The City Council will take up some old business on Tuesday night related to rules of order, some appointments and a public hearing at the beginning of the meeting for National Grid's application to move poles and wires at Union and Eagle streets, related to update of lights at that intersection. It also has two taxi license applications on the agenda.

However, we expect another spirited debate over changes in compensation for the firefighters, similar to what happened at the last meeting on the police raises. The North Adams Police Association was given a 2 percent raise each of the two years it has operated without a contract.  The firefighters' agreement appears to be the same.

The mayor said the agreement would clear the way for negotiations for a new contract and put the police on the same level as the other five public unions that had reached agreements with the city two years ago. The cost is $40,000; the council approved a transfer of $90,000 from a reserve account presumably to fund the retroactive raises for police and fire.

The entire agenda and last meeting's minutes can be found here. The compensation and classification plans on the sidebar are the orginals approved for the fiscal 2011 budget. When (and if) the firefighters' compensation changes are approved, we'll post both fire and police updates on the sidebar.

iBerkshires caught up with Mass MoCA Executive Director Joseph Thompson on Sunday afternoon while he was watching Jeff Tweedy's solo performance at Joe's Field:

What were the final attendance totals?

We were just north of 5,000 for the peak [on Saturday], and there's about 3,500 here today [Sunday]. We had some strong crowds.

Did the festival meet your expectations?

It was a beautiful event, and it flowed. The music was lovely, and people moved with great ease through the museum, the galleries, the various outdoor venues. My sense overwhelmingly was that people had a great time. At least I did.

Were you at all surprised by the ages of audience members?

It's a great audience. This is a 30s to 50s crowd, and there were a lots of kids here. There were more strollers in the galleries this weekend than we've had in a long, long time.

Did you find time to enjoy the festival yourself?

I had a great time. I heard most of the music. Much of it was new to me, and I loved it. There were beautiful melodies, close harmonies, walls of sound. ...Great, great dynamic and range, which is what's at the very heart of Wilco.

Anything stand out as your favorite act(s) of the weekend?

I had never heard Mountain Man, and I thought they were lovely. The Books continue to just get more and more precise and beautiful. I had this great moment going from The Autumn Defense, which is kind of alt-country, roots type of music -- out to the Nels Cline Singers, who had these amazing, warped waves and waves of intensity, and just the way it sounded washing over those brick walls. To realize that those guys can somehow play in the same band is just startling and beautiful.

Although diverse in sound, what did the musical acts have in common?

You look for artists who share your mission, your dreams and fears.

Will Wilco and the Solid Sound Festival return next year?

Jeff [Tweedy] and I talked this morning, and we had a hard time coming up with any reasons not to do it.

What would you change or add, if anything, to next year's event?

The beauty of this is Mass MoCA is a great platform, and having a very strong point of view -- in this case, Wilco's point of view -- it's a hard formula to beat. It will be really fun to put together a program and what can go in the galleries.

You know, it's a valuable, expandable idea which is what I think is quite beautiful about it. I love its focus. I'm not a festival-goer because they sometimes they feel to me like a lot of work, just a barrage. They're kind of like variety shows, and I've never been one for variety shows. What I like about this one is that concordant hum that somehow flows through it. That comes from having very smart people and a passionate audience, and Wilco having their hand on the throttle. I'd be loath to mess around with that.

What did the festival bring to North Adams outside the confines of Mass MoCA?

I heard the stories that people were hanging out [Saturday] night. I heard that there was a full spectrum of activity, from The Mohawk to the Holiday Inn Bar, to the bands on the street at 1:30 in the morning. It was kind of a hum [throughout the city], and these things build over time.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Wilco fans were on their best behavior this past weekend.

On Sunday night, North Adams Police Sgt. James Burdick said there were no arrests linked to the three-day Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA, which drew more than 5,000 people from across the United States.

"We've had a very uneventful weekend for an event of this magnitude," he said. "We had a couple minor traffic glitches and a couple minor accidents, but nothing of anything significance whatsoever."

Burdick said there were arrests made in the city during the weekend, but they were on par with the "normal course of duty" and were, in no way, connected to the festival or its attendees.

"This was a very easy-going crowd," Burdick said. "They were very impressed with North Adams, and this puts the city in a great light. Who knows what this will bring?"

Fans kept the peace this weekend and also stayed healthy. First-aid tents were set up at Mass MoCA, but they were mostly empty.

A.J. Jusino, of North Adams Ambulance, said there were requests for "basic stuff" like Band-Aids and ice packs, but no serious emergencies.

"Fortunately the humidity wasn't bad because, going into this weekend, our major concern was dehydration," he said.

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Local businesses benefited from the festival, which happened to coincide with the state's tax-free weekend. City Councilor Keith Bona, who owns Creations on Main Street, said his Saturday business was double that of a typical Saturday in August. Lines formed outside of downtown eateries like The Hub, while bars like The Mohawk were packed with thirsty patrons.

Bona, on the board of directors with Develop North Adams, spent most of Saturday at MoCA in an effort to promote the downtown attractions.

"I was getting questions about the cost of property and the schools systems around here," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me if some of these people come back, whether it's on a vacation or if they're looking for a place to move."

Exceptional live music was around every corner Sunday on the third and final day of the Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA. The Nels Kline Singers wowed fans with a thrashing set; Avi Buffalo left one satisfied concert-goer exiting the Hunter Center saying, "That's the best guitar playing I've seen this weekend."; and, of course, Jeff Tweedy and Wilco dropped the curtain.

Tweedy played a solo acoustic set at Joe's Field, then invited guest performers to join the stage, including Sir Richard Bishop, The Books' Nick Zammuto, Avi Buffalo, The Baseball Project's Scott McCaughey. The last few tunes were played by all of the members of Wilco, minus drummer Glenn Kotche.

Rain started falling during the last hour of Tweedy's performance, but that didn't keep fans from dancing and clapping along.

MoCA Executive Director Joe Thompson was in attendance during Tweedy's "Plus One" set, so check back later tonight for a full transcript of iBerkshires.com's interview with Thompson. He said that more than 5,000 fans attended Saturday's festivities, while more than 3,000 came back Sunday.

Main Street looked like a small-town version of the City of Lights on Saturday night as the downtown did its best to attract at least the fringe of the 5,000 or so expected at the Solid Sound Festival at MoCA. (What's Solid Sound? It's right here.)

Some 1,000 feet of twinkle lights criss-crossed over the sidewalk on the sunny side of the street, augmented by theater lights shining on two of the city's more elegant structures, the Dowlin Block and the Hoosac Bank Building. Matthew Adelson, lighting designer at both the Mahaiwe and the Williams College '62 Center, set up the display.

The evening, much like the Wilco-curated festival, was a laidback affair, although there was brisk business at many of the local eateries and steady draw into the galleries, if not much art being purchased.

"We smoked! This morning we had a line at the door ... This was just amazing," Mark Petrino, owner of Petrino's Cafe, told us in the wee hours of Sunday morning after a marathon day. The cafe started with a waiting line for breakfast; it was ending past 1 a.m., with a dozen or so patrons chilling to the sounds of 8 Foot River, a Great Barrington band.

There was music up and down Main Street and on Eagle. The night was mild, the sidewalks busy but not packed, and people clustered around the street musicians, sat on the new benches or strolled into open galleries. Not everyone stayed open to the advertised 2 a.m., but most kept their doors open to at least midnight.

Keith Bona, owner of Creations and a city councilor, said it wasn't a record day, but a very good day. He didn't get the sales predicted by Jonathan Secor of MCLA Gallery 51, who'd bet him $20, but he must of been close. Neither would state the figure, but Secor said he'd considered spending $100 "to get his dignity and his $20 back."

We hear the galleries didn't sell much on Saturday, but didn't really expect to. Brian Handspicker at the Berkshire Arts Colony did note a significant increase in foot traffic into the gallery at 107 Main St. on both Friday and Saturday. When we wandered over about 9:30 on Saturday night, there were a half-dozen people in the gallery — all local. Handspicker said quite a few city residents had stopped by on Saturday evening, while out-of-towners had visited during the day.

This festival crowd was mostly middle-aged, and many brought their children along. Joe Thompson, MoCA's executive director, described them as "rock daddies," with a strong streak of social responsibility. "They don't like waste," he told us last week. "They don't like to see overflowing trash cans." That's why we think the Smart Car we saw with a New York plate on Main Street belonged to Wilco fan; we don't see too many of those models around here.

These fans are also pretty hungry, if Saturday was any indication.

Over on Marshall Street, the guys of Guys and Dogs were crowded with customers. Jack's Hot Dog Stand at the other end of Main Street was open to midnight and reportedly packed most of the night; another street vendor on the other side of Marshall had a waiting line, too. We also heard The Hub, which closed by 11, did a boffo 400 covers on Saturday. Supreme Pizza was covering both ends of the street, with a pair of fast-talking salesmen reinforced with Red Bull wheeling and dealing on single slices near the old Moulton's General Store.

Supreme's general manager Spencer Leonard said the proof was in the piled and empty pizza boxes behind their table. "We couldn't keep up with them," he said.

Vinnie Melito and David Lewis of Guys and Dogs, said they'd spoken to people from as far away as California and the feedback had been positive about the city and the Berkshires. "One guy said 'this place is jewel,'" said Lewis.

It wasn't just the out-of-towners impressed on Saturday. We met a young resident named Paul Oparowski who was chatting up pretty much anyone to find out where they were from and what they thought. "Everyone's been so friendly," he said, adding he hoped more events like this would continue. "It was awesome."

For all the focus on Solid Sound, the real drivers of the early evening were people from right here. They were on the street and in the shops and resaturants. "It proved we could do it ourselves," said Secor.

We know lots of other places were open — Christo's, Village, Red Sauce and the Richmond Grille among them — but didn't make it that far. There was a farmers' market on Eagle Street in the morning we missed because we were busy chasing some great deals at the townwide tag sale in Adams. If any readers have info on how other venues did, tell us about them.