State Economic Council Sets Berkshire Listening Session

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Baker administration's new Economic Development Planning Council will meet at Massachusetts Museum of  Contemporary Art next month as a part of a regional listening tour.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito on Monday swore in members of the council that will provide input on and oversight of an economic development plan that will be presented to Baker by the end of the year. Polito and Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy will serve as co-chairs of the council.

The council includes appointees of the House, Senate, relevant Executive Secretariats, and municipal leaders, along with small-business owners and entrepreneurs, leaders from key business sectors and higher education.

"Our administration values the unique insight the members of the Economic Development Planning Council will bring under Lt. Gov. Polito and Secretary Kennealy's leadership to continue propelling Massachusetts' economy forward," Baker said in a release announcing the council's agenda. "We remain committed to empowering local communities with the tools and funding needed to succeed and I look forward to reviewing the council's recommendations."

The session on Thursday, June 13, at 10 a.m. at Mass MoCA will be the culmination of the regional engagement tour that begins Salem State University on Wednesday. In all, the council will visit eight regions throughout the state, including Springfield Technical Community College at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21.

More information can be found here.

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...