NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — College students are looking for more retail variety and information about events in the downtown. They also feel pretty safe in the city and would like more recreational opportunities.

The data comes from a survey done by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts seniors Corey Brown and Meghan McMahon, who presented the information to the City Council on Tuesday night.

The project, part of a class with professor Nancy Ovitsky, was designed to find out what would draw students from the Church Street college to the city's main retail center. Councilor David Bond had met with the students in January as part of conversations about how better to tap into the college's 1,000-odd population.

Brown said 160 students responded to the survey, citing they would like more restaurants (including a bakery and health food) and more retail outlets, especially sports or discounters like TJ Maxx.

"A lot of the students, what they're looking for is for businesses to stay open longer," said Brown.

Councilor Lisa Blackmer agreed that later hours would be nice but said the city had little control over businesses opening. She wondered if retailers were doing their best to reach out to students.

McMahon said social media was the best way to reach students now, a situation that had changed dramatically since she'd entered college. "It used to be coupons in our mailboxes but now students just throw them away."

Students want to do things in North Adams and the area, she said, but many venues were not easily accessible, such as Greylock Bowl. Students would like to see more recreational activities, such as bowling or a skateboard park, closer to the college and have more information about events.

"I think the students would like to see a lot more marketing to those events downtown," McMahon said. 

In response to a question by Councilor Alan Marden, McMahon and Brown said they had not included Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in the survey because it was a major attraction and the college was already heavily involved with the museum.

Both students and councilors agreed that the city could not be described as a "college town." Mayor Richard Alcombright said he was working with the college on coordinating sidewalk clearance during the winter and would look into more lighting around the Pitcher's Mound, which some students felt was unsafe.

He also held out some hope that the city would be able to move forward with a basic skateboard park at MoCA.

"We do see a great change from being a freshman," said McMahon. "I think we can make it better. There are other college towns much bigger than this that we could get ideas from."

Councilor Keith Bona noted that students will spend if they find something they like. He said the college clientele at his Main Street store had increased tenfold.

"I didn't think college students liked antiques but they do ... ."

In other business, the council:

• Put off a recommendation to adopt the state's anti-idling statute until it could be submitted in order form.

• Appointed Aurora Cooper, a student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, to the Youth Commission.

• Referred to the Community Development Committee a request to change all or a section of Grimes Street to Cascade Way at the request of Cascade School Supplies.

• Read through a lengthy list of committee reports.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City Council President Ronald Boucher confirmed on Monday that he's "looking into" a run for the Corner Office.

"I've been approached by a lot of people ... a lot of people," said the six-term councilor.

Rumors of Boucher's possible mayoral candidacy have been circling for several weeks but he said on Monday he had not made a decision yet. He did say he had spoken with Mayor Richard Alcombright and told the mayor he would let him know when he made a decision.

Alcombright is finishing his first term as mayor and announced his re-election bid a couple weeks ago. He and Boucher served as councilors for several terms together before Alcombright successfully ran against the state's "dean of mayors," John Barrett III, in 2009.

Along with the change in the Corner Office came several new (or returning) councilors and the election of Boucher for the first time as the council's president.

Boucher has not, at least publicly, differed significantly with Alcombright during the past 16 months.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Public Safety Committee is looking into complaints made about the local taxi service.

Written and oral complaints had been received by city councilors, said Chairman Alan Marden, but not by the Police Department.

City Council President Ronald Boucher, attending the meeting, said the complaints related to customer service, such as inconsistent fares and smoking by the driver. The city had banned smoking in cabs by both drivers and passengers a decade ago.

Marden said he'd also been given two very specific complaints about cabs not servicing handicapped customers.

The board agreed it was a matter of compliance and voted to have Marden do a site visit with the company to "get their side of the story."

The city only has one taxi service now, American Cab & Livery Co. Boucher said there had been talks with Rainbow Taxi of Pittsfield to open an office in the city to offer competition, but nothing came of it.

Board members noted that the taxi company provides an important service to residents.

"It's not the best of economic times to be operating any business and they do provide a public service so we should try to work with them," said Marden. "But we definitely do not let this go by."

The board voted unanimously to "adopt" the state's anti-idling statute passed in 2009. The measure prohibits the idling of a motor vehicle for more than five minutes unless related to repairs, deliveries and pickups in which the motor is the only power source available. Fines range from $100 to $500.

The measure, and a similar one banning idling motor vehicles at or near schools, was enacted to limit pollutants. The Board of Health had asked the City Council to take up the matter and enforce it for health reasons.

"It may not be required but as a courtesy to the Board of Health, we're going to adopt it," said Marden.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city will hold another community forum on the elementary school building project on Thursday, April 28, at 6 p.m. in the Sullivan Elementary School cafeteria.

Presenters will include Carl Weber of Strategic Building Solutions, hired as project manager, and architects from Margo Jones Architects. Mayor Richard  Alcombright, Superintendent of Schools James E. Montepare, Public Safety Commissioner E. John Morocco and members from the School Building Committee, North Adams School Committee and City Council will also be on hand.

City officials strongly encourage all citizens to attend the meeting in order to have questions answered and to offer input on this project. 

Residents will be updated on the project, including the options being presented to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The MSBA, which is reimbursing 80 percent of eligible costs, was to have made a decision in March but has delayed a final review. School and project officials are pushing for a "two-school" solution for 620 pupils and believe that may be why the MSBA is taking longer to finalize construction. The state agency will make the final decision.

The preferred option is a renovation of Conte Middle School for Grades kindergarten through 8 and a new, or at least renovated, Greylock School. Some, however, are objecting to the closure of Sullivan School and the relocation of youngsters to the downtown area.

The statement of interest for Sullivan can be read here; the Greylock one here. The options can be reviewed below and are linked in the side panel.

North Adams School Building Project Options

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city is looking for a new face — someone who will promote North Adams' cultural and recreational assets and partner with regional organizations with similar goals.

The position for a director of tourism and community events was posted on BerkshireJobs.com last week. The job appears to expand on what had been the director of the Mayor's Office of Tourism and Cultural Development.

According to the job posting, "This position will create an atmosphere that attracts, welcomes and supports existing and new cultural institutions and creative businesses, as well as artists and creative individuals of all disciplines into the city of North Adams."

The goal is to increase the number of visitors (and the amount of their spending) in the city by coordinating events with other entities and towns and promoting marketing intiatives. The director will also coordinate all city-sponsored activities, such as the Mayor's Downtown Celebration, the Northern Berkshire Food Festival, and sporting events among others. The person selected will also be expected to grow a volunteer corps and work with existing organizations.

The post requires a bachelor's degree in marketing or communications and several years experience in related marketing. The new director will also have to be able to handle the website, email marketing, social media and online strategies.

The tourism position had been filled for the past decade by Rod Bunt, a former WNAW radio host hired by the former administration. Bunt quit March 3 saying he was looking for opportunities in the private sector, but there had been speculation for months that he and Mayor Richard Alcombright weren't seeing eye to eye on the position's responsibilities. "I've been canned, sacked, terminated, booted, ...," he wrote on his "The Unemployment Diary," but later told the Transcript that it was a writing exercise for an obscure literary magazine.

Alcombright said the city would take the opportunity to expand and "carefully craft" the director's job description to incorporate more marketing skills. Within a couple weeks of Bunt's departure and before any job vacancy was posted, the city had received nearly three dozen resumes.

The director's post is currently an S-35, with a starting pay of $33,009. The advertisement does not give a wage estimate nor is it clear the position will be the same classification. Alcombright last year raised eyebrows when he pushed for a new classification for an administrative assistant that jumped the job's starting wage up several steps from the secretarial classification.

The city's also looking for a seasonal park security officer for Windsor Lake and the campground. The Parks & Recreation Commission discussed the post at its last meeting.