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Two Vying for North Adams Council Seat

Andy McKeever

Robert Moulton Jr. submitted a letter of interest in rejoining the board when Cariddi resigns.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Robert R. Moulton Jr. and David A. Lamarre, runners-up in the last City Council election, are now vying to be appointed Councilor Gailanne Cariddi's seat.

Cariddi will be sworn in as state representative on Jan. 5 and will resign from the council at the following meeting on Jan. 11.

Council President Ronald A. Boucher said the council will move quickly and hopes to appoint somebody to the seat at the subsequent meeting on Jan. 25.

"I need to have that seat filled. We have a lot of important votes coming up and I need nine councilors," Boucher said after Tuesday's meeting.

Moulton and Lamarre, chairman of the License Board, were the two highest vote-getters not elected to the council last election in a race so tight that it triggered the city's first recount in a decade.

The initial count showed Lamarre beating out Keith Bona for ninth place by only three votes. After election officials spent two days hand counting the ballots, Bona claimed victory by only two votes.

David Lamarre lost the last election by only two votes but could soon be appointed to the board to fill the vacant seat.

Moulton was the only incumbent beaten in the election. The top nine vote-getters are elected and Moulton finished at No. 11 behind Lamarre, one of eight challengers vying against seven incumbents.

The council was down two after Councilor Clark Billings resigned earlier in the fall and Richard Alcombright mounted a run for mayor. Billings' announced departure — he'd retired to Rhode Island in the spring but kept his address in North Adams during the summer — had prompted questions about filling vacant seats.

In the past, the council had appointed the 10th highest vote-getter but that appears to be more tradition than rule. Billings had said he'd delayed his formal resignation to keep politics out of the picture, considering it was an election year. No. 10 in the 2008 election was one-term councilor Christopher Tremblay who at first indicated interest in either being appointed or in running again, but changed his mind weeks later.

In the end, David Bond, the highest vote-getter of the challengers, was seated immediately after the 2009 election.

Candidates must submit a letter of interest and have an opportunity to give a presentation to the council before being appointed to the vacant seat, said Boucher.

Moulton has submitted his letter and Lamarre has verbally expressed interest, according to the council president, but has not filed a letter with the city yet.

Boucher called for interested candidates from the public at a previous council meeting.

"Everybody knows she is leaving. The word is out there," Boucher said about Cariddi.

Cariddi won election for the 1st Berkshire District in the state House of Representatives in November.

Attempts to reach both Moulton and Lamarre on Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

Tags: appointments      

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Voting Registration Deadlines

:: Preliminary Election: Deadline to register is Wednesday, Sept. 7. (Office open from 8 to 8.)
:: General Election: Deadline to register is Tuesday, Oct. 18

Registration can be completed at the city clerk's office at City Hall.

Absentee ballots are now available at the city clerk's office for the Sept. 27 preliminary city election. Voters may come in between the hours of 8 and 4:30 weekdays. Written reguests for mailed ballots can be sent to City Clerk's Office, 10 Main St., North Adams, MA 01247. Deadline for absentee ballots is Monday, Sept. 26, at noon.

The preliminary election will be held Tuesday, Sept. 27, to narrow the field of three mayoral candidates to two. The general election to select nine city councilors and a mayor will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8.


 

City Council

Returned Papers
As of 8/9 at 5 p.m.
 Lisa M. Blackmer* Yes
 Michael Bloom Yes
 Keith Bona* Yes
 David Bond* Yes
 Marie Harpin* Yes
 Alan Marden* Yes
 John Barrett Yes
 Eric R. Buddington Yes
 Nancy P. Bullett Yes
 Robert Cardimino Yes
 Catherine Chaput Yes
 Roland G. Gardner  
 Diane M. Gallese-Parsons  Yes
Shane Gaudreau  
 James B. Gyurasz  Yes
 Michael Hernandez  Yes
 Jennifer Breen Kirsch  Yes
Brian L. Flagg  
 Kellie A. Morrison  Yes
 Greg Roach  Yes
 Gail Kolis Sellers  Yes
18 candidates returned papers
 
 Mayor  
 Richard J. Alcombright*  Yes
 Ronald A. Boucher  Yes
 Robert Martelle  Yes
 Preliminary election will eliminate one
 
 School Committee  
 Mary Lou Accetta* Yes
 Lawrence K. Taft* Yes
 Leonard Giroux Jr.  Yes
 Tara J. Jacobs  Yes
 David Lamarre Yes
   
McCann School Committee  
 George M. Canales Yes

Polling stations

St. Elizabeth's Parish Center

Ward 1
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Ward 3
Ward 5

Greylock Elementary School

Ward 4


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Compensation Plan

Classification Schedule 

Fiscal 2011 Budget

Fiscal 2011 Tax Classification

North Adams Audit 2010

North Adams Single Audit 2010

North Adams Management Letters 2010

North Adams School Building Options



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