Letter: Don't Repeat the Past in North Adams Mayoral Race

To the Editor:

Look to the future by learning from the past in North Adams mayor race

I was very excited when Lynette Bond announced her candidacy for mayor in June. However, when Jennifer Macksey announced her candidacy my concerns mounted. As I watched the first of what I hope will be several debates, I listened to Ms. Macksey speak of checks and balances and accountability when she was the treasurer of North Adams. She further stated that there was "no theft" in City Hall when she worked there. I had a sinking feeling remembering the city's Health Insurance Trust Fund failure. Ms. Macksey was the city treasurer during that time.

As treasurer, Ms. Macksey should have been aware that the Health Insurance Trust Fund was not being funded as required by Mass General Law (MGL) chapter 32B, section 3A Municipal Group Insurance Trust Fund statute and as was budgeted by the North Adams City Council. The treasurer is responsible for cash management procedures, forecasting, maximizing cash flow, monitoring receipts, maintaining internal financial controls, reconciliation of all city funds, receivables, trust funds and government grants. The treasurer is responsible to assure compliance with state law and regulation governing municipal finance and to develop and maintain appropriate levels of internal controls to safeguard the financial assets of the community, (MA Municipal Association). The mismanagement of the city's Health Insurance Trust Fund spanned years and cost the city dearly to resolve it. The independent report conducted at that time stated that the city had failed to pay its fair share of city and school employee insurance premiums at $1.1 million over the previous two years. What is sometimes overlooked when we talk about the "city" are those employed, many of them residents. It cost them as taxpayers and cheated them as employees.

This kind of carelessness cannot be repeated. Ms. Macksey had the misfortune of being mentored by and working for a flawed administration during which funds were mismanaged, while denying employees access to review their accounts when being questioned. If there were checks and balances, and accountability during Ms. Macksey's years in City Hall as she stated in the debate, how could the city's Health Insurance Trust Fund have failed so miserably? 

Let's learn from the past and ensure that we do not repeat that which can be and is necessary to change. Voting for Lynette Bond must be the choice.

Susan W. Chilson
North Adams, Mass. 

Chilson is the former president of the North Adams Teachers Association

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. ...