AMHERST — Continuing construction at the North Common means the Ever Merry Maple Lighting, as it is being called this year, is moving to the Town Common on the afternoon of Dec. 1.
The annual downtown event, put on by the Amherst Business Improvement District and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, begins that day at 3 p.m. with an open house at the Central Fire Station. Then, at 4 p.m., fire pits will be ready on the green, where people can make s’mores, enjoy cider and doughnuts, and ride on a horse-drawn carriage.
At 4:30 p.m., the Amherst Regional Middle School Chorus performs, with the arrival of Santa Claus on a firetruck, escorted by the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band.
The work on the North Common, expected to last until next spring, has prompted some changes in the format of the celebration. Town Manager Paul Bockelman said that Timothy Todd Anderson, who directs the marching band, examined the location recently to make sure the students’ part in the festivities goes off without a hitch.
Meanwhile, the chamber’s Holiday Gift Card Match this year is getting $7,500 in matches, with $2,500 from both UMassFive College Credit Union and Curran & Keegan Financial.
The match enables the 300 $50 gift cards to be sold for $26 each. They will be sold at the Visitor Information Center, 35 South Pleasant St., starting Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. The cards will continue to be sold weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Only two gift cards will be sold per person or per family.
The idea of the match is to double the value of the first 300 cards. Claudia Pazmany, the chamber’s executive director, applauds the donations from businesses. “They know that supporting our small businesses contributes to our local economy, creates jobs, and nurtures local innovation and growth,” Pazmany said. “Together, they are helping you prioritize local this holiday season.”
The Superintendent Search Subcommittee is continuing its work to get a new superintendent hired for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools.
An advertisement could soon go out stating a requirement that the preferred candidate have 10 years of experience in education, with two years as superintendent, along with a master’s degree or doctorate. “I would like us to see us hire someone who has been a superintendent before,” said Amherst representative Jennifer Shiao.
But Shiao said others on the subcommittee worry this would limit a wide and diverse pool to replace Michael Morris, who left the position at the end of August. Douglas Slaughter is serving as interim superintendent.
Efforts are also underway to put together a search panel, with one or two high school students to be part of it, as well as community members. There could be outreach done to all residents at some point.
Compensation for serving on the Town Council is increasing in 2024, but the pay may not go up until July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
Councilors recently voted to support financial guidelines that will have an additional $64,500 put in the budget for salaries, raising councilor pay from $5,000 to $10,000 a year, with the president’s pay going from $7,500 to $12,000.
But those increases wouldn’t happen at the start of next year. This was troubling to District 3 Councilor Dorothy Pam, who said the increase is a matter of equity and that he amount of work councilors do its extreme. “We just had an election in which people ran with an assumption that were very good chance they would get that increased compensation,” Pam said.
District 5 Councilor Shalini Bahl-Milne, too, said even $10,000 is not enough to compensate for the time put in. “If you want to invite diverse people on this council, you need to at least do this minimum increase,” Bahl-Milne said.
District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said the $10,000 per councilor is still happening. “It’s not that we’re not honoring the increase, it’s the way the increase is being paid out,” Schien said.
A Walk for Peace in the Middle East brought about 25 people, including monks from the New England Peace Pagoda in Leverett, to Amherst on the afternoon of Nov. 19.
The group had prayers to end the killing of all Israelis and Palestinians and to state that all lives are of equal value during stops outside the North Amherst Library, on the UMass campus and on the Town Common.
The monks, chanting and beating on drums. were joined by people from Hopping Tree Sangha, Mount Toby Friends Meeting, First Church Amherst and Goodwin Memorial AME Zion Church.
Local author and activist David Brule will discuss King Philip’s War, with a special emphasis on its local history and impacts in 1675 to 1676, on Dec. 1 at noon at the Jones Library’s Woodbury Room.
Brule’s talk, part of the Amherst Historical Society’s History Bites lecture, focuses on the Turners Falls massacre and how that is often viewed as a turning point in King Philip’s War, with the English offensive in the Connecticut River Valley ending suddenly.
MONDAY: Jones Library Building Committee, 4 p.m., Design Review Board, 5 p.m. and Public Art Commission, 6:30 p.m.
TUESDAY: Elementary School Building Design Subcommittee, 11 a.m., Fort River School; Jones Library trustees, 5 p.m., CDBG Advisory Committee, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY: Planning Board, 6 p.m. and Conservation Commission, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY: Transportation Advisory Committee, 5:30 p.m.