Bernard, Moulton Move Forward to General Election for Mayor
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Thomas Bernard and Robert Moulton Jr. took top votes in Tuesday's preliminary election for mayor.
Bernard, the favorite going into the election, smoked his competition by racking up 1,045 votes to Moulton's 431 in a sparse turnout of 18 percent of the city's 8,646 registered voters.
None of the other three candidates — Rachel Branch, Robert Martelle and Peter Oleskiewicz — broke 100 votes.
"I'm overwhelmed with the support I received," Bernard said as he celebrated at Bright Ideas Brewing afterward. "You don't know what to expect until you've done it. It's powerful and I'm really grateful to everyone who came out and cast a ballot for me or anyone else."
He expressed his respect for the other candidates for their willingness to step up to run for mayor and for Moulton's strong showing.
Earlier, Moulton, a five-term city councilor and past mayoral candidate, said he felt good about the turnout and the feedback he'd been getting.
After learning he'd move forward, said his campaign would be more grass-roots in that it would focus on city issues: public safety, water, taxes and regionalization.
"I know the other side is Mass MoCA, MCLA, things like that," the local businessman said. "Those entities can take care of themselves. They don't need the city to do that."
Moulton feels public safety is his strong point and that he would look at options for the public safety building, such as working with Adams on possibly regionalizing law enforcement. In fact, he said, he'd reach out to other communities leaders his first week in office to discuss ways to work together.
"People say you can't do it, but how can we all work together?" he said.
For his part, Bernard, who's worked with educational institutions and nonprofits, believes voters are responding to his management skills and his vision for the city's development.
"I really think it's my experience and preparation," he said. "I didn't necessarily plan it this way, but I've built a resume over the past 15 years that is what the city needs."
It's a resume that includes development and communications, community development and planning, and budget management, he said. "That's what we need to move forward and I think that's something people are seeing and it's resonating."
Two of his priorities will be a focus on education in working with the superintendent to implement school action plans to reduce the gap in scores and "administrative renewal," a deep dive into how the city operates and how it could do it more effectively and more responsively.
The 1,616 votes cast Tuesday is far below the 2,418 in the 2015 preliminary election, which featured a current and former mayor going head to head for the second time. The second main event of the Alcombright/Barrett matchup drew a 28 percent turnout. This year's five-way preliminary drew just 18.7 percent.
By 3:30, only about 1,000 voters, or 13 percent, had made it to the polls. Election workers said the numbers had been steady, but St. Elizabeth's Parish Center now holds all five of the city's wards.
Branch and Martelle had been out in the afternoon to speak with the trickle of voters heading into the parish center.
Martelle believed he'd secured some votes, but joked that "none of them have shown up yet." Branch said the whole thing had seemed "surreal" but was bouyed by the comments she'd gotten while spreading the word about her nearly no-cost run.
Oleskiewicz, who had barely campaigned, was hoping for a "strong third" but Branch beat him by 11 votes. "At least I had the courage to throw my name in there," he said.
Bernard was the favorite going into this race. More than a hundred supporters, including a swath of community leaders and elected officials, had filled the patio at the Richmond Grille back in July for his kick off and his signs have been growing around the city.
This is the first election in a generation that does not have an incumbent on the ticket, nor does there appear to be the shadow of past officials. Mayor Richard Alcombright has so far been hands off and the former mayor, John Barrett III, is busy running for state representative.
It's been an election season that's been "respectful and congenial," Branch said.
In his statement, Bernard said he looked forward to a "civil, robust, and spirited conversation" about the future of North Adams with Moulton and supporters.
"I'm sure Tom and I want the same things ... you want an affordable, healthy, happy community," Moulton said, and the one with the best plan to get there will win.
Tags: election 2017, mayor, preliminary election,
