North Adams Council Postpones Mohawk Vote But Takes Control of Sale
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday avoided killing the sale of the Mohawk Theater — or passing it — by kicking it into the next administration.
The compromise was the product of talks between Councilors Keith Bona and Benjamin Lamb to address both the council's authority in such sales and the reality that a new mayor will be taking office on Jan. 1.
"It's definitely, there's emotions in this, there's passion," said Bona. "This is history and this, you know, I've had my main issues about the process.
"And I feel it's been, it lacks some transparency."
Jennifer Macksey, who will be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2022, as the city's first mayor, spoke during the hearing of visitors to ask the rescind the order. It made no sense to "make a decision of this magnitude" regarding the Mohawk in the waning days of Thomas Bernard's term, she said.
"Why would deny the incoming mayor the opportunity to be part of this process and to have my own input on this historic America theater?" she said.
Bona had objected to Bernard's attempt to do an end run around the council by getting an opinion from the city solicitor that said the council's approval was unnecessary.
The council has traditionally been the authorizing body when municipal property is sold for less than the assessed or appraised value — which is most often the case.
Bona called to rescind the February 2019 order that declared the defunct movie house surplus property. That order had included the restoration of the marquee be a condition for any sale. But, councilors had been assured that the mayor would come back to them for approval.
Lamb's idea was to amend the original motion to include language that any sale "shall require the approval of the City Council." The city solicitor had said at a meeting in November that an amendment to the original order was an option for the council.
"One of the major concerns that has been raised over the course of this process is that the council is relinquishing power and control over a process that we've historically had control — in whether it was assumed or not — we've always had that control," he said. "And so what this does is not only does it take back control for offers that are below the assessed value but it actually does it for any offer, so if someone came in and offered $2 million for the Mohawk Theater, we would still have the review of it in this process."
Lamb said from what he'd heard from both inside and outside of chambers was that the community members "want this to have its time in the daylight" and that this would force public discussion under this and any mayor.
"I will just acknowledge as we go forward, that I appreciate most the emotional weight that the Mohawk Theater carries for so many people in our community," said Lamb. "We heard that clearly and passionately throughout the series of discussions over I believe this is the third or fourth meeting now."
However, he said, "despite decades of stewardship, and millions of dollars of investment in planning and stabilization, the city has failed to advance a viable redevelopment project, or put the property into private hands for redevelopment, until now."
The proposed sale of the gutted structure to be used as an events space to a planned hotel in the adjacent Dowlin Block had sparked some emotional meeting during which members of the public had urged the council to reject the bid. Many are still calling for a restoration of the movie house as a theater, an idea that's been simmering for 30 years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in planning to no avail.
The nine-member council voted unanimously to amend.
Bona said the second part of the compromise would be the motion to postpone the vote.
"We are not killing it tonight, but it does allow the next administration to decide how they want to go forward with it," he said. "I think this is a fair compromise because we now would have control of it."
Councilor Marie T. Harpin agreed that slowing down of the sale was something that was important to the public and Councilor Bryan Sapienza said he was willing to support the motion.
Councilor Jessica Sweeney and Peter Oleskiewicz, however, said it was time to let the theater go.
Sweeney said it would be a smart move to let it go, citing the building's condition and the potential for liability that may fall on the city.
"Seeing that there is an opportunity to work with someone who seems to have pretty significant resources seems to be an advantageous to the city," she said.
Oleskiewicz called for a vote to approve but Council President Lisa Blackmer said they would first have to vote down Bona's motion to postpone.
Lamb argued the compromise was a good one for the council, the community and new administration.
"What it does is it prevents us from, one, being essentially acting as proxy for either administration in halting or moving forward with the existing proposal because we are in a transition period. Right that's that's an important note to me," said Lamb. "I think what this really does is it sort of sets the slate going forward so that the next administration, which will ultimately be having to deal with the contract process period that we started, now is able to really make the decisions and make the most informed decision."
Blackmer cautioned councilors that postponing the vote did not assure that there would be one. The new mayor would have the ability, if she so wished, to reject the offer and start anew, she said.
In the end, all nine councilors voted to postpone to the second week in January.
Tags: Mohawk Theater,
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