NORTH EAST — Roughly 30 residents from the town of North East and the village of Millerton attended the public hearing on Monday, March 28, on the townwide property reassessment project. The hearing was held at the American Legion Hall Post 178 in Millerton. While Assessor Katherine Johnson said she was somewhat disappointed with attendance, she acknowledged it was better than previous such meetings.“It was better than the last time,” she said, adding it provided her the opportunity to explain to property owners why the town did the revaluation in the first place and what the process has entailed throughout the past five years, including data collection, sales analysis, creating new assessments and data review. “There were some people who were really involved with the process with the first reval in 2004 and also with the new process, which was nice.”The current reassessment was done at the town’s request after the 2004 project flopped. That reval was undertaken by John Watch of MJW Consultants, of whom many property owners complained about due to his methodology and results. After two years of updates, the town severed its relationship with Watch. In 2007 the assessor’s office began anew; soon thereafter Johnson joined the team.Last week she stood before property owners, many of whom expressed concern about whether their values have increased, largely due to a perceived drop in the market. But not so in North East, according to Johnson.“I tried to explain that looking at just the sales in North East and the surrounding area, we’re not seeing the market declining,” she said. “People keep saying they’re seeing the market decrease by 30 percent and we’re not seeing that. We’re seeing it leveling off and some increases.”Johnson said since the public hearing her office has mailed off the new assessments and is now waiting for property owners’ responses. By and large she said she is “cautiously concerned” with what she will hear. “Everybody wants to know what it’s going to do to their taxes, and as much as I would like to answer that, I can’t because I don’t set the tax rate,” Johnson said. “I merely assess properties, so people need to focus on the value of their homes, not what their taxes are going to be. That’s something I can have a conversation about.”Property owner Amiee Duncan said she and her husband, Frank, received a shock when they opened their assessment on Thursday, March 31. Among their three properties (two residential and one mixed commercial and residential), a residence on Winchell Mountain, which they own and lease to renters, jumped in value 23.54 percent.“It was like, wow, I was a bit surprised,” Duncan said. “I really need to talk to the assessor’s office, but I want to do some research before I complain. My initial shock is still here, and I wouldn’t want to be in the assessor’s shoes, but given the economy I can’t understand how my property went up 23 percent. I guess in some way I should be thankful it’s worth that much, but still …”Duncan’s home increased in value 2 percent, and the couple’s mixed-use property on Century Boulevard increased by .66 percent.“The other two properties were not bad, but the other is alarming considering the economy,” she said, conceding that perhaps the assessment could be correct. “I’m going to do some research, but if I can’t find a comparable property there might be nothing I can do about it. And maybe I am wrong and underestimating the value of the property.”Overall, the assessor said the town experienced an 8 percent increase in value, which is not from last year but from the time of the last reval (which was conducted in 2004 but last updated in 2006). Johnson said when taken in context, that’s not bad.“So that’s five years of changes reflected in 8 percent,” she said. “I don’t think that’s bad, especially when in 2006 you were seeing a 12 percent increase annually.”Johnson added the 8 percent also includes the cost of new construction and all of the data discovered by her office that was previously missing. That data was assessed and added to the roll, adding value to the town.“I can’t say that every single house increased 8 percent,” she said. “But of the 1,896 total properties, everybody did get a new value.”Once property owners receive their values in the mail they are advised to review them closely. Property owners can make appointments to speak with representatives from from Equitable Assessments (who helped conduct the reval) to review their data through April 14. If there is an error, the issue will then go before the assessor for review; Johnson will be available until May 24, the day before Grievance Day, to speak with concerned property owners. Johnson recommends taking advantage of this process as there will be time for a discussion and review, rather than waiting until Grievance Day to lodge a complaint with the Grievance Board. On Grievance Day there is only a decision rendered, but no feedback. To schedule an appointment at Town Hall, call 866-255-9753.
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Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.
“I was a library kid. I walked to the library after school,” she said.
For Sher, the library is as much about the people as it about the books.
“Part of the job I love so much is that running the library is such a community,” she said.
She treasures the relationships she has built, whether recommending books, celebrating accomplishments or helping patrons through difficult times.
“I am thankful that our community is so supportive of the library, unlike what is happening in some other places where librarians are villainized,” Sher said.
Sher takes pride in the Hunt Library’s reputation for being “open and welcoming to everyone. People come in and see things and get pulled into things they weren’t expecting. Our library is seen as a positive force.”
Sher came to Falls Village after being awarded a fellowship at Adamah Farm, then a program of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. She worked at pickling, in the greenhouse and later in the development office. She also worked as a nanny.
At the same time, “I was in the library all the time,” she recalled. “I’m a voracious reader. The library is where I met a lot of my first friends in Falls Village.”
She became assistant librarian at Hunt and worked in that position for almost a decade before becoming the executive director four years ago.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino
Sher met her husband, Adam, while working at Adamah. They had their wedding there in 2012. He now emcees many events which she co-organizes with the Falls Village Recreation Commission.
Sher and her family live near the library.
“It’s an easy commute,” she said with a smile. “My kids run back and forth. I can go home to walk the dog if I need to.”
“My kids have grown up here.” Her oldest son, Eli, “loves volunteering. He helps with Augustfest and often helps set up chairs for ArtWall gatherings.” Her younger son, Noah, is often at events and was eager to taste cookies at last year’s holiday cookie swap.
When she is not at the library, Sher likes to hike with her family. Bella, their Portuguese water dog, often accompanies them.
Sher enjoys seeking out people to offer events at the library.
“I do a lot of different community programming. It is one of my favorite parts of the job.”
Augustfest, featuring food, music and an auction, is the library’s biggest fundraiser.
“This summer we had a record 152 attendees, which was pretty incredible.”
Yonah Sadeh, a filmmaker from Falls Village, inaugurated the VideoWall this year, Sher explained.
“I’ve known Yonah since he was two. It’s wonderful to work with him as an adult.”
The VideoWall complements the library’s ArtWall, which showcases a new artist each month. Sher praised the ArtWall committee for its work and highlighted December’s popular “12x12 Show,” featuring works by local artists, each measuring 12 by 12 inches and priced at $150.
Sher added that some of the artists who exhibit at the ArtWall offer workshops to students at Kellogg School, next door to the library. In September, artist Danielle Mailer worked with the children. Vincent Inconiglios taught a class last November.
Being next to the school, said Sher, is a great advantage.
“Kids are coming after school, to see friends, work on projects, find a great book. Kids that love the library end up using the library as grownups.”
This past year, in partnership with Adamah, the library and school created a garden, with excess produce made available at The Center on Main.
This year is Sher’s second year participating in the Troutbeck Symposium in Amenia with James King, director of the library at Salisbury School. The Troutbeck Symposium is “a gathering of a year of student historical inquiry across the region” in which students “uncover stories that have been overlooked, forgotten, or never recorded.”
Last year, Sher and King began a project with a group of students researching Irish immigrants in Falls Village, exploring ancestry and creating small magazines about their findings.
They continued this year, visiting St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery on Dublin Road, cleaning seven gravestones and even righting one with the help of stonemason and gravestone restoration expert Karl Munson. Paul Kozeazny, a representative of the Catholic archdiocese, helped secure access to the site.
A film documenting their activities will be shown at the symposium in spring 2027.
A full schedule of programs and events, ranging from tech help to ceramic mug-making, can be found on the library’s website.
Despite spending her days surrounded by books, and a busy schedule of programming, Sher still loves to settle in with a book at home.
For more information on library programs and events, visit huntlibrary.org
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Touré was born in northern Mali in 1981. His father, the renowned guitarist Ali Farka Touré, came from a family of soldiers and wanted his son to join the army. The younger Touré studied drums and the calabash and practiced guitar in secret. He earned his father’s blessing to pursue music shortly before Ali died in 2006, and they played two tracks together on Vieux’s debut album.
Touré is known for his deft, polyrhythmic playing, and his songs grow out of riffs that repeat and layer to hypnotic effect. He draws on rock, blues, Latin music and various African traditions. This distinctive blend builds on his father’s work adapting the sonic traditions of Mali’s arid north to the guitar.
Vieux’s album “Mon Pays” (“My Country,” 2013) honored Mali’s culture after Tuareg separatists and extremist groups seized the north in 2012. “Samba” (2017) was recorded before about 50 listeners in Woodstock, New York. In 2022 came “Les Racines” (“The Roots”), a return to his father’s desert blues, and “Ali,” on which he and the trio Khruangbin reworked eight of the elder Touré’s songs.
Touré leads the Ali Farka Touré Foundation, which focuses on cultural and educational work in Mali. Around the anniversary of Ali’s death, it holds a festival in Bamako, Mali’s capital. Bamako has been under blockade for much of the past year, besieged by JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Against this backdrop, Touré continues to carry the music of Mali to audiences abroad.
At the Nov. 5 concert, Touré’s desert blues will share the bill with Gnawa, the music LanGus plays, which developed in Morocco among West Africans who were brought north across the desert as enslaved people. Gnawa is religious music traditionally performed at all-night healing ceremonies called lila, intended to carry participants into trance.
Samir LanGusProvided
LanGus was born and raised outside Agadir, Morocco, and began learning Gnawa from its masters at age 8. He plays the sintir, a three-stringed bass lute made of wood and camel skin. The player strikes a low string with the thumb to create a deep, resonant pulse. Iron castanets clatter over the sintir’s bass line, and vocalists trade call-and-response refrains.
LanGus infuses the tradition with jazz and improvisation. In New York, he founded the ensemble Innov Gnawa. His first solo album, “Gnawa Love,” came out in February.
Touré and LanGus’s Nov. 5 concert is one of the last public events at Race Brook Lodge, which is for sale and ended full-service operations at the end of 2025. The lodge’s final scheduled event, on Nov. 6, is an evening of Rumi’s poetry with translator and vocalist Haleh Liza Gafori, cellist Isabel Castellvi and ceremonial bard James Bird.
For tickets, visit rblodge.com.
James FitzGerald is a student at Yale Law School, where he focuses on ecological restoration and international environmental cooperation. He splits his time between Lakeville and New Haven.
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