North Adams' Blackmer Elected to Top Post in Mass Municipal Association
BOSTON — North Adams City Councilor Lisa Blackmer will lead the Massachusetts Municipal Association this year, the first city resident to do so.
She's also the first from the Berkshires to hold the office of president in more than two decades. Blackmer is hoping that through her leadership, she'll be able to ensure that Western Mass communities will have a strong voice in Boston.
"I think it puts us back on the map, I think people will start realizing, 'oh yeah, Massachusetts exists west of 91 and the Berkshires exist as more than Tanglewood. So I think that will help," said Blackmer on Saturday. "It also helps because most of our areas are still small — there are towns in our state bigger than North Adams."
Blackmer, starting her fifth term as a councilor, was elected by the MMA's executive board as president on Saturday during the association's annual conference at the Hynes Convention Center.
Members of the MMA's affiliate association for mayors, managers, selectmen and councilors attended the two-day event that opened with an address by Gov. Charlie Baker. It featured workshops on municipal topics, speakers U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and Don Orsillo, recognition awards, the annual business meeting and entertainment by Paula Poundstone.
In addressing the conference's ending dinner, Blackmer said she would "keep the high standards and respect this organization enjoys, and continue the leadership that [outgoing President] David Dunford and his predecessors have brought to our organization."
The MMA is an advocacy association for municipalities that offers support, guidance and policymaking, as well as working with state government on legislation.
"They are the voice for cities and towns with the Legislature and the executive office ... frequently if there's legislation pending, the MMA represents so many people who are impacted," she said. "If something doesn't go exactly as we want, we at least mellow its impact on cities and town."
Blackmer said she hopes to further issues already on the MMA's agenda — implementation of education reform, Chapter 90 funding and the opiod crisis, as well as regional equity for Western Mass.
"I'm sure something else is going to come up this year. The opiate issue wasn't an issue until it was ... veterans issues seem to come back again and again and it's important to figure that out because it affects communities differently," she said.
Her job as president will be to preside over meetings of the executive board, made up of 35 representatives from the MMA's membership, including the top elected posts in each association, and the Local Government Advisory Commission. The board meets eight times a year in Boston, as does the commission, which meets at the State House, usually with the lieutenant governor. She will also coordinate agendas with longtime Exective Director Geoffrey Beckwith, and work with the MMA staff on administrative and legislative issues.
It's a long haul to Boston, but Blackmer's been making the drive regularly almost since she was elected councilor in 2007.
"I came down to the annual meeting as a new councilor, went to the workshops and they asked if we were interested in different topics," she said. "I was assigned to the policy committee."
She soon became the representative for District 1, which covers Berkshire, Hamden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. She was active on the executive board for four years, including last year as vice president.
"I started seeing the cycle, where it falls, because the presidency and the vice presidency rotates among all four categories — the mayors, the councilors, the selectmen and town managers. ... It seemed it was always the same people involved and again. ...
"Berkshire County hasn't been necessarily well represented in the leadership so I wanted to make sure that I could play a role and have a voice for us."
Blackmer sees many of the issues affecting the Berkshires as similar to those in other small communities throughout the state. But while Pittsfield is a "Gateway City," most in that designation are in the eastern part of the state.
"It would be nice to focus on providing some of these economic development benefits non-gateway cities like North Adams, Greenfield, Gardner, what I call the Northern Tier on Route 2," she said.
She hopes to continue the positive relationships that Dunford helped develop with the current administration. Both Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito were involved in local government, she points out.
"He's pulled a lot of people from cities and towns [for his administration] and I think that's helping that both the governor and lieutenant governor served as selectmen," she said. "I think that has an impact on their perception and their relationship with the MMA. They get it in a way that a governor and lieutenant governor who hasn't served in that capacity just never gets."
Blackmer will serve one year, until the next annual meeting when she will be replaced by Vice President Mel Kleckner, town administrator of Brookline.
As the conference wound down, Blackmer said she's enjoyed participating in the event and working with the MMA.
"It was fun. Every year I come, I meet new people," she said. "I ask what they do. It's as basic as what you do to run your meetings, or how do you handle constituent services?
"It's 351 cities and towns and 351 ways to do it."
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