Voters in North Adams, Massachusetts, will have two familiar choices when they go to the polls next week to choose a mayor. Incumbent Richard Alcombright is facing a challenge from former mayor John Barrett.
This year’s election is a rematch of the 2009 race when Richard Alcombright ended John Barrett’s 26-year run as mayor. Tammy Daniels covered that race for iBerkshires.com. She says like this year, the 2009 encounter was an intense battle. Daniels says then-city councilor Alcombright may have ruffled Barrett’s feathers simply by running against him. Barrett, was, after all, the longest serving mayor in the state.
“There had been some sort of sense that at this point in time (2009), nobody would run against him until he (Barrett) decides that it was time to retire ,” Daniels says. “I think he had made some inclination that this would be the last run.”
And the hard feelings from that election clearly remain, as voters saw during a debate last week, to the roar of a large crowd.
“You’re telling people, don’t let Barrett back in,” Barrett said to Alcombright. “My god, he’ll be looking in your windows. He won’t let you do anything. We have boards. It’s a democracy.”
Alcombright responded to Barrett: “It is now,” referring to the former mayor’s management style.
How both candidates govern and go about their business has been the biggest issue in this race. Alcombright says he’s brought more transparency to North Adams City Hall.
“I’ve expanded our boards and commissions,” Alcombrigh says. “I’ve appointed many more young people and women. We’ve given much more autonomy to city hall staff and to directors of their own departments. “I’m 100% accessible.”
Alcombright says when Barrett was mayor, he ran the city as a “government of one.”
“His management style was everything passed through this office,” Alcombright says. “If it didn’t pass through this office, then there probably would be trouble. He made the rules.”
For his part, Barrett says it’s an illusion that his opponent governs in a more open fashion than he did.
“When he says that I’m (a government of) one, I chuckle a little bit because every city council vote is nearly 9-0, every school committee vote is 7-0,” Barrett says. “There’s an old saying ‘We’re going to govern by consensus’, but it’s going to be his consensus.
Barrett acknowledges when he ran North Adams, he did have a firm, hands-on style and says that won’t change if voters return him to office.
“I like to try to oversee the management and finances of the city, I’m very involved in that.” Barrett says. “I prepare my own budget, I look at the finances on a daily basis, the revenues coming in, so there is a different style there.”
At the debate last week, supporters of Barrett and Alcombright cheered and booed loudly. For Tammy Daniels, the veteran North Adams reporter, that shows the residents of this small city have strong allegiances.
“It makes me believe, certainly, people have already made up their minds for the most part, which candidate they’re choosing,” Daniels says.
No matter who they choose, this much is certain: North Adams will still have had only two different mayors dating back to 1984.