City Council Candidate: Kate Hanley Merrigan
I am a proud native of North Adams who moved back here after attending college outside of the area. I did so with intention: I believe in the goodness and the promise of our community and came home to be close to loved ones, build my adult life in North Adams, and be part of what I see as our city's promising future. I make my home with my fiance, Nick Fahey.
My twin passions are youth development and improving the quality of life in North Adams. For many years, I worked at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, primarily coordinating the UNITY Youth Development Program. Most recently, I serve as the college readiness coordinator at BArT Charter Public School. In addition to these full-time commitments, I serve on the Northern Berkshire Youth Center's board of directors and am one of the founding members of the NAMA Prom Committee. I am passionate about fostering a sense of community connectedness, health and wellness for all, rich educational opportunities, and inspiring others to love North Adams as much as I do.
Why are you running for City Council?
I'm running for a second term on council for 2 main reasons.
1) Because I still have work to do. I am still trying to figure out the best ways to accomplish some of the things I care most about in this role, as follows:
- Engaging a wider range of residents in municipal conversations, decisions, and service.
- Making policy changes that will engender a more walkable and healthier North Adams.
- Inspiring and supporting younger adults to stay in the region.
- I'm also very interested in working with Dick Dassatti to pursue a charter review. We haven't made a change to our charter in 50 years and it hasn't been reviewed in decades. It's time that we again examine opportunities to update our charter for a smaller community than it was intended for.
2) I love this city. Deeply. And I'm excited that we're in a moment when others, from outside our area, are seeing how lovable this region is, too, and investing in it. I want to continue to represent our residents as we move forward into what I am sure is our exciting future. I'm running for a second term on council for two main reasons.
1) Because I still have work to do. I am still trying to figure out the best ways to accomplish some of the things I care most about in this role
2) I love this city. Deeply. And I'm excited that we're in a moment when others, from outside our area, are seeing how lovable this region is, too, and investing in it. I want to continue to represent our residents as we move forward into what I am sure is our exciting future.
If elected, what issue in particular would you push the council to address?
I would like to see all of us get involved in a city charter review process. I'm glad that resident Dick Dassatti has been pursuing this and I have become very interested in the work as well. It has been 50 years since we have made any updates to our charter. In contrast, there are community across the state that make updates to their charters every 5-10 years. It is healthy for a community to take time to look at the form of government that we have and the nuances of the rules within that form. A careful examination may confirm that our form of government is a good fit, but it might also reveal that it would behoove us to make some updates.
What experience or perspective would you bring to the council?
I learned so much from my first term on council but believe that I am still able to view our work with fairly fresh eyes, which means that it is still easy for me understand the perspective of someone who is not serving on council. I can anticipate questions about the work that we're doing.
Although it gets said often, I believe it bears repeating that a key perspective I have is as a representative of younger voters. Although I am inching my way out of the youth demographic at age 36, I work with high school students and have many close relationships with college-aged and 20-something young adults.
Finally, with my previous work experience, I have a wealth of information about the private sector non-profits in our region and how they approach and address social issues. So many of the issues that most need attention in our community require thoughtful partnership between public and private entities; it is useful to understand the constellation of non-profits in our region.
North Adams has a "strong mayor" form of government. How do you see the council's role in governing?
We are the legislative branch of our city's government. We are responsible for maintaining our local laws (ordinances & charter), which includes reviewing them, creating new ordinances as needing, and deleting or changing sections that are outdated. We also serve as a check/balance with the mayor's office and, by law, need to give or withhold authorization on a number of transactions that the mayor wishes to pursue.
Beyond that more technical view, we have two very important interpersonal roles to play:
1) A representative role as liaisons between residents and the city. we are able to do the important work of interpretation and communication regarding city business for residents. i have particularly enjoyed this work during my first term; it's an honor to be able to explain processes and decisions to people who are curious. Additionally, we bring resident concerns forward to the city and do what we can to help.
2) Ambassadors to the the region, the state, and beyond.
The current commercial tax at $36.07 per thousand is more than double the residential rate. Should the city rethink the current tax rate shift? Why or why not?
I might support moving over time toward a less pronounced split, but I would want to research this more if it came before council. Most communities in Massachusetts have the a single tax rate and some communities with split rates have been exploring a move to a single rate. Fitchburg, for example, is pursuing a downward shift in their higher commercial rate - bringing it down 2 percent per year until the two rates are equal.
Two things that give me pause:
1) I don't believe we have a public appetite at this time for the impact this change would have on the residential rate (while it would not be enormous, we do have many resident who are very concerned about any tax increases).
2) If this were a move to support current business in the community, I find it more compelling. If the intention were to attract new business to our region, I don't believe that moving to a single rate would be important. Best practices in economic development suggest that taxes are fairly far down on the list of priorities that businesses have when scouting locations. They look instead for local governments that are easy to work with (consistent leadership, clear processes), streamlined and expedited permitting processes, adequate parking, available workforce, quality schools and recreational opportunities. Low commercial tax is No. 9 on the list of factors that business care about when choosing new locations. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about this at last year's Mass Municipal Association Annual Meeting & Conference in Boston, at which Barry Bluestone, an economic development expert from Northeastern University, presented on attracting business to your community.
There have been claims that blight — abandoned or unkempt properties — is increasing. Do you agree? How do you think the council can be more proactive in addressing this issue?
I don't have facts in front of me that would determine whether blight is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same in North Adams but I do know that we have more vacant, abandoned, and malingering properties than a healthy community should. Blight has been increasing nationally since the recession and housing bubble burst of 2007-2009. We are in a tough position, as our population has been in decline for many years and is projected to continue declining. We will likely continue to have more housing stock than we need.
To me, this is a question that gets at the difference between what powers the "council" has and what opportunities "councilors" have.
The council may not be able to do a great deal. We can advance and vote for policies that support reuse of unused buildings, elimination of unsalvageable properties, and strong community development that enriches our most vulnerable neighborhoods.
As councilors, we have voices and networks. We can help spread the word about opportunities to support and even expedite home ownership. We can participate in neighborhood organizing efforts (neighborhood organizing is a recognized best practice for addressing blight). We search for best practices used in other communities by networking with other civic leaders (note: 93 percent of mayors surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors five years ago reported that they had had recent increases in the number of vacant and blighted properties in their communities).
For example, I know that many cities have used programs like HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which grants money to communities specifically to buy, fix up, and resell foreclosed or abandoned homes.
The proposed bike path, skate park and Hoosic River Revival have been touted as community development projects. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I do agree. It's hard for me to imagine how someone could disagree with this. Strong community development practice not only rehabilitates, updates, and maintains community assets--it dreams and builds new assets. We cannot grow if we only use community development funding to put Band-aids on our problem areas; we must also advance projects that excite people, that increase attachment to our community, that draw in visitors and new residents. I believe that the trio of projects mentioned in this question is a particularly strong suite of community development strategies as we move forward into a future where North Adams is becoming a major cultural and recreational tourism destination.
As a salient aside, I'll mention that one thing that surprised me as I've researched and worked on the North Adams skatepark project the past six years is how far people will travel for a quality skatepark. We have families in our community who will drive as far as Rhode Island for a day trip to a good skate or BMX park. We have an opportunity to build a destination park.
Should the city continue to try to resurrect the Mohawk Theater or is it time to turn the project over to a private or nonprofit venture?
I would like to see us identify the right private partner (which includes non-profits) to work with the city on the Mohawk and eventually take it over.
I don't think it's likely that the theater, with our population size in 2015, can be supported as a for-profit venture. It's also not necessary or practical to have a venue that competes directly with MoCA's excellent performing arts program or the North Adams Movieplex. The idea of MCLA utilizing the space as a downtown campus extension and performing arts venue has been, to me, the most exciting and promising idea floated in recent years. I hope that when MCLA identifies their new permanent president, the city and MCLA can give real attention to this idea.
Plans for the private redevelopment of Western Gateway Heritage State Park have recently fallen through. Would you support another attempt at privatization?
Certainly. I think that any strong plan with funding in place should be considered.
How have you personally supported the community?
Over the years, I've had many wonderful opportunities to support the community. For the majority of my adult professional life, I was fortunate in that my full-time work at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition allowed me to commit all of my energy to supporting the Northern Berkshire community as a whole. Beyond that, I served on the BFAIR board of directors, was a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and have been part of many Community Days of Service and MLK Days of Service.
Close to my heart, I've been volunteering to deliver meals at the American Legion's "Be Our Guest" Christmas Dinner since I was a teenager. For the past 10 years, I've been part of the team that coordinates the NAMA Prom, a massive annual dance party held at the Elks Lodge. Most recently, I joined the board of directors for the newly-formed Northern Berkshire Youth Center.
How would you reach out to constituents? Do you use Facebook or other methods?
I try to be very available and easy to reach. Facebook is currently probably the easiest way to reach me; I'm on it throughout the day, every day. I have a City Council facebook page where I share information and can be reached (facebook.com/kate.merrigan.council).
My cell phone and email are also listed on the city website. I check email daily. Reaching out to constituents, though, is more than making contact information available. I have had nowhere near the number of calls or emails that I thought I would have as a councilor. People don't always reach out because they might not even know yet that anything of interest to them connects with our work on the council. I have tried to reach out to people who I believe would be interested in topics as they come before us.
When we were considering whether or not to pursue a home rule petition to grant V&V an additional liquor license, for example, I talked it up everywhere I went and tried to gauge public opinion. When the Right-to-Farm ordinance came before us, I reached out to a realtor, as I wanted to know what case there might be for or against Right-to-Farm from the real estate perspective.
I had a conversation with a resident earlier this fall that led to an idea I like and would like to try in order to draw more people into conversations about council happenings. We talked about how many people--especially younger adults--might be interested in council meetings but are unable to attend and do not have cable in their homes (getting all their tv through streaming services). The idea was that I might do a short "TV recap" video of sorts after each council meeting and post it to Facebook. I am interested in trying this and seeing if it's a good way to get information out there and spark conversation.
Heroin and opiate addiction have been related to increasing crime. Should North Adams focus on more policing, on getting addicts help or a combination of the two?
This is a perfect example of an issue that requires public-private partnership in order for us to have real impact. Yes, we need policing and yes we need powerful help for people struggling with addiction.
We need all of this under a broad umbrella of a community task force that also distributes Narcan, an over-the-counter medication that instantly arrests the effects of heroin and can prevent overdose; explores and implements diverse prevention strategies; organizes targeted prevention and intervention for children and siblings of people struggling with addiction, as they are at higher risk of addiction themselves; and provides supports for families and individuals who have been touched by heroin and opiate addiction.
The RX/Heroin Work Group under the auspices of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition is meant to be this group and has been able to begin some strong work in this area. There is much more to be done. With continued organizational commitment from NBCC, cross-sector stakeholder commitment, and an infusion of substance abuse prevention and treatment funding — as well as greater policing — we can truly make a change in this area.
Do you think city government is transparent enough in its processes? Could it be better? Would you support an Open Checkbook system?
I believe that our local government is transparent, yes. I don't have any sense of information being hidden of refused when people want it.
That said, "transparent" is not that same thing as "clear." If you want information, it's available to you, but that doesn't meant that people know how to find information, where to look for it. It seems to me that most people still don't know that our council meeting packets are available to the public online ahead of the meeting and that our meeting minutes are available afterward. I'd like to see our website updated down the road, including something like a section specifically containing meeting minutes and meeting agendas for the council, council committees, and other boards.
I'd also like to see us, in the future, offer public workshops and education regarding council/commission/board procedures, Open Meeting law, and how to interact/engage with various city services.
I am interested in the Open Checkbook system idea but have not researched it enough at this point to take a strong position either way. Certainly, in principle, I like the idea of the public having access to as much information as they would like about how our local government is operating. I just don't know much at this point about costs, implementation, feasibility.
A thriving community requires a diverse population, yet the city and the Berkshires overall are seeing a decline in its younger population. What initiatives might the council be able to support to attract young people?
Of the questions asked in this set, this one is probably closest to my heart and hardest to answer. I read the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission report on young people leaving our region and I've been living this for years; all through my 20s I had close friends leaving to move to NYC or Boston.
The reality is that the major reason that young people leave our region is not one that the Council can easily act on with our particular legislative powers: jobs. One thing not included in the final report that I'd like to dig into is if there are particular career clusters that are of the greatest interest to those who have left. Are those clusters that we, as a community, can focus on developing and attracting to our region?
I have a sense of some of the things needed to keep younger people in our region, but the fact is they are beyond the scope of the council's work. They are issues for all of us to work together on.
Here are a few:
- Educational attainment. In the BPRC study, younger adults with a BA or higher are happier and more likely to stay in the region. This is also true for those who have moved away (likely for college) and returned. I am proud that my day job allows me to support every student, regardless of background, in applying to and matriculating in a 4-year college or university.
- Homeownership. We need to support young adult homeownership in order to help them become invested in the community and financially stable
- Supporting a shift to a creative economy approach to community development that invests in cultural and recreational tourism. One thing that the council does have control over in this area is legislative maneuvering to make our downtown more walkable and bikeable.
I'll also note that a significant majority of BPRC survey respondents were from Pittsfield, not North Adams. There is a lot we can learn from Pittsfield data, but it might not tell our whole story.
Tags: candidates, election 2015, NorthAdamsElection,
