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Council cites Berkshire Eagle publication delays, postpones several ordinances and urges charter review on legal-notice rule
Summary
The North Adams City Council postponed multiple ordinances May 27 after the Berkshire Eagle could not accommodate timely legal notices; councilors and the clerk detailed ad costs and said the charter's newspaper requirement may need review to avoid repeated delays and expense.
Multiple ordinance papers on the May 27 agenda were postponed or continued after councilors said legal notices had been published late in the Berkshire Eagle, preventing the city from meeting statutory notice windows.
President Sapienza and several council members cited the newspaper's capacity constraints as the reason for delaying items that require formal public-notice publishing. Coun. Bona said the Eagle had blocked out dates because of town elections and that staff could not secure earlier placement. "I even called our representative...they just had a whole bunch of dates that were right out," she said.
Councilors and the city clerk later provided line-item examples of recent legal-notice costs and formats, saying the combination of limited publication capacity and rising ad prices was causing delays and significant municipal expense. The clerk listed sample charges for recent notices, including examples shown to the council that totaled more than $2,000 across several items (full-column and multi-column legal ads and charts for zoning and licensing notices), and councilors said the charter's requirement to publish in a local newspaper constrains the city's options.
Items postponed included, among others: Council Paper 11,646-D (licensed marijuana establishments), 12,393-2 (Misc. ordinance amendments), 12,469 (dog regulations and creation of an animal control commission), 12,470 (capital improvement plan submission requirements), 12,471 (zoning ADU item referred to the planning board), 12,476 (multiple commission updates), 12,481 (creation of an affordable housing trust), 12,487 (police fees and parking permits) and others. Most were continued to the June 10 meeting, though some items were set for other future return dates.
Several councilors said they will support a charter review to allow alternative public-notice methods (for example, codified online publication) because the current language requires a newspaper publication and limits flexibility. Coun. Shade said the council has discussed charter review before and urged residents interested in reform to sign petitions to place a charter review question on the ballot.
The council said it will include notices in agendas and communicate with staff to avoid unnecessary motions when publication is not complete; members acknowledged that holidays and staffing contributed to the backlog at the paper.
Next steps: Postponed items were continued to dates specified on the record (most commonly June 10). Councilors and the clerk signaled intent to explore charter revision to permit more flexible notice methods and to reduce recurring costs and procedural delays.
