Letter: Bond Will Be a Reliable Community Leader

Letter to the Editor06:45PM / Tuesday, October 26, 2021Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

When looking toward the future of this great city, it is important not to neglect the voices of the younger generations. It is also important not to underscore the value community service has in shaping a candidate. Coming from an MCLA student and soon to be officeholder, I believe the person to best connect with our youth and represent the value of community service is Lynette Bond.

The most important memories I've made as a college student were through active volunteerism. As a person who dedicates my time in such a way, I can see how volunteer work has influenced Lynette Bond as a person, and how it will shape her tenure as the next mayor of North Adams. Through her dedication as a foster parent, her time in the Peace Corps, and her intense dedication toward the Colegrove Park Elementary School project, she has proven to me that she will be a reliable community leader.

I have been able to call North Adams my home for 22 years. MCLA was my school of choice because of this beautiful city I have been able to call my home. I think the school is especially emblematic of our community's younger demographics, and it makes me pleased to see who younger people want as their leader. The feedback we have received from the overwhelming majority of them? The future is with Lynette.

With students who want to make North Adams their home after they graduate, and have taken on our community as one that represents them, Lynette is an especially symbolic person to take office as our next mayor. Lynette may not have been born in North Adams, but she chose our city as her home like so many others here do. I am confident in Lynette's experience, transparency, and communicative nature to lead our city for the next two years. I hope with all this information in mind, you will vote for her assuredly on Nov. 2.

Joshua Vallieres
North Adams, Mass.

Joshua Vallieres is a candidate for North Adams School Committee.

Tags: city election, election 2021, letters to the editor,

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North Adams Housing Authority Appoints Interim Director

Staff Reports06:07AM / Thursday, October 22, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Housing Authority (NAHA) Board of Commissioners appointed Lisa Labonte as its interim executive director during an emergency meeting Wednesday.

"Lisa is a dedicated and highly regarded employee whom the board trusts to provide interim leadership of the housing authority," Chairwoman Leigh Uqdah wrote in a statement released by NAHA Wednesday afternoon. "She has been with the organization since June 1999"

Labonte replaces longtime director Jennifer Hohn, who resigned earlier this month.

Uqdah wrote that HUD notified NAHA as a courtesy that the authority had yet to submit its application for Federal Assistance SF-424 – Operating Fund Grant, along with HUD-52722 and HUD-52723 forms. The deadline to update the Massachusetts CY2027 Operating Subsidy (Form MA034) was 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

She wrote that failure to submit all required documentation by this deadline could result in the agency not receiving operating subsidies for the 2027 calendar year.

The catch was that only an Executive Director or Interim Executive Director whose contact information was listed in the PIH Information Center (PIC) could submit the paperwork.

"In an effort to stabilize and secure funding the board voted, with Colin Todd's absence, unanimously to appoint Lisa LaBonte, Director of Operations, as Interim Executive Director, effective immediately," Uqdah wrote.

The commission held a meeting on Oct. 15 to discuss an appointment, but after a lengthy executive session, it never made a decision. They had planned to take up the discussion again during a future meeting.

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