Dimitrios Konstantinos Kakouras, sympathy

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Terry Alexander and 122 co-sponsors

Williamstown library trustees: staggers terms, making one 2028 seat a one-time 2-year term to align with a 2030 seat, then returns to 3-year terms; takes effect upon passage.

Introduced and adopted

Summary — H 4347 (House Docket No. 4945)

Title: An Act relative to the Williamstown Library Trustees
Sponsor: Rep. John Barrett, III (1st Berkshire)
Classification: Local bill / resolution
Introduced: July 28, 2025 (filed 7/17/2025) — Local approval received
Status (selected): Senate concurred 7/31/2025; read and advanced through multiple readings in October 2025; Act takes effect upon passage.

Purpose

The bill would change the election timing (staggering) of terms for the Williamstown Board of Library Trustees so that trustee terms are staggered differently beginning with the 2028 elections. The stated intent is to align the timing of one of the trustee seats with another trustee seat that will be up for election in 2030.

Key provisions

Overrides chapter 78 and any conflicting general/special laws or the Williamstown charter for the specific purpose of staggering library trustee terms in Williamstown.

Provides that, of the four library trustee terms up for election in 2028, one of those terms shall be set (by action of the select board, per the bill text) as a one‑time two‑year term. The shorter, one‑time two‑year term is intended to align that seat’s election cycle with a single trustee term that will be up for election in 2030.

After the one‑time adjustment, the seat “shall resume being a three‑year trustee term” for future elections (the bill text contains a typographical error in the later election year: it reads “20230”).

Effective date: upon passage.

Who is affected

Town of Williamstown — specifically the Board of Library Trustees, the Select Board (which the text references in selecting which term is adjusted), and voters who will elect library trustees in 2028 and subsequent election years.

This is a local governance change and does not create statewide policy.

Legislative timeline / procedural notes

Filed July 17, 2025 (House Docket No. 4945); introduced July 28, 2025.

Committee referral: Municipalities and Regional Government; hearings and committee reports occurred in August–September 2025.

Read and advanced through House and Senate readings in September–October 2025 (Senate concurred 7/31/2025).

The bill states it takes effect upon passage.

Notes, issues, and ancillary content

The bill text as provided contains typographical and drafting errors (for example, “turstee” and the year “20230”), which obscure the precise long‑term election year referenced; these should be corrected to clarify the intended future election cycle.

The package of materials also includes, apparently erroneously, the full text of an unrelated South Carolina House resolution expressing sympathy on the death of Dimitrios Konstantinos Kakouras (dated April 10, 2025). That text is not related to the Williamstown trustee staggering provision and appears to have been included in the document in error.

Related bill notation: HD 4945 (replaces).