Letter: Macksey for Mayor: The Logical Choice

To the Editor:

I would like to encourage the residents of North Adams to vote for Jennifer Macksey for mayor of the city. She has been training and preparing for this job throughout her professional career.

Jennifer worked at North Adams City Hall for 16 years going from billing clerk to tax collector, treasurer and chief financial officer, each time being promoted along the way because of her hard work, intelligence, and integrity. She knows how to make and meet budgets, negotiate contracts and deal with the many issues facing the city's operating departments.

After eight years in North Adam's highest financial position, she came to MCLA as director of student accounts responsible for the accounting, receipt, and reporting of millions received annually in revenues from fees, grants, loans, tuition and financial aid sources. Jennifer went on to the next challenge being selected as executive vice president of Southern Vermont College in a national search where she managed all the College departments in tandem with the President. She currently serves as assistant superintendent of the Northern Berkshire School Union administering the finances of several local school districts.

Jennifer has always kept a finger on the pulse of the community and has worked with the idea that someday she would run for Mayor. She has effectively managed large numbers of staff, and efficiently handled significant sums of money. he is a lifelong resident of North Adams and knows the city. She is practical, intelligent, collaborative and has a wonderful view of life. one of her greatest assets is to put in whatever time and effort is necessary to accomplish the goals she sets for herself. She is a strong, personable, dynamic woman who will serve the residents of North Adams well.

Gerald Desmarais
North Adams, Mass. 

Gerald Desmarais retired as treasurer for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:31PM / Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 

 

She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 

 

"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."

 

Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 

 

The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."

 

Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."