The candidates for North Adams mayor meet in the WNAW studios on Tuesday morning with Tom Conklin.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — When given the chance to ask one question of his opponent, both mayoral candidates elected to rustle up ghosts from the past.
Incumbent Richard Alcombright called on his challenger, John Barrett III, to issue an apology to the city's employees for underfunding the health insurance trust. Barrett, former mayor for 26 years, asked why Alcombright had not a taken a half-million in so-called "linkage money" from Walmart.
It was an odd ending for the second and final debate held Tuesday morning on WNAW 1230-AM and just a week before voters will decide whether to turn back to Barrett or continue on with three-term Alcombright.
The debate was hosted by WNAW with Bob Heck as moderator; panelists were Tammy Daniels of iBerkshires, Adam Shanks of the Berkshire Eagle and Tom Conklin from WUPE/WNAW. The debate is available below, and will be rebroadcast on Thursday at 6 and Sunday at 8. It also was recorded for later play by NBCTV.
Alcombright asked that, if elected, Barrett would publicly apologize for underfunding the city's self-insurance fund to the tune of $1.1 million for the two years prior to departing office.
Barrett insisted there was no shortage, that in fact the money had come back in the runout
"You understand that I don't agree with what you're saying, so there's nothing to apologize for," he said, calling the insurance issue "a campaign deal" with the public unions to raise the city's co-payment.
For his part, Barrett wanted to know why Alcombright didn't take $500,000 from a "preliminary agreement" with the new Walmart and the site's developer for city programs — was it because he was against taking linkage money?
Alcombright said this was the first he'd heard of the $500,000 because Barrett had never told him it was on the table, but also averred he was against "holding a business hostage" for extra funds.
From there it went into who had called whom during a mayoral transition now six years in the past.
This election has been very much about matching records — Barrett's 26 years against Alcombright's six.
The former mayor has hearkened back on how he had filled the Hardman Industrial Park years ago and saying the county has to have a regional vision of employment, and talked of a governor's task force to focus on Berkshire County.
The incumbent touted new investment that had been brought in to the city, including Walmart and other large chains, the new developments on State Road and the sustaining of Crane & Co., which now has 296 full-time permanent employees.
They sparred over the nagging issue of the Mohawk Theater, with Alcombright saying the city needs to partner with an organization like Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Barrett saying the funding had been in place for a for-profit partner. Alcombright pointed out he'd had had the theater for six years, and Barrett for 12.
The two also continued to disagree over the condition of the city's finances when Alcombright took over, with Barrett asserting that he had left plenty of reserves and Alcombright saying those had come with a large structural budget deficit.
Barrett averred that account transfers at the end of 2009 had been used to pay down capital debt, a one-time payment.
"That went away that didn't happen in the next budget because that debt went away," he said.
Alcombright countered that he inherited a $3.2 million deficit and $1.8 million reserves.
"That debt came back, I'm not imagining this stuff. It's a lot of smoke and mirrors," he said.
Wrapping up, the candidates offered their reasons for running.
"I want to be re-elected to continue to move this city forward, this is no time to go backwards," said Alcombright. "This is no time to settle old scores."
"The new priorities stem from what has happened in the last six years, returning to a lot of the things we did in the past because you can't forget the past," Barrett said of campaign motto. "My concern is for the people who live here."
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The candidates for North Adams mayor meet in the WNAW studios on Tuesday morning with Tom Conklin.
