Basler maintains seat on Monterey Select Board

In a solid victory, Basler, who is currently the board's chairman, will return to a complex set of issues that include multiple paths to bring broadband to the town, school concerns and infrastructure problems.

"It seems like it's the perfect storm," Basler said of so many important things happening all at once.

Basler, who used to own the Monterey General Store, cited the Southern Berkshire Regional School District's budget as a concern, after both Monterey and Egremont voted it down, requiring that it be voted on again by all five towns in the district.

"We're going to have to see what the district will do," Basler said of possible changes to that budget, and in particular if it will double down on its intent to close the South Egremont School. The School Committee had pulled funding to operate that school for the 2018 school year, essentially closing it into the foreseeable future. This was, in large part, the reason Monterey shot down the budget at annual town meeting.

The town has an important bridge that needs an expensive rehab, and the Select Board will likely press forward with a creative approach to keep costs down, but one that won't be simple.

And the town has a cellular service problem — only half the town gets it. So the board is pushing for a cellular tower on the Camp Hume property, and is working with Verizon to get a repeater on the existing AT&T tower at the Great Barrington town line.

Negotiations haven't been easy, Basler said, because both AT&T and Verizon don't see much money to be made in the rural town of 961 residents.

"But the reality is there are a thousand cars per day going up and down the road," he added. "It's like pushing upstream. We've been working on it for a year."

And then there's a $3.1 million renovation in the works for the Monterey Library, of which Basler is a trustee.

This was Johnson's second attempt for a board seat. The Monterey Police Department Sergeant said, among other things, he thought the board should allow more public input about where the town's money was going, and he said he didn't think it was being transparent enough about broadband efforts.

The Select Board and Broadband Committee, of which Basler is also chairman, are working several different paths to bringing high speed internet to the town.

Basler said he didn't know retirement would keep him this busy.

"I told my wife, 'don't worry, it's only one night a week,'" he said of a more innocent time before he knew what he was getting himself into.

In a tighter race in last week's election, George Cain beat Donald Coburn for a Finance Committee seat. And both Coburn and Patricia Salomon filled two vacant Planning Board seats. 

Reach staff writer Heather Bellow at 413-329-6871.