On Saturday, North Adams, Massachusetts will swear in Jennifer Macksey as the city’s first female mayor. The historic day also marks the end of Mayor Tom Bernard’s four years in office. After winning the 2017 mayoral race against city councilor Robert Moulton, Bernard cruised to a second term in 2019. The last two years of his tenure were dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and city council upheaval, with three resignations in just the past term – including that of former rival Moulton over controversial comments about both the pandemic and Black Lives Matter.
WAMC sat down with Bernard in his city hall office this week to look back over the successes and challenges of his time leading Berkshire County’s second largest community.
BERNARD: You know, the things I think most about are the places where our community stepped up and came forward, whether it was the fun stuff like the fall foliage parade, or when we opened the splash park or more serious things like the work of our community agencies, bringing the Rise Up program through Elizabeth Freeman Center here, or the work that Voices for Recovery does. One of the high points always and one of the things I've really missed is that time spent in the school with students, whether it's reading in class or being able to be with them. And then it's the challenging times. I think about how North Adams responded when Officer Billy Evans came home this spring and the turnout of our community to show love and support to a family and a community and a team, given the number of Officer Evans’ colleagues who came to the services. People who were hurting. And then obviously, the big piece, and it's inescapable because it's been the defining issue of my second term, is COVID response.
WAMC: COVID has become such a part of life. It's so ubiquitous now. I think it's easy to lose track of exactly how much this diverted normalcy all across the world and here in North Adams. When you think about how much COVID has impacted your time in office, is there a way to quantify that?
I don't think you can quantify it, except that I can look at the steps we took and the response of the community and look at where our numbers have been and know that we- and I read this really as a team effort among public health, among our partners across the Northern Berkshires and in the city and in actions that I took. We kept this community safe, comparatively speaking, and we're not through it yet. And we know that. But you know, I look at it and I say, it would be really easy to say, what if, about the last two years. And the things that I thought I was going to be doing in 2020 and 2021 that just never got off the launch pad. But then I stop and I really think about what a what a gift it was to be in this position and to be able to use what I had learned in the first term and the connections that we have to respond to something that none of us ever expected.
During the city's most recent mayoral election this past November, you and your administration got criticized for a lack of action on infrastructure projects, development of the Mohawk Theater, municipal staffing levels- How much did the COVID 19 pandemic affect your ability to carry out some of those projects? Is it fair criticism that you did not do enough? Or is there an element of this historic challenge of COVID inevitably making it difficult to accomplish even basic municipal tasks?
Yeah, well, I first of all, I'd say that whatever happened in the context of a campaign that I was not a candidate standing for election- I am my own biggest critic, and that will always be the case. And yeah, there are there are things that we didn't do. And one of the big ones and one of the things that the next administration and Mayor-elect Macskey is going to have to tackle is long term financial sustainability for the city. We're really at a tipping point where we see that the level of service that we provide, the level of service that the community expects, and the realities of our capacity are really starting to, again, come to a point where we have to call a lot of really difficult questions. And I wish that I had been able to go further in addressing that work. You know, the Mohawk, you can look at decision points and actions taken, actions not taken over the past 20 plus years and see, you know, on roads and off ramps, some of them taken and some of them not. But I think I said in one of the times we talked in 2019, it gets caught up in politics every two years and the people running for office, whether it's council or mayor, have to have a plan for it. And I think the time for saying we're going to have a plan is passed and getting something done has to happen, and I think it will early in the in the next term.
Looking at the legacy of the Bernard administration, when your term comes to a close at the end of this year, what do you think is going to live on past just your time spent in the corner office?
Boy, I hate the term legacy. I really do. But I take the point of the question. And, you know, I think it's going to be really good important work in our schools. We set the stage for making a real investment in education in the West End of the city in the Greylock and Brayton project. It's going to be these things that aren't fancy. Again, I mentioned that the splash park, and that's something that you can you can see and that started under Mayor Alcombright, and we did the Brayton Park. So those places where the community has new amenities are important. But you know, it's things like tackling zoning, which, things like Smart Growth, which is going to be one of the triggers for downtown development. I mean, you saw that 85 Main Street recently sold, the TD Bank building. And I was heartbroken, as many people were, when we lost that branch. But knowing that that will be part of it, that there will be a solution for the Mohawk. I just want to acknowledge, we talked about infrastructure- I didn't get far enough on the public safety building. But again, we've done really good foundational work with Berkshire Regional Planning to be able to move the needle on that and really make the case for release of the bond money that's sitting in a promissory note in Boston. I'm really proud of the work that that I've done, and so many people have done on the council, in the community, to not just talk about a commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and access, but really start to put some principles and some actions, starting with training for those of us in elected office, to put those commitments into reality. I think that's really important. And you know, we're a community that is that is becoming more diverse. My hope is that we continue to become more diverse, and that in doing that, we really, we celebrate, and we provide opportunity, and that North Adams is a community that's welcoming for everyone.
When it comes to historic things that happened during your tenure, of course, alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, there was also last summer's Black Lives Matter protests and community conversations about equity and racial justice. You were just talking about some work the city has done to work on establishing more guidelines around inclusivity, diversity, and inclusion. What do you think the lasting impact of those community conversations from last summer are going to be for North Adams moving forward?
I think the ramification is- And again, I really want to acknowledge the work of so many people in the in the community, particularly, you know, councilors Lamb and Sweeney and Blackmer who were part of establishing the IDEA working group, which is now through ordinance of formal commission of the city. I think the legacy is that we're past the point- and I think, you know, we've seen this in a lot of places. We've had the first conversations and we've done, in some ways, what is the easy work to showcase our commitment. And now the hard work begins of having uncomfortable conversations, really challenging all of us in the community to do better. But I think we will see, hopefully, greater representation and diversity on boards and commissions, in the corner office. And again, you know, we're on the cusp of a historic transition in the city of North Adams. Jennifer Macksey, mayor-elect Macksey will be our first woman mayor, and that is something to absolutely celebrate. And we will see as the community becomes more diverse that it will become more representative and that all of us in public life, public service, whether elected, appointed, hired, need to be mindful of these issues and of doing right by everyone in the community.
So North Adams has a very unique political environment where all kinds of outsized things seem to constantly happen in this community and in its municipal governance. Over the last four years, we saw resignations from the city council, three over this last term, we saw scandal, accusations of toxicity- Sort of all the time, new things popping up in the community. Can you speak to your experience being in North Adams as a political figure over the last four years?
You know, again, when I came in in January of 2018, and I did my inaugural address, I made one and only one promise to the community. And it was that I would make mistakes. And I think it's fair to say, I kept that promise. I think I managed to recover. I certainly know that I learned from those experiences. And I would say the two things that are that are critical is, this is a community that no matter how much you think you've gotten your message out, you can never over communicate, over clarify. And then the other thing, certainly for me, was trying as much as possible to stay above the fray when I could. There were a couple times where my boot slipped off the high road. But really, by and large, as there was turmoil and churn, trying not to contribute to it, trying not to fuel it or further it, and to provide a model of steadiness, and that brand of leadership. Whether that resonated always, I can't say, but that certainly was my goal and my intention.
Well, one notable exception would be your back and forth with former Mayor and State Representative John Barrett. Can you walk me through your mindset in how that plays into that effort to stay out of the fray?
Sure. So that was one of the times that my boots slipped off the high road, there's no doubt about that. But at the risk of mixing metaphors, I felt that a really important line of propriety and a line of – yeah, propriety – was very clearly crossed. And, you know, we can we can disagree, we can argue publicly, we can argue through the press, we can say what we wish to say or not say privately. But when you invoke a person's family, you've gone too far.
A big narrative about North Adams politics is about this back and forth between rival political camps that can be loosely described as, in that of John Barrett, former mayor and state representative, and that of Dick Alcombright, another former mayor of North Adams, in the sense that you and Mr. Alcombright backed Lynette Bond against Jennifer Macksey in the mayoral campaign, who was very much- She worked in city hall under Mr. Barrett, but was closely aligned with him throughout the campaign. When you look at the future of North Adams politics, is it fair to say that it's just going to go back and forth between those camps?
Boy I hope not. I really do. You know, one of the real gifts that former Mayor Alcombright gave me was, he was, before I was elected, a good friend, and he remains a good friend and someone who will offer advice and has not tried to manage the administration that I'm in. Again, I tried, I very clearly had a candidate that I was supporting, but I also did my best to be fair and equitable and accessible to everyone. But I think, I hope that the precedent-setting nature of the new administration, the precedent-setting nature of the of the new council really signals that the battles of the of the past, whether we're talking about 20 or 30 years ago or two months ago, are in the past where they belong, and people's eyes are on the horizon and on moving forward.
So in that spirit of moving forward, you talked about financial sustainability, a little bit about developing the Mohawk Theater- If you had to put a couple issues from your remaining unfinished work docket on top of the stack for the new city council and the new administration, what comes to mind?
Well, the first one is continuing COVID recovery. So the data we're seeing right now is concerning. We're talking late December- What's today, the 28th? And we know that we're going to see a spike between the Christmas and New Year holidays. And so the context that the mayor-elect will be stepping in is to a situation that's still unsettled, and we'll have to navigate that. Now, she's got a great team that is incredibly practiced in this work, strong collaborations throughout the Northern Berkshires, and a pot of money through [the American Rescue Plan Act] to help with that, to really address the response both on the city side, the human service side, the business side. So that's one. Two is the public safety building. And as I said, we've done some really good foundational work this summer and fall to set the set the stage for moving on that because it really truly is time. And then you know, it's a little bit unfair that the political cycles are such that you step into the office, you take the oath, you give your speech, and then you're off and running with budget season. And that's the reality and the nature of the job. So just really looking at financial sustainability, classification, and compensation. We've had a couple of issues recently where we've looked at the plan as a one-off in order to recruit and retain staff, and competitiveness is an issue, particularly right now where the job market is pretty hot. So we want to make sure that we can bring in people, we can keep them, there are folks who are able to make a career here, and knowing that we're at the cusp of a transition everywhere in our region of good people coming to the points of retirement or career transition. So we really need to think about, how do we build that bench? How do we have really great people coming in behind the really great people that we have? And that's going to be a big, big, big challenge, because without your team behind you, vision and planning is great, but you can't execute.
To ask a very open-ended question, how has North Adams changed over the last four years? And what have you learned about the city?
You know, again, I'm going to talk about this through the through the lens of COVID for a second and say, if you look at the history of North Adams and other times of an economic trial, there's been this feeling that the city has taken a step back. And what I really, truly feel is that in this case, we took a pause. And so the real estate market and the housing market and the level of investment has continued, or is charging back. So I think we're really positioned for strength in a way that we haven't been coming out of other downturns. So that's one. You know, I think that COVID, for a lot of us, has inspired people to advocacy, whether that's dealing with supporting human service agencies, whether it's being generous in their charitable giving or really being active and involved members of the community. So again, to note that this conversation about the Mohawk brought people out, and it brought people out who are passionate and who were engaged, and who were thoughtful. And I really hope that that level of advocacy and activism continues because it doesn't always make the work easy, and we don't always agree, but that level of involvement and engagement is so, so important. And I think there's a recognition that this is a place with unbelievable opportunity and my hope is that the people who are investing in North Adams want to be here, not just to make an investment and make some money, but they see this as a place because of a good housing market, and unbelievable natural beauty, access to culture, that they that they want to make lives here. You know, you look at what's happening in the eastern part of the state with the housing market, and then you see what- and our market is doing really well- but what you can get for your money in North Adams and then you do everything else to become part of the part of the community, and that's a really a positive indicator for us.
Your bid to become town manager of Williamstown didn't pan out this year. What is next for you with that option off the table?
Well, I can't say yet. But I'm very excited about it. And it's something that will keep me in in the area, keep me in the in the community. And again, it's not entirely my news to share at this point because, yeah, everything's not finalized. But I really hope after, shortly after the first of the year, there'll be there'll be an announcement. But it's a really- I'm thrilled. I'm going to take a little break after the first of the year just to recharge the engines and then come charging back into it, you know, mid-January.
Earlier in our conversation, you talked about acknowledging and absorbing some mistakes you made over the course of your tenure. If you could have done anything specifically differently over the course of your time in office, what examples come to mind?
I would have moved- It's a really general answer, but, you know, there's some things I would have moved faster on, there are some things I would have taken a little more time with. I think I would have pivoted sooner to staffing out more work. I'm very hands on, and I think one of the things that that did was it- Not necessarily disempowered, but it created space for the team to wait for me, rather than doing the great work that they're capable of doing. And so I learned from that. You know, there were a couple of issues that I that I tackled that, you know, either could have let go or could have handled differently. Trying to get our arms around the safe operation of the gun range, really something I, you know, in retrospect, would have left to the police chief to manage. It was things like that, and I can chalk many of them up to inexperience and rookie mistakes. And as I said, I look at those and I feel like, the thing that I that I take pride in is, I'm a, I believe I'm a better and more capable leader walking out of the door than I was walking in the door. And that's really what you want to have learned and gotten better over the time, because if not, you're in the wrong place.
I want to end with giving you a free space here. You've been the head of North Adams for the past four years- If there was a thing you want people to know about your experience and what you've done and what you've learned, what would sum that up?
You know, North Adams – and I've said it in different ways – but you know, North Adams is a community that just knocks me out every day. You know, it can be a place where people do argue and fight and come to harsh words with each other. And then it will turn around, this community will turn around on a dime and come together and have each other's backs and just look out for each other in a way that's unlike anything I've ever seen anywhere else. And I was motivated in doing this work by truly two things: One, unbelievable, unbelievable gratitude for the opportunity to serve. And then just absolute love for the city of North Adams. This is this is the place where I grew up, and it is a place that it has been such a privilege to give back.
