This month, North Adams, Massachusetts, Mayor Jennifer Macksey won a third, two-year term in office with a crushing defeat of challenger Scott Berglund. With around 69% of the vote in her favor, the first woman to serve as chief executive of Berkshire County’s second largest community will enter 2026 with momentum at her back. She faces a number of challenges familiar to other communities across Massachusetts: a housing shortage on every level of need across the demographic spectrum, the needs of unhoused residents, a rising cost of living, the need to address critical infrastructure improvements, and the increasing scarcity of federal funding during the extraordinary level of funding cuts during the second Trump administration. The city, along with the Berkshires writ large, also faces concerns about how its arts and culture sector, a key economic driver in the region, will navigate the increasingly choppy financial waters. As the new year approaches, Macksey broke down her vision for North Adams and her strategy for its most pressing needs with WAMC.
MACKSEY: Well, at a macro level, Josh, it's to continue to work hard and move North Adams forward. Getting into details, our first and foremost goal is to get a successful bid for the Greylock School project, which should be occurring in January, and getting that project kicked off the ground, as well as executing in all of our recent grant awards through the One Stop program, specifically the repair of the Walnut Street wall, which we received $2 million, as well as doing some technical assistance around the Mohawk. Theater Heritage Park, we're doing a readiness program, doing some engineering in the downtown for infrastructure improvements, focusing on our vacant storefronts and how we can help businesses engage with the community more, as well as focusing on getting the Brown Street bridge open, which I'm hoping will be really in this term, not next term – that should be open by Christmas – and then focusing on reconnecting communities. But overarching, all of that is continuing to be responsive to the community and the needs of the citizens. With everything going on at the federal level, there is some insecurity in our city, and we need to support our residents. So, for me, it's just business as usual, continue to be working hard, but we're very excited about what the future brings in North Adams, and I'm more energized than ever to keep working.
WAMC: Now, one major question hanging over Berkshire County, and indeed, the rest of Massachusetts, concerns housing- and there's been all this discussion about different ways to encourage housing growth, to cover various sectors of housing needs in communities, from market level to emergency shelter to workforce housing. Talk to us about North Adams- What is the story in the city, and what are you doing to help open up more housing for folks in the city?
Well, first and foremost, the city council. I applaud the council and some of the citizens groups that were behind the affordable housing trust so that has been established by the city council put into ordinance, and beginning in January, we will start working that process, establishing a committee evaluating our housing needs in the long term. We know we need more housing. We will definitely support private development, we will definitely support partnering with people. But when it comes to the homeless population, we stand with the Louison House and other nonprofit entities that are working with that population to ensure that Boston knows we need help out here, to ensure that we have enough funding for winter housing. There's not enough funds to go around, but we try to advocate and get any penny that we can here in North Adams, and it has to be a regional effort. [Pittsfield] Mayor [Peter] Marchetti and I have had a few informal discussions about how we can partner, because the mental health crisis, the opioid crisis, the homelessness issue, food insecurity, is not just here in North Adams, it's all the way down to Pittsfield and beyond, and we need to really look at a regional approach of how we're going to address it.
Another question is rising taxes in the city. We know that the cost-of-living issue is a major one across the nation right now, but folks in North Adams are going to see a 3.4% increase or so on their property tax bill in the coming fiscal year. Talk to us about that- Are you concerned at all about cost of living increases in North Adams?
Well, we are very concerned about our residents. That's why we try to squeeze that nickel into a quarter for everything that we do, but it's not only the residents are feeling it, but the city's feeling it with our increase in cost for utilities and just buying construction material, etc. But I think it's really important that we worked collaboratively with the city council to be fair and reasonable. What's really hurting us here, Josh, and it's not just here, it's everywhere, is houses are selling for crazy prices, and our assessments are based on sales data. And it's crazy to see some of these houses being sold for the amount that they are, and that's the nature of the beast. So, we are trying to run a fiscally responsible city with a very tight budget, and be very sensitive to any burden that we put on the taxpayers. So, we are concerned. I'm more concerned about people heating their homes and putting food on their table right now. We will always work with our citizens who are struggling to establish a payment plan. But the reality is, the cost of everything is going up, including running a city.
This month, North Adams hosted the inaugural Western Mass Arts Economic Impact Summit at North Adams- I've spoken with State Senator Paul Mark who hosted and arranged the gathering. He was talking about the need for Boston to understand how important it is to sustain the arts in Western Massachusetts. Obviously, not only did North Adams host the event at Mass MoCA, but it's a city that has become synonymous in some ways with the arts and culture sector. Can you talk to us a little bit about what that gathering meant to the city of North Adams?
Well, first of all, it was a wonderful event. I think they had about 110 people to come together to talk about how we build the creative economy, not just here in North Adams, but across the state and Central and Northern Berkshire. The energy in the building was wonderful. The commitment to making a better path without pointing fingers was great. The dialog in the room was tremendous. I just think it shows that the arts are finally being recognized, and they deserve their due justice, and we need to support that effort, because it's a whole new type of economy that this area has never seen. You may see it more in Boston or New York City, but it is a job. It is worthwhile. It has value to it, and it adds so much cultural enrichment to our community that these kinds of gatherings and collaboration sessions and think tanks are so important. And it was very clear – the lieutenant governor was there – that we will not be forgotten, but we need to keep working on that.
Now, I wanted to also ask you- With news that the president of MCLA, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Dr. Jamie Birge, will be leaving next spring, in conversations with him, one of the long-standing narratives about the college that is certainly troubling on an existential level is the ongoing decline in enrollment at the college. From your perspective leading North Adams, what are your thoughts on that concern around the ability to attract students to the public college that the city hosts?
I think that MCLA, over the years, has tried to be everything for everyone. As a former MCLA employee, when I worked there, we were very focused on student development and student engagement, and I think that the new president needs to really focus on student development. President Birge has done a nice job over there, but I am concerned. But it's not just MCLA. If you look at enrollments across the board, young students, young individuals, are taking gap years, they're doing alternative learning. And I think we need to sell the importance of higher education in Massachusetts. MCLA is a great institution filled with wonderful professors and staff, and they need to showcase that. I know the admissions team worked very hard, but the reality is, we need to be attractive and some of that, and that plays a role with me too. We try to work with MCLA the best we can, but we need to have an engaging downtown. We need to have places where kids can go and grab a coffee or a bagel, and we have that. We need to connect the students to the community and make them feel part of the community. But it goes back to student engagement and student experience, and I feel strongly that that has to be the focus of the new president, along with fundraising, keeping the lights on and all that fun stuff. But enrollment is tough. Enrollment is tough in higher ed right now, students almost have too many options, but MCLA has a lot to offer, and we need to market that now.
Lastly, I wanted to ask you about a regional issue that was being highlighted down in the Southern Berkshires. State Representative Leigh Davis of the 3rd Berkshire District down in the southern part of the county, was talking about her concerns that cities like Lee – or towns, rather – like Great Barrington and Lee were not being able to take advantage of important state funding opportunities like seasonal community designations or Gateway City designations. I was interested- Up in North Adams, do you feel like the city is being held back at all by not being able to access some of those state programs like the Gateway City designation?
Well, that's always been a bone of contention for me. I- after the round of One Stop [program grants] that we just, I can't complain. We were awarded five out of the eight applications that we submitted. So, the state of Massachusetts has been very good to the city of North Adams. But even though, like, for rural aid, we don't qualify for rule some of the rural grants, but I think there's a lot of opportunities out there for all of us, but it is hard. It is hard because we're trying to do these big projects, we're trying to spur economic development, and it is difficult because we want to grab those pots of money that are available to us. So overall, I don't disagree with the sentiment. I certainly support the sentiment, but North Adams has done fairly well in the last four years with the state remembering who we are and supporting our efforts, so I don't want to downplay that, Josh.
