City council President Bryan Sapienza gave the second and final reading of Mayor Jennifer Macksey’s proposal to the nine-member body at Tuesday’s meeting.
“An order appropriating the amount of $65,362,859 for the purpose of paying the cost of constructing and furnishing a new Greylock Elementary School to support pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to be located at 100 Phelps Avenue, passed to a second reading and published, as required by law, at the special city council meeting of July, 22nd 2024,” he read.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority approved North Adams’ request to replace the decrepit Greylock Elementary off Route 2 this summer, five years after the city first submitted it. The city officially shuttered the facility this year and reshuffled its grade structure to disperse its students to other schools in the district before the new semester this fall.
Macksey gave the councilors context for the vote they were about to take.
“So, this the way the timeline has been worked out that this, if approved tonight, starts the clock ticking," said the mayor. "We have to have the whole project approved by October 24th.”
With a unanimous council vote to approve the project, a special municipal election on October 8th from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. will allow North Adams voters to ultimately decide the fate of the project.
City Clerk Tina Leonesio explained that early voting will be offered to city residents starting 10 days prior.
“It'll start the Saturday before, go through that week, end on the Friday before, in-person early voting," she said. "The mailing starts as soon as possible, soon as I get my ballots, which I've already started, I've already done the proofs and everything. So, tomorrow they're going to start printing them. Soon as I get the early ballots, I'll start the mailing out. I've already started with some of the labels. I'm waiting for us to finish off our early voting ballots for this election, for September.”
The MSBA will cover over $41 million of the project, federal grants another $3 million, and the city will cover the remaining $20 million with a 30-year loan if voters approve the plan.
Macksey told the council that the city will host public meetings about the vote leading up to October 8th.
The forums will offer a remote option for those unable to attend in person.
The mayor also announced that North Adams had received more than $1 million from the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program for flood resiliency.
“This money is designated to fund a full engineering and hydraulic study of Fuller, Bryant, Frederick, and Houghton, Barth, Eagle, Marietta, and Liberty, Morgan Ave and a section of Summit and State Street," she said. "As you remember, those are high impact areas that we've been struggling with over the last two summers. So, we're very excited to get this. We've done some preliminary engineering, which we paid for out of the money we received from the state, but this is very, this will launch us into the right direction to solve our problem in those areas.”
Last summer, North Adams faced millions of dollars in damages from flooding after heavy rains washed out roads, blew out culverts, and ravaged public and private properties.
“I know the infamous question is, when are the roads going to get paved?" Macksey continued. "We are hoping very, very, very soon. I have been after the contractors to keep filling on milling all of the roads, but we have sidewalk repairs to do in all those areas that are dug up before we can get the roads done. So, I ask for everyone's patience. I know the concerns about the corner of River and Houghton Street, the company will be coming out to fill those areas in, but it'll be nice when it's done. We’ve just got to get through it.”
North Adams’ leaders closed out the meeting by plugging upcoming city events including Motorama on August 25th and the fall foliage parade October 6th.
