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North Adams Holds Reorganization of Government on New Year's Day

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Jennifer Macksey will be sworn into her second term as mayor on New Year's Day. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city's government for the next two years will be sworn in on Monday, Jan. 1, at 11 a.m. 
 
The organization of government is held on the first day of the year following a general election. The swearing in will be held in City Council Chambers and streamed by Northern Berkshire Community Television. 
 
It is open to the public. 
 
The City Council will elect a president and vice president after being sworn in by City Clerk Tina Leonesio, who will open the meeting. The new president will give some remarks, announce committee and liaison assignments and present the rules of order for the council. 
 
The council will also draw for seats for the next year. 
 
The new members of the School Committee and McCann School Committee will also be sworn in and then the mayor will be invited into the chamber to be sworn into a two-year term and give her inaugural speech. 
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey will be starting her second term in the corner office after winning a landslide re-election in November. 
 
Incumbents councilors returned to office are Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Peter Oleskiewicz, Bryan Sapienza, Ashley Shade and Wayne Wilkinson. 
 
Incumbents Jennifer Barbeau, Marie T. Harpin and Michael Obasohan declined to run for re-election. Barbeau and Obasohan have served one term; Harpin was first elected in 2017, quit briefly in 2021 but was re-elected that same year and served out her term. 
 
New to the council are Peter Breen, Andrew Fitch and Deanna Morrow. The three were among the top nine vote-getters of the 11 candidates running for City Council in November. 
 
Both Fitch and Morrow are newcomers to elected office; Breen will be sworn in to two offices as he has been a member of the McCann School Committee and was re-elected to continue representing the city on the regional vocational committee.
 
Breen's colleagues on the McCann committee, George Canales and William Diamond, both incumbents, will also be sworn in. 
 
The School Committee has two returning faces and one new one. Tara Jacobs was re-elected to a third four-year term; Alyssa Tomkowicz was elected to her first four-year term but ran as an incumbent, as she was elected earlier this year by city and school officials to complete a term ending this year. Cody Chamberlain, who had also applied to fill that vacant seat, was elected to a four-term term in November. Incumbent Karen Bond stepped back after serving two terms. 
 

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Blue Vista Motor Lodge Brings Hospitality & View to Guests

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Among the upgrades at the renovated lodge is a sauna to refresh after a day of skiing and hiking. 
FLORIDA, Mass. — The Blue Vista Motor Lodge is still bringing hospitality to the town of Florida — even 100 years, many owners, names, and renovations later.
 
"When we were working on renovation plans, we found a postcard online from 1923 from the Whitcomb Summit Motor Lodge so that's kind of exciting that for over 100 years, people have been coming here and I think you can see why," owner Stella Downie said.
 
It all started with a small shack on Whitcomb Summit offering souvenirs and drinks that opened up with the highway in 1914. With growing popularity along the scenic byway, small cottages were built for motorists to stay on the Mohawk Trail's highest point.  
Unfortunately, in 1938, the store and a restaurant burned and the cottages started to get run down. In the 1960s, the cottages were replaced with the current building, named Whitcomb Summit Lodge. 
 
There were attempts to rejuvenate the summit for tourism over the preceding decades that fell by the wayside — from campgrounds and timeshares to fine dining and condominiums.
 
Downie purchased the building in December 2021, renovated the lodge in 2022 with a soft opening that fall, and officially opened in early 2023.
 
"We really wanted to clean it up and make it a beautiful place again for people to come and visit and really highlight the views," she said.
 
When Downie took over the property, she said it needed fixes and moving around. She took down all of the bordering dilapidated buildings that had long been abandoned, including the shuttered restaurant, to enhance the grounds. 
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