Sheffield Select Board Seats Two New Committees, Approves LED Street Light Conversion

SHEFFIELD -- April 6, 2026, Sheffield Select Board seats two new committees and pursues free LED street light conversion. At its April 6 meeting, the board unanimously appointed six members to a newly formed Community Preservation Committee, including Historical Commission representative Michael King, Conservation Commission representative Cheryl Blackborn, and Planning Board representative Peter Dumont, plus ad hoc members Brian Healy, Catherine Miller, and Thomas Taylor, with one housing seat left open pending a letter of interest. A separate seven-member Comprehensive Plan Committee, set to work with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission on a 20- to 25-year planning document, was also appointed in full, with Brian Healy, Ken Smith, Larissa Yackel, Carolyn Ulrich, Priscilla Cote, Jared Carroll, and Michael Jordan named to the body. The board voted to contact National Grid community manager Robert Eide about converting the town's approximately 50 high-pressure sodium street lights to LED at no cost before an October 1 incentive deadline. The board also accepted resignations from Senior Center van drivers Cynthia Carlson and Tim Shumsky, appointed Shane Gilkis to the Sheffield Volunteer Hose Company, and closed into executive session on a proposed settlement in the national prescription opioid litigation involving six named defendants.