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Adams See Race for Selectmen Seats

iBerkshires StaffPrint Story | Email Story
ADAMS, Mass. — The town will see a three-way race for the Board of Selectmen in the annual town election. 
 
It is the only race on the May 5 election ballot. 
 
Incumbent Joseph J. Nowak will face off against Jay T. Meczywor and Jerome S. Socolof for the two seats up for election on the board. Both seats are for three-year terms.
 
Selectman Richard Blanchard is not running for re-election after serving four terms. He and Nowak were first elected in 2013.   
 
Nowak is a retired from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and was a co-founder of the former Adams Agriculture Fair. 
 
Meczywor is a physical therapist at Berkshire Sport & Physical Therapy and chair of the town's Finance Committee. 
 
Socolof unsuccessfully ran for the board in last year's election. He is an associate professor in arts management in the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 
 
Newcomers on the ballot are David Rhinemiller, chair of the Planning Board, for a three-year term on the Board of Health; Christian Ricahrd Rowe for a five-year termon the Planning Board; and Stephanie Melito for representative to the Northern Berkshire Regional [McCann] School Committee. 
 
Running for re-election unopposed are Moderator Myra Wilk, Treasurer-Collector Kelly Rice, Assessor Lorraine Kalisz, Library Trustees Virginia Phelps Duval and Karen Kettles, Cemetery Commissioner James Taylor, Housing Authority member Ann Bartlett, and Hoosac Valley School Committee member John F. Duval and Erin Milne, both representing Adams. 
 
No one has submitted papers for the a three-year term representing Cheshire on Hoosac Valley School Committee or for a one-year term for Cemetery Commission and five-year term for Redevelopment Authority. 
 
Running for town meeting member are:
 
Precinct 1: Deborah Nowicki and Gregory Nowicki for two two-year terms, and one open seat for three years.
 
Precinct 2: Catherine Foster, Charles Foster, Andrew Harmon, Howard Rosenberg and William Schrade Jr. will vie with incumbents Donald Bury, Scott Cernik, Edward Janik, Sandra Moderski, Andrew Przystanski, Norman Schutz, Tanya Wilson-Malloy and Mitchell Wisniowski for 10 three-year terms; and Paula Grover is running unopposed for a one-year term. 
 
Precinct 3: Russell Duval, Kathryn Anne Gigliotti, Jerome Socolof and Kelly Szkasz are running for one of 10 three-year terms against incumbents Patricia Conroy-Shepley, Richard Frost, Raymond Gargan Jr., Kelly Craddock-Kelley, Amy Oberlin, Robert Patterson Jr., Melissa Schaffrick and Barbara Ziemba; Christina Satko is unopposed for a one-year term. 
 
Precinct 4: Kathryn E. Perras and Edmund St. John III for two two-year terms; one two-year term, two one-year terms and five three-year terms are vacant. 
 
Precinct 5: 15 candidates are vying for 10 three-year terms. Newcomers are Kathryn Foley, Denise Fortier, Jacqueline Kelly, Stephanie Melito, David Rhinemiller, Christian Rowe and Caroline Scully; incumbents are Kathy Hynes, David Lennon, Sarah Lesure, Erin Milne, Michael Ouellette, Linda Rhoadds, Ashley Satko and Barbara Tarsa. 
 
Partial terms are to complete vacated offices; each precinct has 30 representatives. 

Tags: election 2025,   town elections,   


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Adams Planning Board Cited for Open Meeting Law Violation

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The state Attorney General's Office has determined that the Planning Board violated Open Meeting Law by continuing to deliberate on a matter after adjournment.
 
According to the determination, the violation occurred after adjourning the Jan. 27, 2025, meeting when three board members stayed to discuss permitting concerns for Aisling Mountain Farm, a 22-acre equestrian facility on West Road owned by Kathryn Foley.
 
The board was ordered to amend its meeting minutes within the next 30 days, to include a summary of the discussion that occurred after the meeting was adjourned, to certify to to the AG's Office that it has done so, and to comply with the Open Meeting Law going forward.
 
The ruling stems from a complaint filed by Catherine Foster on Aug. 22, 2025, alleging that the board violated the Open Meeting Law during and after its Jan. 27 meeting.
 
Although filed nearly seven months after the January meeting, the Attorney General's Office said it met the 30-day filing deadline because Foster did not become aware of the situation until it was raised at a July 23 Select Board meeting.
 
"The Open Meeting Law requires that complaints be filed within 30 days of the alleged violation, or if the alleged violation could not reasonably have been known at the time it occurred, then within 30 days of the date it should reasonably have been discovered," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Lindberg said in the determination.
 
"The complainant could not reasonably have discovered that the Board deliberated after adjournment of the January 27 meeting until the issue was raised during public comment at the July 23 Select Board meeting. Because the complaint was filed within 30 days of the July 23 Select Board meeting, the complaint was filed timely as to this allegation"
 
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