our hands without any funds to pay for upkeep, maintenance, and repairs including the new roof the building sorely needs. The burden is entirely on us. It was disturbing to see 110 people leave the meeting immediately after the vote. I have not seen the vast majority of them on any committee, any board, any work bee, or otherwise participating in the affairs of Heath. The group opposing the sale to Carnegie Arch did an effective job of mobilizing these voters to achieve their goals. They did this with a campaign of misinformation that stirred deep emotions surrounding the growing and selling of marijuana.
I was shocked at Town Meeting to see how quickly the building is falling into disrepair. The roof leaks and some of the ceilings have water damage. The toilets leak and appear not to have been cleaned since the school closed. The road to the building and the parking lot are badly in need of repaving. There is a big pile of refuse behind the gym left there by a renter. Our little town does not have the resources to be able to deal with any of these problems. Now the building will have to be mothballed and will continue to deteriorate. All the while, no one can use it for anything.
Now it is their turn to come up with viable ideas for the disposition of the former school. This will be especially difficult in light of the fact that it will take a two-thirds majority at another Town Meeting for the Selectboard to be able to do anything at all with the building, including moving the town offices or creating a safety complex. The vast majority of people in Heath want to keep the town offices and library in our historic Heath Center. Our fire department is so small that there will be no money from the state to move the fire station. We are fortunate to have a strong partner in Colrain to help us meet our emergency needs.
We have now lost our one best opportunity to get assistance with the future fiscal health of our beloved town. There was only one response to the Request For Proposals issued by the Selectboard earlier this year, Carnegie Arch. Do people think we will get another proposal now, after we have proven how difficult it is to deal with a severely divided town? I think not.
I am at a loss as to where we go from here. I hope the group who worked so hard to prevent the sale of the building will now work just as hard to find a viable solution to our deepening fiscal dilemma. Many of the naysayers are young adults. It is now time for them to take their turn. The next generation needs to step up to the plate and shoulder some of the responsibility and work it takes to run a small town, just as many of us did when we moved to Heath a generation or more ago. Hopefully they will join a committee. Hopefully they will come to a work bee. Hopefully they have some great ideas on how we can generate some income for Heath. Hopefully they will attend Selectboard meetings to help make these ideas a reality. Hopefully they will come to the next Town Meeting and stay until the end to help decide the business of the town. The future of our town is at stake.
Bob Dane is a resident of Heath.