Alcombright Outspends Challengers in Run Up to Preliminary

Staff ReportsPrint Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Richard Alcombright outpaced his two challengers in fundraising and spending going into the preliminary election on Sept. 22.

Campaign spending reports were due on Sept. 14 for the period of Jan. 1 to Sept. 4; the next reporting deadline is Oct. 26. None of the candidates had in-kind contributions or outstanding liabilities.

Alcombright, running for a fourth two-year term, raised $8,535 during that period, beginning in mid-June; John Barrett III, who did not begin his campaign until late in August, raised $1,500 and Eric Rudd, who took no donations, $0.

All three ran in the preliminary election with Barrett, former mayor for 13 terms, and Alcombright, in that order, taking the top number of votes to move on to the general election.

Barrett's total contributions came from five donors, with the largest donations from Martin and Jennifer Kurtz of Darien, Conn., who gave $500 each. His total expenditures were $380.36 for postage.



Alcombright's itemized donations of $6,425 came from more than 40 donors from inside and outside the region, including classmate and former Attorney General Martha Coakley, and the campaigns of Sheriff Thomas Bowler and Benjamin B. Downing. The largest donation was a $1,000 from John "Jack" Wadsworth, a principal in the Porches Inn who earlier this year donated and fixed up the former Homestead Bar as the UNO Community Center.

Total unitemized receipts, those $50 or below, were $2,110. Total expenditures to Sept. 4 were $3,711.34, with $250 of that unitemized. The largest expenditure was $1,000 to Scarafoni Associates for headquarters rental in the vacant restaurant space at the corner of Main and Holden streets. Barrett did not have that expenditure since he opened his headquarters, at the corner of Ashland and Main streets, after the first reporting period.

Other expenditures by the Alcombright campaign included charitable donations or advertising, and include $910 for Alcombright's campaign kickoff at the Holiday Inn in June. He also had a past balance in his account of $4,504.45, bringing his total ending balance on Sept. 4 to $9,328.11.

Rudd raised and spent the least. Working with $70 from a past balance, he spent $30, leaving $40 in his campaign account. The local artist has used an online presence and homemade signs to advertise his candidacy.

Alcombright Campaign Report 1 2015

Barrett Campaign Report 1 2015

Rudd Campaign Report 1 2015


Tags: campaign,   election 2015,   


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

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.
 
"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."
 
The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.
 
The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 
 
"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."
 
The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 
 
"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...
 
View Full Story

More North Adams Stories