In his maiden voyage into municipal politics, Andrew Fitch was the top vote getter in Tuesday’s North Adams, Massachusetts city council election. With over 1,400 ballots cast in his name, Fitch leapfrogged over incumbents Keith Bona, Vice President Bryan Sapienza, and President Lisa Hall Blackmer, who placed second, third, and fourth. After moving to the city during the pandemic, Fitch has served on the North Adams Zoning Board of Appeals and the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access commission. He’s also done community organizing work with North Adams Pride and the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition. In addition to developing properties downtown, Fitch is the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth. As he prepares to be sworn into the nine-member council in January – alongside fellow first-timers Peter Breen and Deanna Morrow – Fitch laid out his vision for the coming term with WAMC.
FITCH: Honestly, Josh, I was surprised that I was the top vote getter. As a newcomer, I didn't think that that was even possible, quite frankly. I should have assumed that of course, people are ready for fresh ideas, for fresh energy. I heard a lot about that from the voters around North Adams. But I think some of the things that helped were the fact that I did get so involved so deeply when I first moved here to town. And so yes, I don't have any elected official experience as a politician. However, I've been on a couple of city commissions for a couple of years now, and I've been really deeply involved in the city otherwise. So, I think that breadth of involvement really helped to spread my name and to spread my energy around town, and to let people know that I am out for the good of North Adam.
WAMC: Now, speaking of those fresh, new ideas, you referred to, what comes to mind? When you get sworn into office in early 2024, what is on your agenda?
Oh, absolutely is starting off and focusing our intention on the opportunity that we have here in the city to make a difference, to make improvements, to make positive responsible change. And by responsible change, I mean not just developing our city into some future kind of Disneyland construct of a tourist destination. I think we can maintain this – if we are intentional about this – we can maintain this special thing that we have going on here. But if we can focus on affordable housing development, as well as investing in the tourism industry, and not just arts tourism, but in ecotourism, and in queer tourism, and other areas as well, as well as investing in other areas, too, like city planning, so we can better plan the overall picture of how we're going to construct the city, how we can just make little improvements, and pull everything together so that all of our change is responsible and progressive. So those are the things that I intend to work on right away. I also have, to be honest, I've got a whole list of project ideas, a lot of things to ask about. They won't all be on me or on city councilors to do, but I have my own passion projects in town. Some of them involve mural work or sidewalk repairs or street repairs or the Hoosic River Revival organization working more closely with them, working more closely with our chamber of commerce. So, yeah, I do have a lot of ideas and a lot of things to start working on right away. I fully realize that we cannot just do everything at once and have success immediately. However, I do think and I firmly believe that we can start on a bunch of different things at once. We can get them started and make progress over time, working with the other city council members, working with the mayor, working with our city departments, and our general public.
Let's turn to the mayor, Jennifer Macksey. She cruised to a second term in her contest against Aprilyn Carsno in this election. What do you want to see out of the mayor's office heading into this new term?
Strong partnership. And honestly, Josh, I think we've already got it. I've been working well with the mayor already. I'm a big fan, I think she's a fan of me as well. I think we're going to have a really constructive council, and if the mayor can keep up that commitment to strong partnership with our council, I think we can get a lot done together.
Do you have any interest of seeking a leadership position on the council given your strong electoral standing?
I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that question. [laughs] How about that? TBD.
