West Stockbridge Select Board Renews Kai Licenses, Formalizes Complete Streets Committee

WEST STOCKBRIDGE -- June 20, 2023, West Stockbridge Select Board renews three business licenses after owner cites $60,000 cleanup and due process objections. The board voted 3-0 Tuesday to extend Class 2 auto dealer, Class 3 auto dealer, and taxi licenses for Bill Kai, whose family has operated in town for 78 years, for another six months through year's end. Kai told the board he had spent approximately $50,000 to $60,000 since a disputed informal conversation with Chair Andrew Krouss last December, removing tires, scrap metal, and demolition debris and reducing his vehicle inventory by roughly two-thirds. Board member Kathleen Keresey backed Kai's due process argument, saying allegations must be aired before the full board with complainants present, not handled chair-to-applicant. The board also unanimously reappointed six members to a now-formally constituted Complete Streets Advisory Committee and heard from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Senior Economic Development Planner Wiley Goodman, who said West Stockbridge is part of a six-town joint application for digital equity planning funded through the federal $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, with a contract decision from the Mass Broadband Institute expected within two to three weeks.