North Adams Will See 3 Mayoral Candidates in Preliminary

Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Three mayoral candidates will face off in a preliminary election on Sept. 22 to determine the final two nominees for the general election in November.

All candidates for the preliminary and general election ballots had submitted nomination papers and had them certified by the Thursday deadline.

Richard Alcombright, Eric Rudd and John Barrett III all returned nomination papers with enough signatures of registered voters to be appear on the ballot. Two other potential candidates, Nik Lareau and Richard David Greene, did not return papers although Greene said he plans on running a write-in campaign.

This year's mayoral matchup sees three candidates who have run against each other in the past. Incumbent Alcombright, who is running for a fourth term, beat Barrett, then the longest-serving mayor in the state, in 2009. Rudd had run for mayor in 1997 but washed out in the preliminary when Paul Babeau and Barrett, running for his eighth term, took the most votes to head into the general election.

So far, one preliminary debate has been proposed by the North County Cares Coaliton for Tuesday, Sept 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the American Legion.  

Twelve candidates are running for nine seats on the City Council. Of the nine current councilors, eight will be on the ballot: Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Eric Buddington, Nancy Bullett, Benjamin Lamb, Kate Merrigan, Joshua Moran and Wayne Wilkinson.


Also running are Ronald Boucher, Robert F. Cardimino, Joseph Gniadek, Robert R. Moulton Jr. Boucher and Moulton are former councilors who both also recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

David Bond, a former councilor, David M. Owens-Branco and Ronald K. Sheldon took out papers but did not return them; Edward L. Lacosse, the first to return papers, withdrew his name on Aug. 11.

The School Committee initially had three four-year seats open with no candidates but by Thursday, a four-way race had appeared.

Newcomers Karen M. Bond, Nicholas P. Fahey, Tara J. Jacobs and Miles D. Wheat will face off in November for the seats being left vacant by Mary Lou Accetta, Lawrence K. Taft and David Lamarre.

iBerkshires will be posting a series of interviews with all the candidates beginning in September.

Correction: Two potential council candidates were incorrectly identified as having returned papers. There will be only 12 candidates for the nine seats.
 


Tags: election 2015,   preliminary election,   


If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
View Full Story

More North Adams Stories