Jennifer Macksey will be sworn into her second term as mayor on New Year's Day.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city's government for the next two years will be sworn in on Monday, Jan. 1, at 11 a.m.
The organization of government is held on the first day of the year following a general election. The swearing in will be held in City Council Chambers and streamed by Northern Berkshire Community Television.
It is open to the public.
The City Council will elect a president and vice president after being sworn in by City Clerk Tina Leonesio, who will open the meeting. The new president will give some remarks, announce committee and liaison assignments and present the rules of order for the council.
The council will also draw for seats for the next year.
The new members of the School Committee and McCann School Committee will also be sworn in and then the mayor will be invited into the chamber to be sworn into a two-year term and give her inaugural speech.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey will be starting her second term in the corner office after winning a landslide re-election in November.
Incumbents councilors returned to office are Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Peter Oleskiewicz, Bryan Sapienza, Ashley Shade and Wayne Wilkinson.
Incumbents Jennifer Barbeau, Marie T. Harpin and Michael Obasohan declined to run for re-election. Barbeau and Obasohan have served one term; Harpin was first elected in 2017, quit briefly in 2021 but was re-elected that same year and served out her term.
New to the council are Peter Breen, Andrew Fitch and Deanna Morrow. The three were among the top nine vote-getters of the 11 candidates running for City Council in November.
Both Fitch and Morrow are newcomers to elected office; Breen will be sworn in to two offices as he has been a member of the McCann School Committee and was re-elected to continue representing the city on the regional vocational committee.
Breen's colleagues on the McCann committee, George Canales and William Diamond, both incumbents, will also be sworn in.
The School Committee has two returning faces and one new one. Tara Jacobs was re-elected to a third four-year term; Alyssa Tomkowicz was elected to her first four-year term but ran as an incumbent, as she was elected earlier this year by city and school officials to complete a term ending this year. Cody Chamberlain, who had also applied to fill that vacant seat, was elected to a four-term term in November. Incumbent Karen Bond stepped back after serving two terms.
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North Adams Council Sets School Debt Exclusion Vote
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Council President Bryan Sapienza holds up an application to work as a poll worker for the upcoming elections. The form can be found under 'Becoming an election worker' under city clerk on the city website or in the city clerk's office.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council gave final approval on Tuesday for the mayor to borrow $65,362,859 for a new Greylock School to serve Grades prekindergarten through 2.
This final adoption paves the way for two community forums and a debt exclusion vote scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center. Passage of the debt exclusion vote will allow the city to raise funds beyond its levy limit for the life of the loan.
City Clerk Tina Marie Leonesio said the city has about 1,400 requests for mail-in ballots for all elections and that in-person early voting will start the Saturday before.
The first forum is Thursday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. at Greylock; officials will provide an overview of the project and tours of the school. Zoom participation is available here. Northern Berkshire Community Television will also record the forums for later broadcast.
The second forum is Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. at Brayton Elementary School. The Zoom link is the same and those attending in person can also take a tour of the building.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority will pick up about $41,557,218 of the cost, the city about $20 million and the $3 million balance is expected to come from federal energy grants. The 30-year tiered loan for $20 million is expected to have its highest impact in 2029 when it will add $270 to the average tax bill, or about $22.50 a month.
This final adoption paves the way for two community forums and a debt exclusion vote scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.
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The school received a $64,000 Feigenbaum Foundation grant a couple years ago, but because of supply and shipping delays from the pandemic, the equipment was not delivered until this past winter. click for more
Nearly a dozen residents attended Monday's Conservation Commission meeting to express opposition to a forest management plan that will include logging and the use of herbicides near Notch Reservoir. click for more
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