EASTHAMPTON — After a discussion about the best next move, the Easthampton City Council voted to request the Massachusetts state Legislature approve its motion to use ranked-choice voting at its Aug. 7 meeting.
The council voted in favor of the request but also had concerns about how long it would take to implement ranked-choice voting once, and if, the legislature passes it.
Councilor Thomas Peake noted that Northampton submitted a similar request several years ago and the Legislature has done nothing with it and expressed concern that the Legislature will never approve it.
“I don’t think there is any version of this that gets passed,” said Peake.
Councilor Koni Denham also voiced concern about whether or not it would get passed because “incumbents don’t want competition” and this “gives more options.”
Councilor James Kwiecinski added that, if passed, it will take some “education to understand” it, but that some of the benefits will be making the elected officials more inclusive.
Residents voted on the non-binding referendum in the November 2023 election. Many councilors said that they believed that the referendum was to explore the idea, and, as Kwiecinski explained, the voters should have the final say in approving it for the city after the Legislature approves it. Peake expressed concern that if residents have to vote to approve rank-choice voting after the legislation approves it, then it will be even further away.
However, Kwiecinski said that, after a discussion with state Rep. Dan Carey (D-Easthampton), he believes this is the best chance for the request to be approved.
Before bringing it to the full council, the rules and government relations subcommittee, chaired by Kwiecinski, voted 3-0 to send the request to the state Legislature.
The council also voted unanimously to add the position of sustainability coordinator. The person in this position would work on items like the climate action plan and developing and implementing other environmental projects. The previous conservation agent did much of that work, but after she recently left, Human Resources Director Emily Russo took the opportunity to look at that job description and decided that having both positions at 30 hours per week would better benefit the towns and allow each employee to focus more on specific areas.
At the meeting, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle swore in two new firefighters, Roseanna Lucas and Danny Mam. Lucas is an experienced paramedic who has completed fire academy training and Mam has fire work experience and his basic EMT training.
