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North Adams Council Approves New Rules; Restores Open Forum

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday approved a new Rules of Order that include amendments recommended from last week's General Government Committee. 
 
The major amendments changed the name of "hearing of visitors" and moved it closer to the end of the agenda; disconnected mayor's concerns from hearing of visitors; and placed in the rules the council president's existing right to disallow audience members from speaking during meetings. 
 
The new rules were promulgated by Council President Keith Bona, taking his first tenure as the council's leader. 
 
He had originally asked to have Rule 10 changed to read that disruptive persons who had to be removed by a police officer could have their right to attend meetings suspended for a set amount of time by the council president. 
 
Several of the councilors were leery of banning people and Bona agreed that it was necessary to have a legal opinion on whether it was lawful. 
 
The advisory from Assistant Attorney General Hanne Rush was that it was not. "A public body cannot prohibit a member of the public from attending future meetings (unless there is a stay away order issued by a court for the location where a public body meets)," she wrote. 
 
However, she noted that Open Meeting Law gives the body discretion to when and if a member of the public can speak. 
 
"It's allowed by the state, I'm just adding it in," Bona said. "It's not changing a rule that we already do."
 
Still, Councilors Wayne Wilkinson and Jason Laforest said they could not support a rule that would prohibit the rights of a citizen to speak. 
 
Wilkinson saw it as a 1st Amendment restriction and Laforest that he wasn't in favor of proactively limiting comment at a future meeting. 
 
Councilor Eric Buddington thought it was an example of seeing bad behavior and preventing it from happening again. "If there's a person disrupting a meeting to the point that a police officer has to remove them ... ," he said. 
 
Councilors Marie Harpin and Rebbecca Cohen both said the council should keep good order. "I think we're all adults and we have to act accordingly," Cohen said, adding that she would not have supported a measure to keep people out. 
 
Harpin said there were many ways citizens can state their cases, including speaking directly to councilors. "This is a board meeting of the city of North Adams and should be respected," she said. "President Bona was elected by the citizens of North Adams and by this body and I think we have to have faith in his decisions."
 
The amendment passed with Laforest and Wilkinson voting no. Councilor Joshua Moran was absent. 
 
The only other aspect to get significant discussion was Hearing of Visitors. Resident Robert Cardimino said the use of "visitors" was offensive to people who live in the city, a point he's made several times in the past. "I am not a visitor," the city native said. "So could you please change that."
 
Paul W. Marino, who was recording the meeting for Northern Berkshire Community Television, came into the chambers to say he, also, was in favor of changing the term to something like citizens' concerns. 
 
Some councilors thought the term citizens too restrictive since the public comment period is open to those who are not residents, or citizens for that matter. Councilor Benjamin Lamb, who first motioned to change it to "Community Concerns," rescinded his motion and Laforest motioned to restore "Open Forum," which passed. 
 
Cardimino, who often is at odds with council decisions, returned to the microphone to say, "thank you."
 
Resident Alice Cande, however, was not happy with the decision to move Open Forum near the end of the meeting, saying the council had gotten less open over time. She particularly pointed to the council not answering questions posed by residents during open comment periods. 
 
"An elected body says you may not ask a question," she said. "You shouldn't be in office if you can't take questions. ... There was no discussion about opening [meetings] up to the public ... I would ask how you would justify that."
 
Councilor Eric Buddington has been most open to responding to comments but other councilors have felt such a move could slip over the line and violate Open Meeting Law. By state law, government bodies must post what issues they plan to address on a publicly available agenda, but the public is not limited to the agenda. Governmental bodies generally to do not respond to comments to avoid any hint of deliberation and have some mechanism, like subcommittees, that are less formal and allow more public participation.
 
Laforest and Cohen both noted that the rules do allow for factual information to be offered by councilors (and, in fact, there were several responses to comments on Tuesday night). In the past, the council has normally allowed the mayor to address questions or comments of depth during his portion of the meeting. 
 
Several councilors pointed out that their contact information is on the city's website should anyone have questions or want to put something on the agenda. 
 
"I don't think this is an appropriate forum for back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It disrupts the meeting," said Wilkinson.
 
The new rules also removed language stating when during a meeting open forum would be held; allows liaison reports to be given at any meeting and provided verbally; and added language that states all councilors will have an opportunity to speak to an issue prior to moving the question. LaForest also provided some minor grammatical corrections. 
 
In other business: 
 
A resolution declaring the city a pollinator-friendly community that has been kicking around since last year was delayed until the Public Services Committee meeting in the first week of February. Bona said the reason for the delay was because of scheduling and election changes to the committee. 
 
However, two members of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts community spoke to the issue. Frederick Ferras, a facilities manager at MCLA, said the college was taking steps with MassPIRG to become a bee-friendly campus. The college is mowing its grounds and fields later in the spring and ending earlier in the fall, using fewer pesticides, planting flowers on the campus and putting in gardens. Lindsey Vachon, an MCLA sophomore, and student coordinator of the "Save the Bees" campaign on campus through MassPIRG, said the school is working with a checklist and has to be certified by Bee City USA and will be holding information events.
 
• The council also referred a paper from Lamb and Harpin addressing domestic abuse to the mayor's office and heard from Liz Mitchell, a SAFEPLAN advocate at the Elizabeth Freeman Center. 

Tags: bees,   council rules,   

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Clarksburg Sees Race for Select Board Seat

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town will see a three-way race for a seat on the Select Board in May. 
 
Colton Andrews, Seth Alexander and Bryana Malloy returned papers by Wednesday's deadline to run for the three-year term vacated by Jeffrey Levanos. 
 
Andrews ran unsuccessfully for School Committee and is former chairman of the North Adams Housing Authority, on which he was a union representative. He is also president of the Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council.
 
Malloy and Alexander are both newcomers to campaigning. Malloy is manager of industrial relations for the Berkshire Workforce Board and Alexander is a resident of Gates Avenue. 
 
Alexander also returned papers for several other offices, including School Committee, moderator, library trustee and the five-year seat on the Planning Board. He took out papers for War Memorial trustee and tree warden but did not return them and withdrew a run for Board of Health. 
 
He will face off in the three-year School Committee seat against incumbent Cynthia Brule, who is running for her third term, and fellow newcomer Bonnie Cunningham for library trustee. 
 
Incumbent Ronald Boucher took out papers for a one-year term as moderator but did not return them. He was appointed by affirmation in 2021 when no won ran and accepted the post again last year as a write-in.
 
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