NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Mayor Jennifer Macksey was returned to a third term in the corner office with high turnout in Tuesday's election. 

 

The incumbent polled 2,022 votes to challenger Scott Berglund's 899, in unofficial results. 

 

"You don't know how proud I am to serve this community and how much I love serving this community," said Macksey after entering her victory party at the GOAT to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.

"But the bottom line is, I don't do this alone. I do this job with all of you, not only for all of you, but with all of your input."

 

She was elected in a tight race in 2021 to become the city's first woman mayor and will be sworn into a third term on Jan. 1. 

 

Macksey credited her campaign team "for always being there. Giving me a swift kick in the ass. Marilyn [Gomeau] pulling me back when my mouth almost gets me in trouble." She also thanked the city's employees for their hard work.

 

"Every single day to do the job I love. But most importantly, the work is not done. The work is far from done," she said. "This isn't about two years. For me, this is about probably the next 10 years for me, and in order to do that, I need to continue to earn your confidence, which I promise you. I will work hard every single day, even on Sundays."

 

Berglund was at All Saints Episcopal Church on Tuesday night with some of his supporters. He said said he feels he got his message out and empowered the community to vote.

 

"Yeah, absolutely. I mean, between knocking on doors and today, people coming up to me tell me they voted for me and they're really excited about the election," he said. "In my book, it was a win.  ... I mean, at the end of the day, we empowered a community to come out. We showed that when people are passionate about stuff, they will come out and vote. Which, if you look at some of the prior elections, the voter turnout was very low."

 

Both candidates expressed confidence on Tuesday afternoon as they and supporters braved the chilly weather to stand out with signs at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center, where a steady stream of voters entered to cast their ballots. 

 

Berglund ran an active campaign, pointing to infrastructure failures and calling for greater transparency in government. He said the feedback he's gotten from voters has been great. 

 

"Even when I was on the campaign trail, people are recognizing me and even when I go to the grocery store, they're like, 'Hey, I voted for you early,'" he said. "So, yeah, a lot of good signs." 

 

Macksey focused on her record over the past four years in bringing in grants, problem solving and moving the city forward with a new Greylock School.  

 

"Oh, I'm very excited. I feel great. I feel confident," she said. "We've had a great voter turnout. It's been steady all day. Little chilly, but we've been having a great time. Everybody's been wonderful, but I'm ready to serve for the next two years and beyond."

 

Macksey said at her victory party that the key was working hard, despite the critics. 

 

"My team and I have been working very hard, not just the last two years, but the last four years. And it comes down to results. Basically, any project that we have out there, we're trying to secure money," she said. 

 

"People need to remember...it doesn't happen tomorrow. It takes some time, and that's what we've been doing. We've been chipping away, chipping away, and just this month, you know, between the One Stops and the Community Development Grant for the bandstand program that we just recently announced, it's close to $4 million."

 

She gave Berglund credit for putting his name on the ballot but felt that he had surrounded himself by some very negative people.

 

"I'm very sad to think that this campaign turned into so much negativity, because that's not what North Adams is about. We're bigger and better than that, and that's what this election proved," she said, wishing Berglund's family the best. 

 

Berglund said he plans to take time off after working hard campaigning and may think about running again for election in the future. He thanked everyone who helped him during his campaign and said it was a great learning experience.

 

"Obviously, this is my first run. So you learn, you grow," he said. "So I want to thank the community for the people that did vote for me, that they would act, they would entrust the city in my hands. You know that they had faith that I can do the job, and that's really encouraging, especially, you know, if there's another run in the future."

 

In City Council, incumbents Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Peter Breen, Andrew Fitch, Bryan Sapienza and Ashley Shade were re-elected; Peter Oleskiewicz was out of the running, coming in 11th. 

 

Newcomers Alexa MacDonald, Marie McCarron and Lillian Zavatsky were elected. 

 

"Surprised, but very excited," said MacDonald, who was at Macksey's event. She placed 7th in voting. "Not surprised in a bad way, but there were some candidates I was hoping were going to get on, and I'm very excited to get on, but I was hoping to work along with."

 

She said Fitch, who actually polled more votes than the mayor, talked her up as did other incumbents and the mayor. She also tried to be in the community as much as possible, talking with people and attending events. 

 

For School Committee, the top three vote-getters were incumbents Emily Daunis and David Sookey, and Chelsey Lyn Ciolkowski. The fourth candidate was Eric Wilson. Incumbents Taylor Gibeau and Gary Rivers were re-elected to the McCann School Committee.

 

Berglund wasn't wrong about turnout: Some 3,013 ballots were cast, or 29 percent the city's 10,391 registered voters.

 

City Clerk Tina Leonesio was pleased with the turnout, which was at 1,701 at about 3:30 p.m. "It is awesome to see so many people," she said. 

 

This election also saw a dramatic uptick in early voting at 721 ballots, of which 215 were in person.

 

Macksey's first election in 2021 against Lynette Bond saw 3,151 ballots cast, or about 34 percent. That turnout was lower than in 2017, when some 3,400 votes were cast in the election that brought Thomas Bernard to the corner office, the first election in more than 30 years in which an incumbent was not running. 

 

But the largest vote was in 2009 when Richard Alcombright toppled John Barrett III, then running for for a record 14th term. The tally was more than 5,000. 

 

"I've got so much work to do," said Macksey. "I just can't wait to get back to work tomorrow."