NORTHAMPTON — After a somewhat hectic start to the first formal meeting of the Northampton City Council, Ward 5 councilor Alex Jarrett narrowly emerged as the new council president, with Ward 7’s Rachel Maiore joining him as vice president.

Jarrett and Maiore were nominated by fellow council members at the start of the meeting, as the nine-member board sought to find a replacement for past president James Nash, who is no longer on the council.

The debate over the presidency became complicated when Quaverly Rothenberg, the new councilor for Ward 3 and a supporter of Maiore, attempted to call for a charter objection that would suspend the appointment of council president, ostensibly to give more time to persuade other council members to change their vote.

“Since we had the wonderful good fortune of not being bound by Open Meeting Law prior to being sworn in, there was plenty of discussion over a long period of time about who we would be going for,” Rothenberg said. “It comes down to a four-to-four and one swing vote, no matter how you cut it. That’s a very close race.”

The unprecedented use of a charter objection for the appointment of a council president led the council to take a recess to contact the city solicitor, Alan Seewald, on how the council should proceed in such a scenario.

“This is all new to me,” remarked Ward 6 councilor Marianne LaBarge, who has served on the council since 1997. “All the years I’ve been a councilor, I’ve never seen it before.”

After initially suggesting that the council could move the appointment of the president to the council’s next meeting on Thursday, Seewald called back to say that he had determined charter objections could not be used for the election of council president.

“I’ve been looking at the charter objection provisions, which speak in terms of the adoption of any matter,” Seewald said. “And the charter speaks of the election of officers, not the adoption of officers.”

Ultimately, Jarrett obtained five votes to secure the position of council president, with councilors LaBarge, Marissa Elkins, Garrick Perry and Stanley Moulton voting alongside him.

Newcomers to the council Deborah Pastrich-Klemer and Jeremy Dubs cast their votes for Maiore. Rothenberg abstained from voting, saying she had received legal advice to do so.

A resident of Northampton for 25 years, Jarrett co-founded the Pedal People worker cooperative, which offers bicycle-powered delivery and hauling service and whose riders can often be seen transporting garbage and recycling throughout the city.

Speaking before the council, Jarrett noted his role as chairing the council’s Legislative Matters committee and having served on the city’s Policing Review Commission as helping give him the experience needed to lead the council.

“I’m committed to fully communicating the issues before us to make sure that each of us understands the issue, the process we need to take and what our options are,” Jarrett said. “Stepping up is not the default for me. But I am running now to be of service for the city and the council.”

Maiore prevailed, however, in a 6-3 vote for council vice president, staving off a challenge from councilor at-large Elkins. LaBarge and Jarrett joined the three newcomers in voting for Maiore, with Perry and Moulton casting their vote for Elkins.

A member of the council since 2019, Maiore has chaired the city’s Finance Committee and has a well-documented history of activism, directing the Pioneer Valley Women’s March and working as a trainer for progressive advocacy group MoveOn. She has also worked as a community health organizer in both Latin America and the United States, holding a master’s in public health from Emory University in Atlanta.

“I can confidently declare that we have an excellent council before us, and I’m excited to go on this two-year journey with you all,” Maiore told the council. “So let’s buckle up and get going.”

Public comment changes

The new council also approved an updated version of the council rules, which remain largely unchanged but did feature new provisions for public comment, after concerns raised by the previous council after a meeting had been Zoom bombed with hate speech. The new rules clarify that councilors may respond to public comments once the public comment period has ended, and that public comment may be extended or reduced during committee hearings.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.