North Adams Council Approves Ward Changes, Sets Tax Hearing
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — This is the first time in 20 years at that the ward boundaries had to be shifted, albeit a very minor shift.
The City Council on Tuesday approved the new ward boundaries that will go into effect for the 2022 election.
"This is only done every 10 years based on the federal Census," said City Clerk Cathleen King. "We met with Zach Feury (of the Community Development Office) and the mayor initially on the first submission from the state. The state then presented us with the option to allow them to to draw the ward lines and provide the wording since our change was very, very small affecting only one line between Wards 1 and 2."
King explained that precincts can have no more than 4,000 residents and must be population proportionate with an allowance of a 5 percent, plus or minus, change. No change had been made after the 2010 Census but this time, one ward had shrunk slightly and the other grew.
The population in Ward 1 was around 2,600 in 2010 and is now about 2,400; Ward 2, on the other hand, grew from 2,757 to 4,472. The change appears to be largely in the West Shaft Road area.
The boundaries are changed in terms of Census "blocks," King said, which may also include open space. "If they move a line they have to take an entire Census block," she said.
"The original projection before the final Census numbers would have had a change in Wards 3 and 4 and it would have it would have dramatically increased the size of Ward 4 but not truly increased the population shift because the Census block is a lot of the empty space," said Mayor Thomas Bernard. "The non-residential space would have been Notch Road and the the reservoir, the public land on that side. So this this is a slightly different change."
King said residents will be notified if their ward has changed after the annual city census next year. The change will not affect anything other than the ward they vote in.
Councilor Wayne Wilkinson wondered why the city was still bothering with wards when all five wards now vote at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.
Councilor Keith Bona said it was a "bit antiquated" but comes from when the city had councilors voted by ward and who were nominated by political parties. The current council is non-partisan and voted at large by the entire city but there are still some things attached to wards, he said.
"The city committees — Democrat and Republicans in any other party — are divided up by ward representatives and each ward is its own separate entity," said Council President Lisa Blackmer. "Also, do we really all want to stand in line to vote all at once or do we want to walk to our ward tables, from a practical standpoint. ...
"And I know that there's other things attached to the wards beyond council."
The council also set a tax classification hearing for Tuesday, Nov. 9, at the request of the mayor. The annual hearing is to determine whether the city will use a split tax rate or a single rate; it has used a split shift for decades that places more tax burden on commercial/industrial entities. The main decision will be how much that shift should be.
Councilor Benjamin Lamb pointed out that the council will have two new members on Nov. 9 since it was determined to immediately seat the highest non-incumbent vote-getters in the Nov. 2 election to fill two vacancies on the panel.
"I'm just curious if that plays into a decision of doing it on Nov. 9, or waiting until the second meeting at least so that those individuals have time to review material before being thrown into the mix," he said. "I just want to be considerate of those two people before they walk into these chambers, and I'm not sure how to do that."
There is the option of doing a special meeting a week later, Bernard said. "I don't want to be the one to call a special meeting on behalf of the council but I would be amenable to that shift if it is helpful."
Bona noted that the next council meeting is a week after the election and perhaps the administration provide them with some education during that time.
"Again, there's things we sometimes have to approve the first month of January and there's new councilors then, too," he said.
Lamb asked if there could be a more significant informational component to the hearing, keeping the new councilors in mind.
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