North Adams Council Clears Lingering Issues
 A report by MaryAnn King did not find excessive speeding on North Street. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council reset the hours for City Hall on Fridays, among other lingering issues it dealt with during Tuesday's meeting.
The summer hours were extended at the request of Mayor Richard Alcombright, who in September approached the council about closing City Hall at 1:30 on Fridays year-round. Department heads had reacted favorably to the suggestion, he said at the time.
However, the issue was referred to General Government Committee after councilors expressed a desire to possibly offset the early closing with being open later one evening and the need to review the city ordinance that sets the hours.
The matter was further complicated when the three-person committee was unable to achieve a quorum; two meetings were cancelled in the last two weeks.
Councilors debated whether to simply amend the ordinance, return to regular hours or continue with the Friday reduced hours.
Councilor John Barrett III said the hours have been in violation of the ordinance since September and recommended the matter be left to the incoming council.
"Let the new council look at it and then you'll be back in the summer hours anyways," he said. "We have an ordinance that says we have to be open from 8 to 4:30.
"I've never seen councilors take so long to make a decision," he said, referring back to other issues. "... Why not just fish or cut bait."
Councilor Lisa Blackmer agreed to a point, saying "the ordinance should reflect what's going on. ... We either change the ordinance or change the hours back."
Both councilors recommended changing the hours back effective Jan. 1 and to hand the matter to the new council.
"We've adjusted the hours for summer without worrying about the ordinance," said Councilor Keith Bona, also chairman of General Government. "It has been running up until now ... I could go either way. We should take it on right at the beginning of the year."
Bona said city employees and members of the public had attended the last two meetings hoping to speak and he was hesitant to change the ordinance without their input.
 MaryAnn King said she surveyed traffic at different times on North Street to complete her report. |
Councilors Jennifer Breen and Marie Harpin, the other members of the committee, apologized for their absences at the meetings and also agreed that the matter be filed.
In a vote of 7-1, with President Michael Bloom voting naye, the amendments related to the ordinance were filed and a recommendation made to return to regular hours on Jan. 1. Councilor Nancy Bullett was not in attendence.
Councilors also filed a communication dating from July by Councilor David Bond referring to traffic and speeding on North Street in light of a report done by Traffic Commission Chairwoman MaryAnn King.
King, who lives on North Street, selected six different times of the day to use a handheld Genesis-VP radar gun that was checked for accuracy before each use. She used a cruiser three times.
"I thought by not using a cruiser all the time we'd get more accurate numbers," she said.
What she found was that traffic and speeding wasn't much of a problem. The highest number of vehicles exceeding the 30 mph speed limit was 11, or 15 percent of the 69 vehicles counted, between 4 and 5 p.m. on a sunny day. Of those speeding, four belonged to North Street residents and one was a bus.
Only one vehicle during those times was speeding excessively, at 43 mph, and all drivers who were clocked at higher than 30 mph were sent a letter from the police director.
King said the complaints of speeding may be based on perception. "Basically, when you're standing still your perception of a car going by makes it seem faster," she said. She recalled someone standing with her who thought a car was going by very fast but it registered 24 mph, well below the speed limit.
The report was referred to the Traffic Commission and the communication filed. Also filed was a communication by Bloom for the Finance Committee to review the mayor's salary, which has not been raised in four years.
Councilor Alan Marden, chairman of the Finance Committee, suggested the new council take up the issue in the first part of the year so the salary could be raised effective January 2016. (The mayor's salary cannot be increased in the same calendar year.)
Barrett objected that wasn't following procedure and that the current council shouldn't be telling the new council what to do. Any review of the mayor's salaries should include all salaries, he said, claiming there were serious inequities in how raises were made.
"I'm just pointing out the mechanism because people think we missed it this year," said Marden. "I'll withdraw the motion ... a majority of the new council is here and they've heard my reasons."
Councilors-elect Joshua Moran, Brian Lamb and Wayne Wilkinson attended the meeting. Bloom had recommended the mayor get a raise last June but Alcombright declined.
The council also filed a communication by Breen on instituting a senior citizen tax abatement work program. The Finance Committee had been awaiting a report of the financial impact from the mayor's office so had not met to discuss it. Breen said she was willing to bring it back in the next council. Blackmer said it should be part of the overall budget discussions for fiscal 2015.
In other business, the council set a tax classification hearing for the next regular meeting and approved a tax license for John F. D'Alessandro of Savoy to drive for Tunnel City Taxi.
Tags: city council, ordinances, traffic commission,
