NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Mayoral candidate Robert R. Moulton Jr. is again being fined for failing to submit his campaign finance report on time.
The pre-election filing covering the period between Sept. 2 and Oct. 20 was due by midnight on Monday, Oct. 30. The report was filed on Nov. 1.
Candidates who fail to file campaign finance reports in a timely fashion are penalized $25 a day up to $5,000 and must pay with their own, not their campaign, money to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Moulton also missed the preliminary filing date of Sept. 11 by nearly two weeks and was penalized with a $300 fine. A second notice assessing the fine was sent on Oct. 12 with the warning it could be referred to a collection agency if not paid.
The first report was filed on Sept. 23, 12 days after the due date, and listed no contributions and no expenses.
The second required report filed on Wednesday had minimal information. He reported 14 contributions totaling $947, no unitemized contributions, and, so far, expenditures of only $199.56, both for Walmart for supplies for campaign events.
Of the contributions, 11 were from North Adams and three from Vermont, with the largest being $300 from his mother, Carolyn Moulton and the second largest $200 from Charles Jewett of Bennington, Vt.
The report was cited as amended "to add out of pocket expense" listed as $1,923.30 for printed materials and a web page through 180 Media of Pittsfield. The summary report, which does not calculate the out-of-pocket expenses, shows him with an ending balance on Oct. 20 of $747.44.
The other candidate in the race, Thomas Bernard, filed his report on Monday and showed receipts of $8,012 and expenditures of $5,591.57, for an ending balance of $10,883.59.
He had ended his first filing period on Sept. 1 with receipts of $11,630 and expenditures of $3,166.84 for an ending balance of $8,463.16
Bernard's largest expenditures in this filing was for printing and mailings, with $1,382.90 spent on postage alone. He also spent $600 for office rental on Ashland Street and another $600 for hosting and catering an event at the American Legion. Some $255 was spent on radio advertising and $324 for advertising on iBerkshires.com. Bernard's also made use of the Democracy Engine, a political donation site, expending nearly $200 on fees.
He had 74 direct donations during this time period and unitemized donations of $1,154. The largest donors were his stepfather, Thomas G. Bernard, and Bruce Jacobson of Florence at $1,000 each, and $500 from Joseph Finnegan of Williamstown.
The bulk of his donations to date are in the $50 to $100 range; nearly 60 percent of all donations are from North Adams, with another 15 percent from Williamstown and almost 17 percent coming from outside the Berkshires.
The two candidates will face off next Tuesday in the general election. This is the first time in 34 years that no incumbent is running for re-election.
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RFP Ready for North County High School Study
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The working group for the Northern Berkshire Educational Collaborative last week approved a request for proposals to study secondary education regional models.
The members on Tuesday fine-tuned the RFP and set a date of Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 4 p.m. to submit bids. The bids must be paper documents and will be accepted at the Northern Berkshire School Union offices on Union Street.
Some members had penned in the first week of January but Timothy Callahan, superintendent for the North Adams schools, thought that wasn't enough time, especially over the holidays.
"I think that's too short of a window if you really want bids," he said. "This is a pretty substantial topic."
That topic is to look at the high school education models in North County and make recommendations to a collaboration between Hoosac Valley Regional and Mount Greylock Regional School Districts, the North Adams Public Schools and the town school districts making up the Northern Berkshire School Union.
The study is being driven by rising costs and dropping enrollment among the three high schools. NBSU's elementary schools go up to Grade 6 or 8 and tuition their students into the local high schools.
The feasibility study of a possible consolidation or collaboration in Grades 7 through 12 is being funded through a $100,000 earmark from the Fair Share Act and is expected to look at academics, faculty, transportation, legal and governance issues, and finances, among other areas.
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