Letter: North Adams Not Addressing Current Drought Emergency

To the Editor:

About a week ago, I decided to take a walk along the North Adams reservoir. I'm sure it's been at least a year since I had last done so. What I discovered shocked and amazed me: the reservoir is at most about two-thirds full. Given the extent of the drought we've experienced in Massachusetts, I shouldn't have been surprised.

What did surprise me is that we haven't heard a word from City Hall about the possibility of a water shortage and measures we might take to conserve our water supply. When I did some research, I found that the Adams Fire District posted a "State Declaration" about the level 2 drought we are experiencing and the water-use restrictions that residents
and businesses are to observe.

As far as I've been able to tell, the city of North Adams has posted no such restrictions.

The past two administrations at City Hall often made a point of leaving phone messages warning citizens of emergencies, especially those related to weather. The current administration very rarely makes this type of effort. Given what seems to be City Hall's cavalier attitude toward our water supply (remember last year's fight over the proposal to clear-cut cut forest around the reservoir, which posed a danger to the water supply?), I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Since this is an election year in North Adams, it might be time for the mayor to address this emergency and lay out her plans for dealing with it (before we face a potentially more dire situation next spring.

Daniel Spinella
North Adams, Mass. 

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."