GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Representatives from the State Senate will kickoff a series of community conversations across the state beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 10 a.m. at Berkshire South Regional Community Center.

State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, and his Western Massachusetts colleagues Sens. Donald Humason, James Welch and Eric Lesser have arranged for a full day of events on Wednesday, starting with the Celebrate the Berkshires Town Hall Forum before they travel east into the other western counties.

Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, tasked Senate members with assembling regional days to highlight and showcase their districts, in an effort to bring the State House to local communities, engage and better understand the needs of every region in the Commonwealth.  

These public days are being called the Commonwealth Conversation Tour, and the Western Massachusetts session is the first of this series of statewide events.

The town hall forum will feature six 15-minute presentations by invited speakers, followed by public testimony. Members of the public who wish to speak will be asked to sign in and limit their comments to two minutes. Light refreshments will be served; the forum will be live streamed by iBerkshires.com so that it is accessible to those who cannot attend in person.

A second town hall forum will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kittredge Center Building, Room 301, at Holyoke Community College, 303 Homestead Ave.

A draft agenda includes remarks by Downing, and testimony by Mayors Daniel Bianchi of Pittsfield and Richard Alcombright of North Adams. Also on the agenda are presentations on 1Berkshires' efforts in developing and retaining jobs; the county's creative economy; energy issues for local business; public higher education; and the needs of rural communities.

The livestream will be hosted on iBerkshires.com's front page.

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