Letter: Jennifer Macksey for Mayor

To the Editor:

I am writing to encourage you to cast your vote for Jennifer Macksey as the next mayor of North Adams. I have worked very closely with Jennifer in matters of the Northern Berkshire School Union. Jennifer's success rate for improving our schools has been 100 percent.

I am the chairperson for the Northern Berkshire School Union's joint school committees. Jennifer was hired as business manager for NBSU with her main goal to write grants for the five town school districts. Jennifer went way above and beyond finding grant money for all of the schools. To Jennifer's position as business manager, assistant superintendent was added to her job description as she was able to receive building grants and then proceeded to oversee the projects from bids to final completion. Jennifer has done an amazing job working with all five towns in the NBSU. Jennifer is always there with answers and suggestions to improve all of the school communities.

On the business manager side of her job, Jennifer has been able to organize all of the individual budgets for each school and was able to set up an account so each of the shared employees did not have to receive five different checks from five different towns that belong to the NBSU. Jennifer's accounting skills have enabled the towns to file end of year reports for their schools. Jennifer has always met all grant deadlines and has made sure that all NBSU bills are paid in a timely fashion.

Leadership and compassion are two words that I would use to describe Jennifer. Jennifer has the ability to evaluate situations and she has incredible skills with which to make professional decisions. Jennifer has strong, effective, decision making skills. Jennifer has a passion for service.

Jennifer has been personally connected to North Adams her entire life. She has been a resident of North Adams, an employee in the City of North Adams, an employee in MCLA, vice president of Southern Vermont College and is currently the assistant superintendent/business manager of the Northern Berkshire School Union, which serves five towns and four schools. Jennifer has the best interests for the City of North Adams in her decision to be mayor of North Adams.

Judith Oleson
Florida, Mass. 

Judith Oleson is chair of the Abbott Memorial School Committee and the Northern Berkshire School Union Committee. 

North Adams Glamping Project Teams With Luxury Resort for New Approvals

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:24AM / Friday, April 17, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Just last fall, wellness and fancy tents were the core of the glamping proposal for Notch Road.

 

On Monday, developer Benjamin Crespi of 196 Marine LLC, was back before the Planning Board with a dramatically different proposal: 49 two-bedroom tourists cabins with a restaurant and recreational amenities.

 

He was approved with a lengthy list of conditions hammered out between the project and a group of residents represented by attorney Alexandra Glover of Lazan Glover & Puciloski.

 

"After I think multiple rounds and many discussions with neighbors to understand what their reservations about the project were, we went back to the drawing board," said Crespi. "The main critical issues were the fact that my last permit allowed me to be open to the general public.

 

"There was concerns about the number of events and the size of those events. There was concern about noise impact in the neighborhood, traffic volume, traffic routing and wildlife interaction."

 

He detailed the 19 issues that the neighbors had and determined the way forward was to limit access only to paying customers and not open to the public for events.

 

"It was very clear that I had to reduce the volume of people on site. So if I reduce my guest count, and I've lost those profit centers, then I need to offset by going to a higher level of service. That's exactly what I've done," Crespi said.