NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Voters will head to the polls on Nov. 2 to select a new mayor, City Council and School Committee.

 

Here's what you need to know about who's running, what they stand for and where and how to vote.

 

Mayor: The first woman mayor in the city's 126-year history will be inaugurated on Jan. 1, 2022. The two candidates vying to take that oath of office are Jennifer Macksey and Lynette Bond.

 

Macksey and Bond were the top vote-getters, respectively, in the preliminary election held on Sept. 21. Both newcomers in terms of political office, they do have extensive experience in municipal and educational finance and planning.

 

Macksey is the current assistant superintendent for operations and finance for the Northern Berkshire School Union and the former treasurer for the city of North Adams. She also worked in finance administration at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and, as vice president, at the former Southern Vermont College. She holds a bachelor's in accounting and business management from Trinity College and a master's in higher education administration from Bay Path University.

 

Bond is director of development for grants and research for MCLA and was the grant coordinator and a project manager for the town of Adams, working in the Community Development Office. She also oversaw projects and operations at Columbia University and was a recruiter and economic development volunteer with the Peace Corps. She holds a bachelor of science from Iowa State University and a master's in nonprofit management from New School University.

 

We asked the candidates a series of questions about why they wanted to be mayor and what their plans were if elected. You can find their answers here. Writeups of their campaign kickoffs can be found here for Bond and here for Macksey.

 

The candidates also participated in two debates: the preliminary debate can be found here and the mayor debate held on Oct. 21 is posted below.

 

City Council

 

There are 14 candidates listed on the ballot for City Council. The nonpartisan election is for councilors at large so the top nine vote-getters will be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2022. Voters may select a number of candidates between zero and nine.

 

The candidates are listed in alphabetical order with incumbents first: Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Peter Oleskiewicz, Bryan Sapienza and Wayne Wilkinson; then Jennifer Barbeau, Jesse Lee Egan Poirer, Marie T. Harpin, Barbara Murray, Michael Obasohan, Ashley Shade, Heidi Shartrand-Newell, Ronald Sheldon and Joseph Smith.

 

Blackmer and Bona have the longest tenure with Blackmer running for her seventh nonconsecutive term and Bona for his seventh consecutive term, although he also served several terms in the 1990s. Both had served as president of the council 

 

Bona is a local business owner, running a graphics and Berkshire Emporium on Main Street; Blackmer is town treasurer for the town of Buckland and has worked in a number of municipal and human resource positions. 

 

Wilkinson is running for his fourth elected term on the council. He is a real estate appraiser and has also served on the Planning Board and was chairman of the Mobile Home Rent Control Board. 

 

Peter Oleksiewicz and Bryan Sapienza were both appointed to the council to fill vacancies and are seeking full terms. Both have run for office in the past. Oleskiewicz is a local restauranteur, owning Desperados in North Adams and the soon to open Miss Adams Diner in Adams. Sapienza is parts manager at K-M Toyota and a member of the Public Arts Commission. 

 

Oleskiewicz came in 10th and Sapienza 11th in the 2019 election. Oleskiewicz was voted in by the council in 2020 to fill the seat vacated by Robert Moulton Jr., who quit both the council and School Committee after making comments about Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 on his public access television show. 

 

Sapienza was voted in by the council in June after then council President Paul Hopkins resigned because he moved out of the city. 

 

Harpin is listed as a nonincumbent because she is one of two councilors who abruptly resigned in August, saying she felt the council was "toxic." Her name remained on the ballot as her departure was after the deadline to withdraw. She has only recently indicated she would serve again if elected.

 

Barbeau operated several businesses and is now retired; Egan Poirer has worked in engineering, education and hospitality; Murray is a city native who returned here after her retirement; Obasohan is associate director of college readiness and success at MCLA; Shade, who has run in the past, is a member of the city's Human Services Commission and the Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Access Working Group; Shartrand-Newell is a work-at-home parent with a background in special education and psychology; Sheldon is running on his platform of accessibility, as he has in the past; and Smith has a background in information technology. 

 

iBerkshires invited all of the candidates certified on the Nov. 2 ballot to participate in the "Conversations with the Candidates" series broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television (available here) and to complete profiles available here. 

 

Voters will also vote in four members of the School Committee and two representatives to the Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational (McCann) School Committee. There are no races for these positions. 

 

Joshua Vallieres is running to complete the final two years of the term vacated by Moulton; incumbent Emily Daunis and Richard Alcombright, former mayor, and David Sookey are running for the three four-year terms.

 

Incumbent Gary Rivers and newcomer Diane Parsons, a former city councilor, are running for the two McCann seats. 

 

The election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 2, with voting from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.