NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The mayor-elect used hearing of visitors at the beginning of the City Council on Tuesday night to ask the council to reject two issues on the agenda: the sale of the Mohawk and the appointments to committees.

 

She got most of one but nothing of the other. 

 

Jennifer Macksey, who will be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2022, as the city's first mayor, said it made no sense to "make a decision of this magnitude" regarding the Mohawk in the waning days of Thomas Bernard's term.

 

"Why would deny the incoming mayor the opportunity to be part of this process and to have my own input on this?" she asked. She asked that the council rescind the motion and reject the proposal.

 

The City Council, in part, agreed that it didn't want to get into making decisions during a transition period but, more importantly, it wanted to maintain its own control over the sale of the iconic property. 

 

The sale of the defunct theater, which the council postponed to the second meeting in January, has been controversial both in terms of the bidder and the way the mayor has gone about sale agreement.

 

Councilor Keith Bona had asked to rescind the 2019 vote to declare the former movie house as surplus property after the mayor proposed to sell it without the panel's approval on the opinion on of the city solicitor. Several councilors had also expressed concern over voting so close to the administrative change and objections by some residents on the "speed" of the sale. 

 

There had been the expectation that the council would vote to rescind 2019 order, motion to authorize with conditions and then move forward with approving the sale on Tuesday. A compromise designed by Bona and Councilor Benjamin Lamb saw Bona's motion to rescind changed to amend by adding a condition that the council have final approval over any sale of the theater and then vote to postpone. 

 

This doesn't kill the sale but it does allow Macksey to consider if she wants to honor the agreement with bidder Veselko Buntic. 

 

She also said she had asked the mayor not to make any appointments to boards unless it was an emergency.

 

"I want to build my own team, and tonight there are many appointments in front of you," Macksey said. "And I asked that you put them on hold and refer them to the mayor elect so I can consider these people." 

 

The council had five appointments in front of it: Jesse Lee Egan Poirer, a council candidate in the last election, to fill the seat of Lawrence Taft on the Planning Board and Michael Leary on the three-person Redevelopment Authority; Dale Osef on the Human Services Committee, for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2024; Eric Kerns to the Mass MoCA Development Commission for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2023; and reappointment of Randall Kemp to the Commission on Disabilities for a term to expire Dec. 1, 2024.

 

All five appointments were made, though not unanimously. 

 

Macksey's use of the word "team" rubbed several councilors and the current mayor the wrong way. 

 

"This is a difference of opinion," said Bernard. "I have not taken the approach that members of boards and commissions who are independent volunteers of the city are part of my team."

 

He added that the idea of building them as an extension of the administration was "a little concerning."  "I think we sell our volunteers short when we consider them an extension of the administration," he said. 

 

Lamb agreed, saying, "I do think that it's a slippery slope to dictate or indicate that the commissions and boards are in fact part of one administration's team." He noted that in the establishing the new Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Commission, the council had worked to make it "mayor proof" so no one administration could have control of the body. This "mayor proofing" was also done in the creation of the Public Arts Commission. 

 

"If we do postpone this, I would like to see good reason as to why these individuals that have been brought forward would not be offered the position in the next administration," he said. 

 

Councilor Michael Obasohan said if the city was trying to have a diverse group of individuals on its boards than the term "building a team" shouldn't be used. 

 

"We should be building up a diverse set of people who have different ideas and different ways of contributing and going back to the folks who are wanting to serve for the community," he said. 

 

Councilor Marie T. Harpin pointed out there had been eight appointments since the November election and suggested postponing. 

 

"I have a hard time making appointments with just a few weeks left in the term," Harpin said, comparing the numbers to the one appointment made after the 2017 election. "It doesn't seem like it was something that was done in the past. And there have been a lot of appointments that have been made already so I will be voting no on these."

 

Bona said it was not opposed to the individuals up for appointment but agreed with Harpin that there were a lot of them compared to the last two transitions. 

 

"I just feel is the case, sort of like I did with the Mohawk, at this point it should move on to the next administration," he said. "Nothing against these people. I just feel the ones being selected here are not working under this administration, they'll be starting under the next administration and that administration should have a say in the whole thing."

 

 

"We have a hard enough finding people that have really wanted to serve the city. Not a lot of people do," said Councilor Wayne Wilkinson. "So what we should do here is quit playing politics and welcome these people on board."

 

Four of the appointments passed 7-2 with Harpin and Bona voting no; Councilor Bryan Sapienza joined them in voting against Kerns' appointment to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Development Commission. Kerns has been a member of the Public Arts Commission.

 

Bona questioned whether Kerns had any financial stake in a business leasing on the museum campus and how would that affect his ability to vote. Bernard said Kerns, to his knowledge, has no financial stake in the business and it would be up to him to check with the Ethics Commission if he did. 

 

Harpin objected forcefully that one of the candidates "Mayor Bernard has personally written a letter stating that he was not compliant with our harassment policy." She made that revelation of personnel information during discussion of the first candidate and was called into order by Council President Lisa Blackmer for straying from the agenda items.

 

When Kerns' appointment came up, she began talking about the mayor and other councilors being involved in the Men Initiating Change group and Wilkinson called a point of order.