North Adams Moves Ward 4 Voting to St. Elizabeth's
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday approved consolidating all five of the city's wards into one voting location.
Ward 4, now located at Greylock School, will join Wards 1-3 and 5 at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center on St. Anthony Drive.
A letter to the council signed by Registrars Elizabeth Dilego, Mary Ann Caproni and Marilyn DeRosa and City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau stated the reasoning behind the move was student safety, convenience and cost.
"The school is open for elections since we use the gym, which is not segregated from classrooms," the letter states. "We feel that it is putting the students at a high risk. Years back, schools were always closed on election day."
Mary Ann Caproni, speaking at Tuesday's meeting, said school security has changed dramatically since 2001.
"It really is a safety issue because anybody can walk into a polling place," she said. "I'm not saying anything bad is necessarily going to happen but if it did, it would be on us."
Election worker Ron O'Brien remembered when Ward 1 polling was located at the former Conte Middle School.
"I've been on both sides of this deal ... I taught at Conte Middle School for 34 years," he told the council. "You're talking about putting people in the gym -- that means people have to be moved out of the gym. The students are upset, the teachers are upset. Nothing works right."
The Board of Registrars also noted that election costs would be reduced by a minimum of nearly $2,000, not counting heat and electricity in operating the school after hours and manpower required from the Department of Public Works.
The parish center has been the voting location for Ward 5 for years. Ward 2, in the cafeteria basement at Notre Dame Church, and Ward 1, at what was then Conte, were both moved to the parish center when those buildings closed in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
When the church bazaar changed its date, the city was able to use the parish center's large gymnasium for voting and Ward 3 was moved from the High Rise apartments on Ashland Street in 2011.
At the time, Gomeau said the consolidation was the part of a long-discussed plan to streamline voting stations. Ward 4, the city's largest voting ward, wasn't considered then but has been over the last several years.
The issue to moving it earlier was the need to make the parish center not just handicapped accessible but in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act after the U.S. Department of Justice ordered the city to bring public buildings other than schools into compliance.
Mayor Richard Alcombright explained that the parish center, because it was used by the city for voting and as an emergency shelter, fell under the order to be upgraded at the city's cost.
"St. Elizabeth's center is a very important to the city to use for those things," he said.
Administrative Officer Michael Canales had informed Gomeau that the upgrades were completed; the mayor said Canales will also provide an update to the council soon on the completion -- with the exception of the public safety building -- of the DOJ's order.
In response to questions, Caproni did not anticipate any lengthier waits than normal for elections because of the consolidation. The average wait, she said, is about 3 minutes and those waiting would be in lines for their own wards so changing the location should not make any difference.
The letter also noted some "architectural barriers at Ward 4" that made voting difficult. The consolidation would also bring all election workers and the city clerk into one location, making dealing with any machine or voting issues easier to handle. It will also make it easier for voters to know where to go.
Savings would be seen in custodial and DPW hours, staffing at the polls, and police officers. An estimated $360 would be saved in staffing and another $1,620 on police officers, plus DPW hours would be cut by a minimum of four plus the two hours of overtime on an election morning to set up.
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has offered the use of its overflow lot behind Big Y for parking and the board said the police will not ticket lots on election day.
"We really do have a well-oiled machine," Caproni said.
In other business, The council approved Budd Dougherty Drive as accepted city street. The main entrance to Harriman & West Airport was named for longtime Airport Commissioner Alfred "Budd" Dougherty in 2010. The street, while it's been owned maintained by the city, was apparently never formally accepted.
The mayor said its status was brought up in discussions with the state Department of Transportation because the proposed bike path would end at the airport and the terminus must be at a formally recognized municipal road or street. The acceptance will allow the city to use state funds such as Chapter 90 funds on the road.
Resident Mark Trotter questioned the use of resolution language rather than an order. The mayor said the language was provided by the city solicitor.
The mayor also gave his annual state of the city address that can be found here.
Tags: election, voting,
