Letter: Oleskiewicz Endorses Macksey for Mayor

To the editor:

Please join me in support of Jennifer Macksey for mayor of the City of North Adams.

After working closely with her over the last two terms as a sitting City Council member, I am proud of all that has been accomplished and am very much looking forward to the future and what is yet to be achieved. Her dedication to the city is unwavering. As past chair of Public Services, I like to go out on site to visit our hard-working crews and express my thanks. I am not surprised when I see her there doing the same. Appreciation goes a long way.

The city is in forward motion with many things that have been on the to-do list that have either been checked off or
are in motion. Dating back three mayors, the final stage is complete with the building of a new Greylock School, the Brown Street bridge will be open by early winter, there are two conceptual plans for the Veterans [Memorial] Bridge, belvedere work is being done at the North Adams Public Library, RFP was complete to sell off Sullivan School, our Police Department is in an ADA-compliant space, the list goes on.

She has not sat idly by, as some say. Jennifer is a "Do-er." When Jen first ran for mayor I did support the other candidate, who I still think would have done a fabulous job as well. Over the last four years, a fabulous working relationship was built and I have the fullest confidence in Jennifer running our great city and moving forward on some great future plans.

We may not agree on everything, and have had some yelling matches, but when we are done, we say "next" and move on. So please join me in casting your vote for the future of North Adams: Jennifer Macksey for mayor.

Pete Oleskiewicz
North Adams City Councilor

North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:31PM / Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 

 

She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 

 

"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."

 

Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 

 

The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."

 

Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."