Mayoral Forum Transcript (2025-10-13)
The following is a transcript of the Easthampton Mayoral Candidate Forum held on October 13th, 2025. Thanks to Easthampton Media for filming the event and making the video available.
I’ve transcribed the discussion using a combination of automated tools and manual checks. It’s about 95% accurate, but you should check the original video before relying on any direct quotes.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Thank you, John. Good evening. Well we could see you a while ago now they're just completely in the dark but we know you're all registered voters right? So the first question I'll ask is why? That's tall and dumb. Thank you all for being here tonight. We got warmed up. They're going to be guests on my Sunday morning show on Western Mass News so we got them all warmed up beforehand so they're ready for you. The questions that submitted they were what's the line they were sitting on a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Waggles porch? If you remember Carson you'll remember that. No one remembers Carson, okay. We will move along. We had a drawing at the beginning of before we began all this tonight and the person who chose the number one is Salem Derby our acting mayor in Easthampton and you'll go first with your opening statement.
Salem Derby: Hello everyone my name is Salem Derby and I'm honored to be here as a candidate to be mayor of Easthampton. For more than two decades I've had the privilege of serving this community on the City Council both as the vice president and president and since July as your interim mayor. Over those 22 years I've worked hard to make Easthampton more vibrant, sustainable, and affordable place to live. I fought for the Mass Works Pleasant Street Mills parking lot that almost did not make it out of committee in 2012 literally paving the way for breweries restaurants and other businesses breathing new life into once decaying area in the city. I was the driving force behind requesting nine over-quota liquor licenses that allowed new restaurants to open including Galaxy, Coco and Calico, The Hideaway, La Veracruzana just name a few to help revitalize our downtown and boost our local economy. I've always believed in supporting the people who make our city strong. For our seniors I've supported and helped increase the senior tax work off program stipend and I continue to advocate for a new senior center that will truly serve their needs. For small businesses I've been both a partner and an advocate as a small business co-owner my myself alongside my wife Carissa I know firsthand what it takes to keep a business running. On the council I've helped many local businesses thrive including Captain Jack's and Bank ESB. I was pushing for smart zoning changes and practical solutions so they could stay in Easthampton. As interim mayor I've been proud to solve real problems for residents, honor deserving members of our community, restore staff hours that have been cut, and find creative solutions to challenges all while maintaining strong respectful relationships with our dedicated city staff. My path here has been shaped by my lifelong commitment to education and leadership. I earned an associate's degree in recreational leadership from Greenfield Community College, my bachelor's degree from Prescott College in leadership, and my masters of education from Springfield College. As a high school teacher for 20 years and a basketball coach for over a decade I've learned how to motivate listen and bring people together and I'm proud to serve as a positive male role model for young people in our community. I also understand the financial side of leadership managing five million dollars in federal grants, running a small business and working in approving 22 city budgets have taught me how to invest wisely and use public funds responsibly. I decided to run for mayor because I realized that my entire life has been preparing me for this moment. Every skill I've built from leadership and education to financial management and community building have come together to uniquely qualify me for this role. I love the city I believe deeply in its potential and I'm ready to continue working every day to make Easthampton a place where everyone from our LGBTQ+ residents, seniors and working families to small business owners from lifelong residents to new arrivals to be able to grow and thrive here. Thank you.
JT Tirrell: Good evening. Thank you Dave for moderating this forum and most importantly thank you to the voters of Easthampton. I can't begin tonight without acknowledging the venue here at Williston. A school that means so much to me as an alum, as the father of an alum and now as a longtime employee. My name is Jason JT Tirrell and I'm running to be your next mayor because Easthampton is a community I love. I wouldn't be running for office anywhere else and I certainly wouldn't use Easthampton as a stepping stone to a job in Boston. I'm a father and a husband. I was born and raised here. I'm a volunteer and a public servant. I'm an at-large city councillor, chair of the Public Safety Committee, member of the Rules and Government Relations Committee, past member of the Park and Rec Commission. I'm the president of Easthampton Little League and I work here in the athletic department at Williston. You've probably seen my campaign signs around town with the slogan no labels just leadership. It's a simple but powerful idea to put community unity over political labels. Easthampton where I grew up wasn't about Democrat or Republican conservative or liberal it was about public service hard work and neighborly fellowship. Easthampton earned the nickname the little city with a big heart. Make no mistake, we can have that community again. But over the last few years we've grown more divided by a mayor's office that sowed political division with partisan rhetoric. Tonight you'll hear a lot from my opponents about the importance of experience and stability but that experience has only put us deeper in debt. It got us into a budget crisis. It hasn't held down the cost of rent. It hasn't fixed our infrastructure and hasn't kept Easthampton affordable for young growing families or those on fixed incomes. Let me be clear, I'll put you first. I'll put our kids first, our seniors and our veterans. Every day and every decision I make will be rooted in what's best for our community as a whole. I'll improve the quality of life for all Easthampton residents by investing in infrastructure being a steward of your hard-earned tax dollars and setting a new standard for governmental transparency and accountability so you know what's happening inside of City Hall. My priorities and goals include taking care of seniors, honoring veterans, making sure parents have a voice in their children's educations and making sure we protect our coveted Barnes aquifer whose water is life. I'll streamline permitting and licensing to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start new businesses and I'll support rent stabilization. I'm the only candidate in this race that represents change and fresh ideas. I promise to be a mayor for the people, all people. I'll have a listening ear and an open door and I'm looking forward to this opportunity tonight. Thank you.
Lindsi Sekula: Good evening and I would like to thank Dave for moderating tonight, the Williston Theater for hosting our space, the Easthampton Chamber for organizing this and of course eMedia for filming. I'd also like to thank all of you for being here and I would be remiss to not mention a good evening and hello to my family watching online, Brinley, Jordan, Dom and my senior parents who couldn't make it tonight. That said, my name is Lindsi Sekula and I'm running for mayor of Easthampton. For the past seven years, I've worked inside the mayor's office directly supporting our residents, businesses and city leadership to move Easthampton forward with compassion, collaboration and results. As someone already doing this work every day as a department head, I want to be clear. I do not require a transition plan. I know how City Hall operates and I'm proud to say I've played a strong role in building the community we have today. And I'm ready to lead on day one with clarity, confidence and new visions rooted in constituent listening. I bring a unique and grounded perspective to this race not just as a public servant but as a mother of three and member of the disability community. I've navigated life both as a tenant in subsidized housing and now as a first-time homeowner. These experiences give me a deep understanding of the challenges many families face like finding stable housing, balancing budgets and advocating for our kids. With two children currently in our public schools including kids with special needs, I'm living the realities that many Easthampton families are facing. I'm deeply invested here now and into the future and committed to building a community where every family has the opportunity to thrive. Thank you. I have plans for strategic, smart growth that strengthens our neighborhoods, supports our local businesses and protects the character of our city. I'm not here to reinvent the wheel. I'm here to keep us moving forward, building on the progress we've made and ensuring Easthampton remains a place where we can live, grow and thrive. I'm not running for a title. I'm running for the chance to continue serving Easthampton in a deeper way. Thank you for your time. And I look forward to earning your trust and your number one vote.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): All right, Lindsi, thank you. We're going to get to the questions now. These again were the questions submitted to the chamber prior to tonight's forum. JT, we'll start on your end then we'll go across this way. Give us some examples of how you see Easthampton positioning itself over the next decade to remain competitive economically, culturally and environmentally as part of a changing regional economy. What we see is tough economic times.
JT Tirrell: Agreed. That's very good question, Dave. Thank you. Continuing with the work that started. We did Cottage Street revitalization and Union Street with Main Street coming on the heels of that very soon. I'd like to see a lot of businesses fill up the empty storefronts that are currently on Main Street. I'd like to streamline permitting and licensing to try to attract new entrepreneurs in and new small businesses into town. And then just really establish our small business culture because small business is the backbone of any economy, especially in a town city such as ours. That is certainly important.
Lindsi Sekula: Thank you for this question. We need smart growth guided by a new master plan moving forward which is something I'm committed to. One of the things I've heard on my campaign trail. And which I've also witnessed as a member of this community is we need to now look at micro businesses. We have many of them in Easthampton that feel under supported. And when we look at our small businesses, we need to focus on micro businesses and how we strategically plan for the smart growth that supports all businesses in Easthampton moving forward.
Salem Derby: So I think as we move forward some of the things that we need to consider. You know, as a small business owner, rising costs in everything is such a prohibitive factor. And that's just one piece of many prohibitive factors that we're facing. We have, you know, our staff struggle to be able to live in Easthampton because of the rising rent and the housing costs. And I think as we move forward, we're going to need to find solutions that are going to allow us to retain our workforce in Easthampton and find ways to support that beyond just saying we want you to be able to live here. We're going to have to really take action in order to make that happen. And I see Ferry Street housing. We're going to have 100 affordable units coming online soon. I see the school reuse. Those are going to be affordable mixed income development. That's going to be really helpful as we move forward. And we also have other housing projects that are kind of on the horizon. And they need someone to help usher them forward. They need a champion that can help get those across the finish line. And, you know, my experience being mayor and working on these projects has really positioned me to understand the unique challenges that are faced in order to get these things done. And I think that's just one piece of the puzzle. So, you know, we need a mayor that's going to be able to see all of these things and have a strategic approach to attack them and be able to manage them and get them done.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Let me ask you just as a follow-up to this too. As far as long term planning is concerned. That kind of went out the window with COVID. Because it seemed like, and you've all been involved in the government, it was a day-to-day thing because of the unknown. And given the unknown in the economy in this day and age, is it possible to do long term planning anymore? Salem, why don't you go ahead and start and we'll go down this way.
Salem Derby: Yeah, absolutely. I do agree. So, I was actually part of the 2008 master plan. And that was, you know, I was still pretty fresh being a city councilor. And it was really great process. It's a community driven process. But that's just one piece of many pieces that we've been doing here. We have an open space and recreation plan. We have the downtown strategic plan. That was in 2020. And if you look at that, I mean it really lays out some really great steps that we can take related to housing, related to development of our downtown areas. You know, city space coming online. That is going to bring a whole new dynamic to the Main Street downtown area because Easthampton has three downtowns. And, you know, we are going to have to figure out a way to make those downtowns more cohesive. And I think that's part of the planning process that you're talking about. And I can see, you know, as we move towards another master plan when we get the funding to do that, that's going to be part of that. But I do believe that we can really have a progressive vision that looks at Easthampton's future and takes into account the needs that we have, the challenges that we face, and charts a path forward to do something that's going to not just put Easthampton on the map but keep it on the map.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah. So being one of the staff members that was working at City Hall during COVID and keeping the spirit alive inside of the building, I saw firsthand the challenges that we face on how to keep our community involved and thriving during tough times. And we have been reactive in this previous administration to a lot of things. And I think right now the responsibility of whomever is elected on the stage is to map out the next 5-10 years for Easthampton. We have a really solid roadmap right now when it comes to climate action planning, to current master plans that have already been worked on, and we need to have strategic visions moving forward. And that's something I'm committed to doing. So really being able to plan forward is what I'm committed to. And yeah, absolutely. We need to be thinking of the future. We're all present in the now. We're all listening now. But we need to make a plan for the next mayor as well.
JT Tirrell: COVID really did a number on a lot of things, businesses being number one in our society as a whole. And I think that gave everybody a different perspective on things, on how quickly things can change and how quickly you have to pivot. You don't have time to plan necessarily a lot of times. And I think that's, albeit that wasn't a good situation, I think in hindsight that's made us better planners because we take into consideration what could happen at the spur of the moment because it has happened at the spur of the moment. And I think looking forward, we have to plan ahead. But we also have to have that plan B in case something nobody saw that coming. So we have to plan for maybe something else that's not coming. I think we have to have that vision down the road and like I said, have a plan B just in case something comes ahead that we don't foresee.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): The mayor oversees a budget of roughly $62 million and a workplace of hundreds of employees. What specific qualifications, leadership experience or financial management background do you have that prepare you to handle those responsibilities effectively? Lindsi, we'll start with you.
Lindsi Sekula: So outside of being a human being here with a family trying to financially plan for my household, I spent ten years at our largest healthcare system here at Bay State Health doing finance management and helping patients and families navigate the complexity of health insurance and finances there. My seven years of experience inside of City Hall, I am the person who has created the budget book you see online every year now. And I have made sure that we increase accessibility and transparency to that book, detailing every line item so you can see who gets paid what and what we're spending our funding on. So bringing transparency to our budget is something I've been really proud of. And I'm also the person that sits down with the department heads every year and goes through their budgets and creates the roadmap in which we present to our city council to then vote on. So I've had a really... I'm very proud of the work I've done inside of City Hall on our current budget. And I like to tell people along the campaign trail as well, with $60 million we have 60 million priorities. And my commitment to Easthampton is listening to you all on what those priorities are so we can plan for the next phases of funding.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Yeah, as far as... I'll repeat the whole thing. The mayor oversees a budget of roughly $62 million and a workforce of hundreds of employees. What specific qualifications, leadership experience or financial management background do you have that prepare you to handle those responsibilities effectively?
JT Tirrell: As far as financial management, I've been involved with Easthampton Little League for the last 12 years. I've been the president for the last eight years and oversaw, albeit it's not a 60 plus million dollar budget. But as far as youth organizations are concerned in town, we've always had a very good healthy budget. We've always been able to provide for all of our kids. We, recently in the last few years, put in a $40,000 batting tunnel with help from Senator Velis and some funding through the state. Also my position here at Williston in the athletic department, I do a lot of purchasing for equipment and uniforms and manage that budget because we're very limited as far as what we can spend on that. So like I said, granted it's not in the millions of dollars on a scale of millions of dollars but I feel as though I have a pretty good grip on dealing with monies. And I plan on jumping right into that with the department heads and getting a handle on that because that is my first priority.
Salem Derby: So, one of the most important things here is that my wife and I own a small business in Easthampton. It's been very successful thankfully. We really appreciate all of the people from Easthampton that come to our business. And I have been the CFO of that business since we began 10 years ago. I navigated all of our finances through COVID. And you know, while my wife and I are a team, I took the lead on that because before I became a teacher, I was a federal grants manager at the Hampshire Educational Collaborative, which is now the Collaborative for Educational Services. And I managed two federal grants. My budget was $5 million. So I oversaw the entire budget. I was in control of the entire thing, hired, used all the money, had to do all the reporting to the federal government. And in addition to that, you know, I've been someone who in my life has been in positions where I am a trainer of trainers for various capacities. So I help my wife oversee our staff. And, you know, as we think about the city's budget since I've been interim mayor, one of the main things I've been doing is working with the budget. We just onboarded a treasurer and I work really closely as when I was the city council president with our auditor. And so I've been working with the financial team looking at what we have been trying to unravel with the budget because we didn't have a treasurer for quite a long time. And working with a consultant that we have helping us figure out all of the intricacies and catching us up. So this has been right in my lap since day one, and I feel really prepared because of my background. So this is one of the areas that I would say is one of my biggest strengths.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): You can prepare for a lot of things. But we talked about this in our conversation a little bit earlier. Dealing with unplanned costs. A 20% increase in the Hampshire County Insurance Trust. All of a sudden you've had your budget planned for the new fiscal year and about a month into it, you have to pay more money to this trust. How do you handle those things? And how is this going to be handled within the city because you're all involved in it? JT, why don't we go with you?
JT Tirrell: This is a huge thing. It's a great question because insurance has gone up like you said 20% recently. And that's a cost that you can't plan for. And that some people aren't able to plan for. And we have to get creative and then think outside the box and think what more we can do for these employees to help them cope with that. Some people don't have the ability to get a second job to maybe make up for the money that they're losing because they have to pay an extra $400 or $500 or $600 a month for health insurance now. So we really have to think outside the box and see what else we can do on other avenues to help our employees help absorb that cost.
Salem Derby: Well, I can tell you because I've been dealing with it since - this was like my second day of being interim mayor. This fell in my lap. And so that was, you know, it's not all rainbows and unicorns being the interim mayor. There's a lot of serious issues you have to deal with and this was one of them. And as soon as this happened we had to make a decision. Do we vote to stay in the trust? And if we didn't it would have meant millions of dollars of liability to our employees and that was just unacceptable. So I met with our human resources director and basically said we need to have a plan. We need to look at GIC. We need to, you know, look at the trust and see if this is viable for us. And we need to see what other options are available to us. And I think it speaks to something broader. I think as the mayor you have a little bit more of a microphone. And I think that if, you know, if I continued to be the mayor I would definitely use the microphone that I have to broadcast as far as wide as I can. But this isn't about GLP-1s. This isn't about like, you know, our end user, our employee who is paying so much more for health insurance. This is about corporate profits that are out of control. This is about a life and death thing like health insurance being run for profit. And that's unacceptable. We don't run our police and fire for profit for a reason, right? Because it's life and death. Well so is healthcare. And we need a mayor that's willing to stand up and say we need a change that is beyond just wow we're going to have to come up with at minimum 1.4 million. Yeah, we're going to have to do that. We're going to have to wait until free cash is certified. See where we stand. Make a plan. But really I think this speaks to a broader issue that is systemic in our democracy. And we need to figure it out because issues like this that are life and death shouldn't be something that we just accept. Well, you know, corporations are going to make ridiculous profits and the CEOs are going to make ridiculous amounts of money. I don't accept that.
Lindsi Sekula: It's not. And I want to be clear for our constituents and people listening tonight. I know we talked about this a little bit in our interview as well. It's not 20%. We saw an 18% increase on July 1. We are seeing another 20% increase on October 1. So that's 38% our employees have faced in the last six months. And now there are conversations about another increase come January 1. This is not sustainable for people like myself, for our staff, for our retirees who take these health insurance options. And yeah, a $1.4 million deficit as of today. What does that look like in six months from now? And we need to start planning on where we're pulling that funding from and also a better solution moving forward. I was disappointed when we first started having these conversations within City Hall that, you know, our executive committee members didn't even reach out to our state representatives to see where there was any potential help. So I think moving forward, we need to be very mindful of collaboration with our state leaders as well to start discussing the broader issues here. Because we do need to get back to people versus profit. And we need to start looking at different health care options for our employees and our retirees.
JT Tirrell: I certainly, yeah, I think we should definitely look at other options to see what we have available to us outside of the trust and compare them. And we shouldn't just assume that the trust is the best thing. We're in that right now. But I do think we need to look at other options. And then we need to do what's best for our employees. And we need to look at that, what's best for our employees right now. And what's best for our employees five years, ten years, and when those people eventually retire.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): All right. We talked about development. Touched on it a little bit. The city is publishing its final version of the Pleasant Street Mills District Improvement Plan in March of 2024 with detailed suggestions to improve insufficient signage and wayfinding, unsafe traffic patterns at vehicle speeds, inadequate sidewalks, poor lighting, and difficult truck maneuverability. To date none of these improvements have been implemented or even initiated. What are your specific plans to help foster economic growth in the Mills District? Lindsi, we'll start with you.
Lindsi Sekula: Again I think this ties back into how I would like to listen to the community. I am not a business owner here like my opponent or the people in this audience tonight. So I want to get back to basics when we talk about listening to our community and what our needs are. I can sit here and say what my needs are but that's not my job as a mayor. My job as mayor is to guide your decisions and your needs moving forward. And I would like to start strategically planning again our smart growth and how we start implementing things. We've been, I can't say it enough, we've been reactive but I don't feel like we've been strategically planning enough for this smart growth. So we need to re-look at plans. We need to re-look at a new master plan and it can't just be from inside the mayor's office anymore. We have to start planning together at open town hall meetings collaboratively with our city council and with our constituents.
JT Tirrell: New City started revitalization with the mills on Pleasant Street and it's going to continue. We recently saw at a city council meeting the plans for two new parks in New City as well as new traffic patterns, new sight lines for traffic areas that are unsafe where there has been many accidents. This is a section of city that sorely needed attention and I'm glad it's finally getting attention. And I'm really anxious to see what comes of it as far as the new traffic pattern. They're going to go from two ways to one way just to ease the navigation around. And like I said, sight lines and different things done traffic-wise to make it safer.
Salem Derby: So this is something I've been working on pretty intimately with since I became interim mayor. You know, Ferry Street is a keystone project for the city of Easthampton. And you know, the two buildings that have been done are beautiful and I think they're going to show us what the rest of the project is going to look like when it's done but it's not easy. You know, the city has reciprocal easements there. That means the developer has owned some of the property. We own some of the property. We just had to navigate through a really difficult process with a diff where we're going to do public improvements and the developer is going to pay us back over about 25 years. And that's a complicated process. And so we're doing engineering studies right now and we're going to be doing demolitions so the next building can come online and that's affordable housing. And there have been improvements done there. You know, I was part of... The property committee when we had a really kind of unique interaction with Mass Works, with the mill owners in the city where we were able to come to the table and we were able to negotiate. And we were able to build and solve so many problems by working together to put the parking lot behind the Pleasant Street Mills. And really what that did was it was infrastructure improvements for electricity and safety for our firefighters because they couldn't put their ladders up if there was a fire. And really paving the whole thing. Which again, like I said, almost didn't get out of committee. I had to fight for that to get out of committee. And now we see restaurants. We see breweries. It's almost like you can't imagine what it was like before because it's so great. And, you know, I see that as the whole area. And I think as we move towards New City, you know, we have projects online for if we look at the Parsons Street corner. That is really dangerous and that's going to be fixed. And we have - you know, one of the things that's in the downtown strategic plan is, you know, looking for ways to connect the Lower Mill Pond communities on the other side to the mills. And back in the day there were bridges that went across Lower Mill Pond. And, you know, I think it would be really cool to think about if we could find funding to reinstate one of those bridges. And you could have a tourist attraction for Easthampton. Not only would it be a pedestrian and bike bridge but you could do something similar to the Bridge of Flowers. Where you really pull people in from other places to see a really unique attraction in Easthampton. So, I think that there's so much opportunity there.
Lindsi Sekula: I just also want to shamelessly plug for the City of Easthampton right now, too, this Wednesday, October 15th, there will be a public meeting about the new city projects and easements happening. And I would encourage residents and part of that community to attend that meeting as well.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Okay. Since we're talking about development, what strategies would you implement to attract new businesses while retaining and support existing ones on Cottage Street, Union Street, Main Streets and the Mills? JT, we'll start with you.
JT Tirrell: Well, I referenced this earlier with another question but I'd like to get together with current business owners and see what's worked and what hasn't worked for them. And what stumbling blocks might have been for them. What we can do to make the process more palatable for those new businesses wanting to come into town. And what we can do to keep those businesses in town once we get them.
Salem Derby: So one of the things that I was able to be involved with on City Council was passing a vacant storefront ordinance. You know, we've seen what happens in other communities when storefronts languish. We do not want that in Easthampton. So we came up with what I think is a really balanced good plan to make sure we can address the storefronts in Easthampton that are vacant. And we passed that over two years ago. It started, the letters got sent out my second week as interim mayor. So you really need a mayor that's willing to step up and enforce the ordinances that the City Council passes. And we passed that unanimously. And so what we're doing is we're building a database. So all the stores that have vacant storefronts, they have to pay a fee. That fee gets them onto our city website where it's going to be a clearing house. It's going to have pictures of the property, all of the amenities, the square footage, how much it costs, who to contact. And all that will be in one place. So if you want to start a business in Easthampton, you'll be able to go and you'll have a clearing house of all the vacant storefronts in Easthampton. And, you know, that is the kind of thing that we need to do to be able to revitalize our downtown. You know, we need to think about what business owners need. We need to be proactive. You know, for example, Cottage Street, we just lost a bunch of parking next to where Pita Pockets was. And I walked into town, I looked at Maple School, and I said why aren't we using this? Because our businesses are going to struggle if they don't have the ability for their customers to park. And within two weeks, we were able to open up 40 new parking places that just opened on Thursday. And, you know, that's the kind of thing we need to be able to do where we don't just sit back and say hey what can, what do you need? We proactively go forward and we address the things that we know are issues and we try to anticipate those by being, you know, progressive and forward thinking.
Lindsi Sekula: Sorry, I appreciate hearing conversations about zoning ordinances because that's also on my list. I would like to see this expanded past the downtown business district though so we can address vacant properties like the D&D Auto which falls into the highway business district. So I think we have more work to do when it comes to our ordinances and zoning. I'm also really excited about the Main Street project that's in the pipeline where this is a $10 million project and the state has agreed to fund $9 million if we're doing it up to the project standards, which only leaves $1 million on the city to fund. I would also like to have conversations about how arts and culture are economic development for us. So is there the potential to expand our cultural district onto Union Street to increase walkability and accessibility to our businesses? So there's a lot of things already happening in Easthampton that I think are going well that we can expand on.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): We've seen what could happen, like the project on Union Street. What are your priorities for improving infrastructure? Parking, sidewalks, public spaces that directly affect local businesses? I know we've touched on it. Salem, let's start with you.
Salem Derby: Yeah, so I think this is a critical piece. One of the things that I would like to see as far as infrastructure is us being really strategic and forward thinking as we look at what streets get repaved and making sure that we know what's under the ground before we repave them. And, you know, I know that our DPW director Greg Nettleman, we just had a comprehensive review of all of our streets by satellite and they basically listed the condition of the streets one to 100. And so we actually have a triage list of the worst streets in Easthampton so we can be data driven as we go to repave and look at what streets need it the most. And what I love about this is not only are we doing that, but we're taking the infrastructure under the streets and making sure that those streets that are the worst and have the oldest infrastructure are going to be the ones that are taken care of first. So I think that's one piece of it, is making sure that we can have data driven strategies to address some of the infrastructure needs that we have because we do have some very old plumbing under the ground. We still have some wood pipes. So, you know, we need to be really smart about that. Some other things that I think are, you know, sidewalks and pedestrian safety. You know, pedestrian safety, is something that comes up over and over and over again. As someone who's a veteran of the Public Safety Committee, it's so critical. You know, we have dangerous spots in Easthampton and you know I can identify a couple of them. One is the corner right at Nini's. People whip around 141 on to Cottage Street. It's super dangerous. There's three different crosswalks there. And I had submitted two years back for us to put a speed hump there or speed table or at least like, you know, the rumble strips in the road. And somehow that got dismissed from the committee one day when I wasn't there. So, but that's, you know, really important. And the other section that, you know, there is a most dangerous intersection in Easthampton and I bet you a bunch of people could name it. It's South Street and Main Street. And, you know, before that became the most dangerous intersection in Easthampton it was West Street and Route 10. So, you know, we dealt with that one. We really need to deal with South Street and Main Street. It's dangerous. I just want to say a couple more things which is I think that we should look at connections from the bike path to different parts of town. It's in the downtown strategic plan. It's a really smart idea so more people can walk and more people can ride their bikes. You know, that's a really important thing to like increase walkability and increase bikeability which we already have decent we just need to make it a little better.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Yes. If I can find it on here, could you hold that for now? What are the priorities for improving infrastructure, parking sidewalks, public spaces that directly affect local businesses?
Lindsi Sekula: I love this question and I'm really happy to have been one of the driving forces having the conversations about that pavement management plan that's moving forward today with our DPW director. It's really important that we look at not only the top infrastructure but the bottom infrastructure so we're not wasting your tax dollars. It's important that we prioritize street listings and not just have this imaginary list of when we'll get to your street and pave it or do it based on nepotism. We need actual data-driven strategic plans for how we start replacing our infrastructure and this pavement management plan is going to address that. I also really appreciate at my senior and veteran listening session someone said, You haven't said anything about the sidewalks! I said, "Oh shoot! I haven't." That isn't something I've thought about yet so when I start having these conversations with the constituents that we will be representing, I start hearing about the things that need more addressing. You know, I drive a lot. I have young children so I was really focused on roads but we need to fix our sidewalks. We need to talk about longer parking plans and how we enter strategic partnerships with possibly places like our community health department downtown and if we can use their parking spaces from the hours they're closed until the morning to increase parking on Union Street into our downtown businesses. Yeah, I'm really proud of the work we're doing and I'm excited to see where we're going and all of this fits into new strategic plans.
JT Tirrell: Infrastructure isn't a sexy topic. It's nothing anybody gets excited to talk about but it's something that affects everybody here every single day whether it's a pothole you hit, whether it's a sidewalk that's got a crack in it you can't get your wheelchair or walker up onto it. That I found out doing a listening session at Cliffview where I spoke to two ladies who didn't go downtown because they weren't able to get over the lip out of the road once they were in the crosswalk back up onto the sidewalk. That's something you wouldn't normally think about unless you're presented with that idea or unless you walk around town a lot and those are things people don't think about. Another place in town that's a very unsafe intersection is the crosswalk between city space and the new library annex. That's a very long crosswalk and people don't often even look. I go to pick my granddaughter up from daycare at the daycare next to city space and you really have to have your head on a swivel to see which direction people are coming. So things like that, better sight lines, better crosswalks, maybe flashing lights, speed tables were mentioned which have been a great improvement here at Williston. Two of the speed tables we put in here have worked well. So just little things like that.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): How critical is what happens at the three vacant schools now? We're talking Pepin Center and Maple Street school to the economic development of the city of Easthampton and downtown itself? Lindsi?
Lindsi Sekula: So I think the School Reuse Project can become a contentious subject when out on the campaign trail and talking to people and just because plans have been put in place doesn't mean that they cannot change. However, I also don't want to sell dreams. I think we've already done some great work with doing temporary solutions to long-term problems We need to start thinking about what this partnership looks like moving forward with Arch Development and maybe connect with them. This is what I would like to do if mayor is connect with the developers and see where they are on the timeline. Right now, I know they're on target but maybe we go back to the drawing table and see how we reuse the schools but I do want to be sure that we're keeping housing on the table and I just also want to be clear to the public that retrofitting these buildings is not a financial option for the city of Easthampton. If it were I'm sure those that worked hard on the school reuse committee would have brought that to the forefront. It is not something that we can financially sustain right now where I believe we're spending about $100,000 a year to keep them without the pipes freezing keeping them heated and keeping the electric on for the fire alarms and I'd also like to say out loud it would cost us $100,000 to change the way this contract looks as well so we need to start looking at our priorities our funding our projects and our strategic planning moving forward. So I think there's potential here for collaboration and new discussions moving forward.
JT Tirrell: Well not knowing any of the internal specifics with the contractor I would like to see what we could do to retain those properties as a city. I had I have hopes of making Maple Street going further to what Salem said and having public parking there taking Maple Street down and having a pay-to-park municipal lot there. That'll be an added source of revenue similar to parking in Northampton. I would like to further that by creating all those spaces then do one side parking on Cottage Street. Cottage Street as mentioned earlier is very unsafe to drive down it's unsafe to walk on I think one side parking on Cottage Street would help alleviate some of that there also. My opponent mentioned retrofitting how expensive that would be I had hopes of looking into Pepin to see if we could possibly have that as a new senior center it has a fully functional kitchen it has a full auditorium it has an elevator we would have to bring it up to ADA accessibility but without knowing the numbers I have a hard time believing that bringing something up to code would be more expensive than bringing new construction considering new construction costs these days.
Salem Derby: So thank you so I was the city council representative on the school reuse committee and so I have a very intimate knowledge of these things and I would just say if anybody is interested in finding out more about this you can go on the planning website all of our meetings that we had were there all of the proposals that we received are there and we did receive three proposals. Two of them were really good. And just for the record Arch Communities has done this in multiple communities and what they do is great and the plans that they submitted are fantastic and you know it's going to be mixed housing so it's going to be some affordable some market rate there's going to be amenities for the public there's going to be public parking at all three schools. My biggest disappointment though happened- I think this is one of my biggest disappointments of being a city councilor in my 22 years was when the last administration brought to us that we were going to not be able to retain the Pepin gym because that was one of the criteria that was outlined by the public it was well known that that was what we wanted because the city does not have enough gym space for our kids. We just don't. And you're not going to be able to build a new gym and I was the only councilor that fought against losing Pepin gym and I couldn't even get one other councilor to let us extend to look at it for two weeks which was the biggest disappointment of my career because Pepin gym is critical to the health of our young people to the health of our older people that could use it for pickleball they could use it for exercise classes. And I will tell you in this interim period I am in full support of reusing these schools the way they are because we they did the studies around viability for turning into a senior center - it's just not viable. The studies are there. And I would love to see us being able to open up the Pepin gym in the meantime until we start looking at a senior center where maybe we can figure out a way to have some sort of a multi-use space that kids could use at night to practice basketball or to have indoor sports because we need it.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): This is from the business community how would you ensure transparent communication and consistent engagement with business owners when forming city policies? JT we'll start with you.
JT Tirrell: I would start with having clear communication lines because I think a lot of times in the past there have not been clear communication lines so small business owners might not have known what's expected of city hall and vice versa. I think that's been a real- been lacking in the past.
JT Tirrell: So so I would start there with clear communication lines and I think by doing that it makes everything else- it's a trickle down effect- it makes everything else a lot easier because things are transparent, things are out front, everybody knows what's going on all right.
Salem Derby: So in my the last few months of being mayor you can tell what type of mayor I'm gonna be which is I'm boots on the ground like I walk into town every day when I'm in city hall and I talk to people you know I've been a city council for 22 years I own a small business I know a lot of the people that own businesses in Easthampton and I go and say hi and ask them what's going on and you know what are the things that are you know today what's going on you know what's the issue and my door is always open if I'm in the office my door is open and everybody knows that I don't screen my calls I don't screen my emails my door is open and that's since that's how I've been since day one and that's how I will continue to be so if anybody has any issues if anybody has any questions I'm there to answer those questions and to address those issues. That's just the kind of person I am.
Lindsi Sekula: So I am proud of the work I've done on the small business communities transparency and accessibility as well. I helped create the new city website that we have today that I'm also going through a rebrand of right now but one of the things I implemented on that website was the news flash section and we created one specifically for small businesses to get updates during COVID and tough economic times so they can start seeing communications from the city directly. So that's one of the ways we strengthened it and I'm also happy to be one of the front runners for creating a small business round tables inside of city halls so when someone calls the mayor's office they get me and they tell me that they have a new prospective business in town and do they have to go to the health department? Did they come to me for licensing? Where do they go? And I like to look at the mayor's office or as me specifically being your last phone call if I don't have that answer for you I'm going to find it and instead of bouncing small business and prospective business owners around I've created these small business round tables where I create meetings for every department head from planning licensing fire police building and we all sit down with that business we hear their site plans their business plans and we walk them through some of the hurdles that they might experience what's possible what's not possible and really just help remove the red tape and help them get set up in Easthampton to be more inviting and welcoming of businesses in our community.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Okay this will be the last question from from this round of questions what's the most influential impact you've had on the Easthampton community? Salem we'll start with you.
Salem Derby: Well I think you know one of the biggest impacts I've had is definitely on my time on city council I've especially around businesses have been able to have so many different arenas to be able to do things that are helpful to small business you know I did mention the over-quota liquor licenses so that is one thing because unfortunately you know not that I want to support people drinking more alcohol but the reality of opening a restaurant is you need to have a liquor license to be able to open a restaurant and when we realized that, we realized we were stuck with the liquor licenses that we had by population and we could go to the legislature and request more. We decided we're going to do that in bulk and we did and it really changed the landscape of Easthampton because of the restaurants we were able to bring in that's so huge and I would also say you know while we're on this that you know cannabis is something that was very taboo and it was took a lot of courage to step up and say hey you know I think a lot of the reasons why people think this is so taboo is because they don't understand it wasn't made illegal because of the social harms that it caused it was made illegal because of the people that were using it and I think it was important to address that and to say we should have public policy that reflects that reality. You know alcohol creates many more social harms than cannabis and by writing the first medical and recreational cannabis ordinance in fact the recreational cannabis ordinance was used as a model ordinance for the state becoming one of the first communities to have a dispensary. Since then we've brought in over six million dollars we bought new ambulances we've done pedestrian safety projects like that's a big impact six million dollars over just a few years is a big impact.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Lindsi again what is the most influential impact you've had on the Easthampton community.
Lindsi Sekula: I think my ability to connect and be transparent accessible. I've heard a lot from opponents and along the campaign trail and from constituents that they didn't feel like the previous mayor was accessible or transparent and what they appreciate about me and what I appreciate about myself as well is that I've always been there to listen to people to try and reason with people to hear their perspectives their point of views and help bridge the gap between community and government. And this is who I am this is my family we are in the halls of the public schools every day because my kids are there we're at the sports games we're watching your kids because my kids are playing. We're at the farmers market every Sunday since we moved here. This is not new behavior for our campaign. This is my life, and this is who I've always been.
JT Tirrell: I'd have to say my involvement in youth sports primarily in little league and basketball in town also like I said earlier I've been involved on the board of directors for little league for 12 years been president for 8 years and I never had a child play in little league I often get asked oh how old's your kid oh my child never played why the heck are you involved then what are you doing this for because I love the city. I love baseball. I just like being involved I was a youth referee for basketball I was an umpire for little league and like I said now I'm on the board of directors I just think all the interactions with the children in town through youth sports has been wonderful.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Alright we're going to get to the questions you gave us here tonight let's start with how do you envision continuing to support our active artist community both visual and musical and continuing to grow our reputation as a cultural hub of the valley? Lindsi let's start with you.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah I plan on continuing to frequent our small businesses and support arts and culture in our community. I'm wearing my City Space pin tonight. I think being involved in our community and again helping bridge the divide and communications between government and community will help us thrive moving forward. Arts and culture are economic development and we need to invest in that to make sure our city is thriving the way we already are moving forward.
JT Tirrell: I certainly agree with that that we need to support artists and our small businesses in town because they're the backbone of our city and they need our support. I just went blank I totally- What's the question?
JT Tirrell: Oh just being transparent and clear communication lines. I don't... What I'm getting from speaking to constituents is inaccessibility of town hall or if they go to town hall city hall they can't get their questions answered in a timely manner and I just want to open up. I don't want it to be taboo to go to city hall to ask a question or to find something out or to drop something off. I want there to be open communication lines. I want everything to be transparent. I want people to know where they stand and what's needed to get things done.
Salem Derby: So I've been an ardent supporter of the arts since the very beginning. It was a really proud moment when I got to vote for the Cottage Street cultural district. You know when you asked before one of the proudest things that I've done you know in my time here well one of them is connecting Laudable Productions with our parks and rec department and our mayor's office to bring Mill Pond Live to Easthampton. That was not going to happen but I was able to facilitate the meetings and we were able to make it happen. It was a huge huge benefit to our city. One of the first things I did as interim mayor was wrote a proposal for a public art festival with six or seven murals around town and really looking to create a community art festival that bridged downtown in the mills and the way that we would bridge downtown in the mills is to have murals downtown have murals at the mills but then have a sidewalk chalk art competition between the mills and downtown as a connection point. And I gave that proposal to our ECA director and she said "Do you know what I do for a living?" And I said "You're the ECA director." And she said "I'm a mural artist." And it was that she brought it to her public art committee and that is in the works. And that kind of thing is the kind of thing that not only builds community but it is something that brings us all together and public art is one of those things that really enriches our life in Easthampton. And I think that if we can do something like that we can continue those things city space you know and supporting the artists that had such a difficult time getting kicked out of their studios because of raising the cost of rent. You know we need to be able to figure out how to support artists because they are one of the backbones of our community.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): You touched on this too and JT we'll start with you on this. What role do you think optimal for cannabis retail in Easthampton's future? And they ask please discuss its revenue priorities.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Yep, what role do you think optimal for cannabis retail in Easthampton's future?
JT Tirrell: I think the future for that is great the money that that produces for us to utilize whether it be for education or public safety I think that's been that's gone very well since implementation of the cannabis commission here in town.
Salem Derby: You know I would like to see as far as cannabis goes I think that we need to support our local cannabis businesses I think we need to be in touch with them to make sure that the if there are any negative side effects that we're mitigating those as much as we can. You know I think we look at Cottage Street you know people parking in bad places now that we have new parking lot I think it's really important for that business to potentially send their customers you know so we don't disrupt normal operations. We don't really have community use impact fees anymore so really what we're relying on is relying on the local option tax and we are going to still get money from that it's not going to be as much what I'd like to see is I'd like to see us move beyond that I'd like to see us do a local option tax for other things like alcohol like a nickel on every beer you buy and that comes back to the city to help us support the good work that we're doing. Because times are going to get tight we need a mayor that's willing to go and work with our legislators to try to get things like that going because you know those are the types of things that are going to allow us to get through the tough times is being creative and thinking outside the box.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah I think we're starting to see the revenue come down a little bit from taxes on our cannabis locations and we've had a few that are no longer open anymore as well. I did have a conversation with the Cannabis Control Commission just the other week about the potential for social consumption sites coming in the pipeline so this is going to be the next wave we're seeing for cannabis. And I think it's going to be very important for our leaders to be strong in where we stand with our boards of health where we stand with our cannabis companies and with our community on if that's something we want to see here and if the tax revenue from that would be beneficial.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Do you all agree that the cannabis industry has been good for Easthampton overall.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): All right we've touched on this too on the senior center. How do you envision funding a new senior center? Have you considered a community center that would benefit all residents? Salem, let's start with you.
Salem Derby: So, the answer is, "Yes, I have considered that." And, in fact, y'know, one of the things as interim mayor I started a program called Keys to the City, and our first recipient Robin Bialecki, who is a superstar at the Easthampton Community Center. You know, when you go there, it's kind of not the most appropriate place for the amazing work that she does. So, I was just in the first senior center building committee meeting the other day, and my brain was spinning. And I was like, "Wow, what a great thing it would be if we could have part of the new senior center be like a food pantry with state of the art stuff and Robin could lease that place." And then I was thinking "Well you know a community center with a gym if we can't get Pepin that would be amazing too." I think that we have to think creatively as we look at the new senior center. It's going to be difficult because you know the it's going to be expensive. We looked at a lot of other community senior centers, and they're not cheap. And so this is something where the the citizens are going to have to step up and decide if this is something that they want to support and I think it might be easier to get buy-in if it's something where everybody can seize that they have a they have ownership they have a piece of it. And I would love to see multi-generational interactions where we have kids that are there playing basketball at night with older older folks that could be role models for them. And we could have you know a food pantry there for people that are struggling with food insecurity. And we have that as a model in Easthampton that not many other places are doing.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah I've talked a lot on my campaign trail about wanting to see intergenerational programming in Easthampton. I think we lack a lot of activities and locations for youth and seniors I also want to acknowledge our senior ad-hoc building committee as well as now our senior center building committee who has done a lot of hard work on finding locations that are publicly-owned that we could potentially build on for a new senior center. And I think everyone on this stage tonight wants to support our seniors. They are most vulnerable and growing population in Easthampton and while we could all sit up here and say what we want to see for Easthampton and that we want a senior center and of course, "Hi mom and dad." I'd love to see you there and with the basketball court with my kids there as well. That doesn't mean it's the right choice for Easthampton so I'm happy to champion a new senior center if that is what our community at large would like to see. But we do need to think about the funding for that because we would be looking at bonding and there's strategic ways to bond when our new school bond drops a little bit so there's conversations to be had with the general public about what your visions are for moving Easthampton forward because your visions are what I am going to act upon.
JT Tirrell: Yes this plays right into my vision for Pepin like I mentioned earlier. It's a fully functional auditorium, a full kitchen, a full gymnasium. And that could be multi-use you could have council on aging you could have the park and rec department centered in that building. It could be used for the community center there's enough building there where it could be a multi-use facility for the youth for the seniors for the food pantry. I just really think that- and the location the location there is prime location very accessible for anybody that needs to I just really think that fits into that narrative.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): This is a concern for many folks I don't care where you are- whether it's Easthampton, Southampton, Northampton, what will you do specifically to make Easthampton more accessible and I would say even add to this more affordable for residents to be able to age in their homes that they've lived in for all of their lives? Lindsi let's start with you.
Lindsi Sekula: Easthampton is comprised of a working class community. We see it in my own home and right now housing insecurity is a big deal for our residents and I'm hearing that a lot of people feel forgotten and my parents as example they can't downsize their home to now age in place in a smaller location. And we really have a large need and a small amount of real estate to do that in. So focusing on our working class community and making Easthampton more affordable through rent stabilization and our housing development projects that's going to be a priority I think for anyone on this stage and certainly for myself.
JT Tirrell: Certainly rent stabilization for those out there that rent. I certainly think that's a necessity I would also like to see a flat tax for seniors. Seniors nine times out of ten are on a fixed income living off of social security or retirement or a pension and like I mentioned earlier they can't just increase their pay isn't being increased if their taxes are being increased or things like that so I would go that route for that.
Salem Derby: So as a member of the ordinance committee for I think at least 16 years this actually came onto our plate pretty recently. And I would you know shout out the Fair and Affordable Housing Committee for doing a really great report on zoning in Easthampton and how we can change that zoning to make it more accessible to increase density and fix some of the issues that are keeping some of the infill that we kind of need to create more units. So that is going to be a piece of it you know one of the things that I think we need is we need and this was actually outlined in the downtown strategic plan we need more multi-use condos like condos for people that are looking you know or aging looking to downsize. Right now there's not a lot of places for them to go. And I would also say this isn't just an issue for seniors this is an issue for young people you know I have two adult children that live at my house because it's too expensive for them to live other places so this is you know a generational issue and I think that you know we also again we need to look at this as not something that's isolated to Easthampton. We have to understand that you know with the rent control legislation that's moving forward there are landlords that are saying well we're gonna now because this if this passes we're going to raise people's rent 50 or more percent because we think this could be coming. And so we need to really kind of take a hard look at this and make sure we don't create any unintended consequences for our renters in the community and that we do whatever we can to keep our housing projects on track that we do not let them flounder that we do not let them you know stagnate. We need to make sure that these come online so we have more housing stock so we can approach that 10% affordability so we're not subject to 40B you know which are predatory development and that's really important.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Lindsi? As we look at this I mean you look at sections of Easthampton now and as far as being able to build a house or build a new home you need what? An acre of land at least. But you look at the demand for the housing say in the Plains or off Holyoke Street or whatever. Is there a need to go back and rethink how we develop housing now to make housing again more affordable that was the reason those houses were built in the first place to try to reassess where we are with this to again to make it more affordable for seniors and for younger people?
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah and I think we're doing that right now our affordable and fair housing partnership has been working on that. They came out with a very robust housing production plan and have been working diligently on some zoning and ordinance changes that will help us bring in things like ADUs. We're also looking at the potential for you know expanding in the Plains with ADU housing and things like that. We have to get creative with how we move forward to allow people to stay in Easthampton.
JT Tirrell: I agree. We do have to we have to do what we can to keep families in Easthampton. As much as this is a destination that a lot of people want to live here I really want to keep the people here that are living here currently. Maybe reanalyze the zoning laws but just really look at the housing projects that are in process now we have the housing project on Northampton Street going on now on Ferry Street going on now and I think we need to wait and see what impact that has on our infrastructure and go on from there before we start any more projects. We really have to see how that's gonna affect the infrastructure with all those additional units before we start any further projects.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): No as far rethinking zoning ordinances and everything else to make houses. Do you actually need an acre of land when you could do something on a third of an acre such as the houses in the plains?
Salem Derby: Absolutely and so yeah so right now the zoning the ordinance committee is working on zoning right now to address this very issue one of the things that I was an ardent supporter of was ADUs or accessory dwelling units to allow people to have structures on their property to allow you know elderly parents to move in. Or and you know and this actually becomes a broader topic because you know we could bring short-term rentals into this discussion because you know ADUs could actually you know we this is a hot topic about short-term rentals and ADUs. But you know there's families in Easthampton that in order to pay their mortgage they have an accessory dwelling unit that they rent out for a couple months a year and then that helps them stay in Easthampton. And so I think that you know these are complicated issues one of the problems is we don't have any hotels. We don't have you know any capacity to house people here beyond the people that live here. And so I think short-term rentals do play an important role for our businesses. You know we need short-term rentals to bring in people to our community to frequent our businesses. And that's something that I think gets lost sometimes. And I think we also need to be creative we had this really interesting proposal over off West Street to put these little miniature artist houses. You know if you were writing a book you'd have like a little yurt and it was heated and had a bathroom and the city council flatly rejected it. And so I'm pretty sure that property is gonna be you know a development now. But we need to look at some of those creative ideas to figure out how we can you know take some of the pressure off of the housing market and I think looking at the zoning is an important piece of that.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): As we we look at development I mean you talked about Holyoke Street- Northampton Street and the development going on there. As you envision the future of Easthampton what areas of the city do you see as potential for additional growth whether it be for homes affordable housing or for business? JT.
JT Tirrell: Well I'd say Northampton Street definitely it's already started there. It's been continuing on Ferry Street for years now. I would like to see some of the areas around the Main Street area was mentioned the D&D Auto parts part of land, the Moriarty property which is next to Big E's. These are properties that have been stagnant for years now and are prime locations and could be used in some way shape or form to benefit the city and its residents. I just want to look at things such as that.
Salem Derby: So yeah I mean Northampton Street is our commercial business district and you know we have changed the zoning there to allow for mixed use. And really mixed use is really critical. If you look at our buildings on Cottage Street where we have commercial on the first floor and we have apartments or condos on the second floor and third floor. Those according to the downtown strategic plan create 13 million more dollars in revenue than standalone commercial buildings. And so looking at mixed use smart growth so if we're building on Northampton Street making sure it's commercial and residential. As we're looking at like D&D Auto or Moriarty: commercial and residential. And we can do that in a way that really fits the character: brick facades you know like really beautiful structures that will fit right into Easthampton. We just need developers that are willing to do it and a city that's willing to partner with those developers. I mean you could also look at Cottage Street. You know one of the things that was planned in "vision" was looking at all the houses on Cottage Street and transforming those into you know brick facade commercial on the first floor second and third floor residential and then having parking behind and really figuring out a way to make Cottage one way and allowing for the trucks to go around so you could almost have you know a completely different flow. But that is going to take a lot of vision it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of creativity so you know I mean there's many different options. But I think one of the most important things to recognize is we need to have mixed use development commercial and residential together.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): As far as other areas of Easthampton where there's potential for growth whether it's for housing or business.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah again I think we have limited stock here one of the projects that has been in front of us is 385 Main Street and what I like about this project is it's honoring open space while also providing housing. And I think it's really important moving forward that we look at preserving open space and conservation land as well as honoring housing for our humans and our residents of Easthampton. And I want to mention that I'm a big proponent we're hearing a lot about developers. I want to mention that I'm a big proponent of public housing as well we're talking a lot about private housing on the stage tonight and I think we could benefit from some more public housing and looking at strategic partnerships moving forward as well as our strategic growth moving forward and making sure that we're not just bringing in developers and pumping out housing. I mean this isn't the state's agenda for housing right? We want to be responsible with our growth here in Easthampton to make sure that it is sustainable and that everybody has a place to go regardless of their age. So there are locations right now and I think as we've all mentioned we also need to be creative so being creative looking at the properties we have and in thinking about what growth looks like for housing moving forward.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Salem you did touch on this as far as Cottage Street is concerned and the change of the traffic pattern. We know Cottage Street is thriving. You go there on any any weeknight on the weekends especially there's a ton of traffic and I think we all agree that it can be a very dangerous spot. What is your vision and you touched on this we'll start with you on this for the future of Cottage Street?
Salem Derby: I love this. So I was one of the big proponents when Mayor Mike proposed the promenade or the boardwalk on the pond if you remember what it was like before it was like a black wrought iron fence that caught trash and occasionally there was a banner on it. Definitely did not showcase the beauty that we have in Eastampton of our pond and Mt. Tom and that iconic view that really kind of puts Eastampton on the map as far as a destination. So my vision for Cottage Street is to you know look at that. And one of the things that I've been talking about forever and I'm really proud that I was able to get this into the downtown strategic plan which is extending the boardwalk. Extending the boardwalk past where it is and looking to create a way to flip some of the cottage 20 Cottage Street flip so there can be outdoor dining on the pond and you'd have about 115 feet of new boardwalk potentially there. And it was something that is not out of the realm of possibility if you can find the right grants. This is something that could happen just like the boardwalk happened. And I also am open to looking at the Cottage Street. Because the temporary parking solution I put in place you know that's going to potentially be there for about three years. But we need to really think about what's going to be next and we're going to have to take a hard look at how Cottage Street is laid out and what do we want there for our business owners and for our residents because it's great. Thriving it's great. So we want to keep that energy and we want to keep moving forward.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah I don't think we have a lot to change I want to emphasize that Cottage Street is thriving it has wonderful business owners that I see on a regular basis and I hear a lot of people talk about the basics of Cottage Street where are the trash cans what's going on with the traffic how do we mitigate these issues? So if you walk downtown Cottage Street today you will see a trash receptacle at the Marigold parking lot which I worked with our DPW director to bring back this past week. Just making sure that Cottage Street is walkable that people can visit it. I don't think we necessarily need to make grand financial plans right now for how to make changes. I think we need to stay committed to the businesses that are here and making sure that they stay thriving.
JT Tirrell: Yeah I mentioned this earlier I'd like to see a municipal pay-to-park lot where Maple Street school is expanding a little more than what it is now and do parking on only one side of Cottage Street. There are a ton of pedestrians on Cottage Street and it's very unsafe. And I think with better lit crosswalks with the flashing lights , better painted crosswalks and one-side parking. It's going to make traversing Cottage Street much easier and much safer. As well as have that parking lot where Maple St is, which would be a good source of revenue if that was pay-to-park.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): These are tough problems to have to deal with, but they're good problems to deal with, too, right? There are cities and towns who would die to have the problems that Easthampton has. I live in Southampton and I know it so... We want to join your senior center no.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Well yeah well we could use you to build the police and fire complex too so. Anyhow I think it's last question then we'll get to closing statements so take your time on this it's about 13 before 8. What will you do and we've touched on this what would we do as mayor to make Easthampton government more transparent accountable and accessible to the taxpayers and how will you make sure all voices are heard? Lindsi let's start with you.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah I will stay just as involved now as I have been. I would like to be the mayor that is at the sports games that is out in the community that is at the farmers market having these conversations. One of the plans I have promised along my campaign trail is doing open town meetings. I'm not expecting constituents to go to city council meetings and stand on stages and look into cameras and talk about the hard subjects because that's not always easy to do. So I am willing to do open town hall meetings where let's have coffee at Tandem let's have coffee at Marigold tell me what I'm doing right. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. Hold me accountable and let's have the tough conversations moving forward. I am also like I mentioned earlier working on a rebrand of the city website and happy to implement a new chatbot that is multilingual so anyone in our city or visiting our city is able to access information.
JT Tirrell: The main thing I would like to do is make City Hall accessible five days a week. City Hall's been closed on Fridays now for a long time. I'm not naive I don't think I'm going to talk anybody into working a five-day week when they've been working a four-day week for years. I do think however though with creative scheduling maybe a Monday to Thursday Tuesday to Friday. I think it can be worked out. That's what I'm hearing a lot from constituents is the inaccessibility of town hall on Fridays, and I would really like to champion that effort to make it more accessible.
Salem Derby: So, I've been practicing this. So, I've been interim Mayor for over three months now. And when I'm there I'm accessible and you know I haven't mentioned this yet but I'm also working another full-time job. And I'm still at City Hall every day. And so you know I go to City Hall before school and then I go work and then I go to City Hall after school. And I think it's really important to have somebody there every single day where people can come and they can talk to somebody whether it's me or whether it's somebody else. I think it's really important for us to have somebody there every day. And so that's one of the things that I'm going to make sure that I continue as I move forward if I can focus all of my energy there I'll be there pretty much every day and if I'm not I'm going to make sure somebody is. Because I want to make sure that if someone has a concern that they can talk to the mayor whether it's through a proxy or directly to the mayor. And you know I've been I get the mayor emails, and when I get an email, I read it, and I respond to it. And I think that's really important. I think you know I should be accountable to the people that I'm serving. And I'm going to not only be accountable, but I'm going to be visible.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Before we wrap up for closing statements I want to ask each one of you what's the thing that you like most about Easthampton? JT let's start with you.
JT Tirrell: The community feel. We are a city like I said earlier but we still have a small town feel and I don't want us to ever lose that. I think it's very unique to us.
Lindsi Sekula: Yeah, I would agree that the community is what makes this place feel like home. For those who get the reference this is my Star's Hollow. I enjoy the fact that I can walk down the street and I see my neighbors, I see people I know, I see people who come into the office and we create bonds, we create community here and we know our neighbors and that's important to keep moving forward.
Salem Derby: So I would agree but I would also add like the beauty. We have such a beautiful city. And you know, I think that's something that we sometimes take for granted. And we should like Nonotuck Park gem, the pond amazing, the view unbelievable. And then you add the arts and the culture, the restaurants, the people, you know all of these things kind of culminate into something that's absolutely stunning. And it's why Easthampton is now a destination. And I remember I was sitting at a city council meeting when we were talking about the promenade and a city councilor said "Easthampton will never be a destination!" And I said "Excuse me. Yes it will." And here we are.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): These are all questions they had not seen beforehand how about a round of applause for all three candidates? All right we're going to go with the reverse order that we did opening statements for our closing statements so Lindsi we'll begin with you.
Lindsi Sekula: Well thank you everyone for submitting your questions and making space for us. I also want to thank my opponents here for joining me on stage tonight and answering these questions together. I think it's important that we have these discussions openly and honestly. As we close this evening focused on our campaigns I want to speak honestly about what Easthampton means right now and what they need and that's stability. At a time our federal government feels uncertain and divided I bring steadiness to this race. I bring the calm and reliable leadership that comes from years of executive experience deep community ties and my lived experiences. I'm not just a candidate. I'm a public servant who knows the workings of city hall who understands our budgets who values inclusion and who believes that leadership means being hands-on and present each day. As your mayor you'll have someone who is rooted in community not just for a campaign but as I always have been with my family committed to transparent and inclusive governance and ready to lead Easthampton with the steady hand it deserves. Easthampton's strength is its people. It's all of you. Our entrepreneurs artists and neighbors who care deeply about this community. My focus is on smart growth clear planning and leadership that listens. Together we can build an Easthampton that thrives for everyone who lives works and does business here. I look forward to your number one vote on November 4th.
JT Tirrell: Once again I want to thank you Dave and thanks to Williston for hosting tonight's forum. On November 4th you have a clear choice. Do you want a continuation of the same experience that's landed us in a budget crisis and left many of our residents feeling like their voices don't matter? Or do you want change and a fresh perspective? I'm the only change candidate in this race. I'm the only candidate who was born and raised in Easthampton. I'm the only candidate who has made unity and community central focus of my campaign. I'm the only candidate who has promised to set a new standard for government transparency accountability and accessibility. At the end of the day I want every Easthampton resident to know that in me they have an empathetic leader who will listen and make every decision through the lens of what's best for Easthampton not what's best for a party a person or a political point. Our next mayor is going to have to make some tough decisions. We need someone who is committed to fiscal discipline and making smart investments that improve the quality of life. I believe I am that person. Local government is so important. Municipal decisions are the ones that affect and impact our lives on a daily basis. I understand what this city needs because this city is part of me. I've lived here my whole life. I'm not in this race for me. I'm in it for us. I'll show up. I'll do the work. I'll provide the vision. I'll set the example. And I'll move Easthampton forward in part by getting back to basics of good municipal government. I'll safeguard your tax dollars and only spend on things that are an investment in our future. My priorities are clear and simple improve our quality of life protect our water keep Easthampton affordable invest in infrastructure support small business growth improve our schools and support growing families our seniors and our veterans. Easthampton is great because our people are good. My only agenda is making Easthampton a draw to new families and working to retain our current households. I'll be a mayor for all the people. And on November 4th I would be honored to get your vote thank you.
Salem Derby: Thank you so for more than 22 years I've been serving Easthampton on the city council as both vice president and president and now as your interim mayor. In that time my family has sacrificed so much. I've worked a full-time job raised three kids Parker Rowan and Chloe gone to graduate school and I still showed up for the city every single week. At one point Council President Dan Rist I think he's here believed so strongly my contributions to the council that we actually changed the meeting night from Tuesday to Wednesday so I could continue serving while I was in grad school. That's the kind of commitment I've always brought to Easthampton. Showing up putting in the work and finding solutions. That's exactly what I've done as mayor these past few months. When a bill for over a hundred thousand dollars sat unpaid for more than four months the police chief came to me in frustration. I immediately took action we met with the right departments found the error and resolved it right away. The chief said "I've been dealing with that for four months we solved it in ten minutes." That's what leadership looks like listening acting and fixing problems. When the Ferry Street affordable housing project started to stall because of confusion and lack of direction I stepped up. I worked with the developer and city departments to negotiate a path forward to keep this critical project moving because Easthampton needs more affordable housing not more red tape. When I came into City Hall on my first day as interim mayor, I noticed that it felt like a dark cloud had descended on staff morale. I recognized this and started to work to improve the situation. As an expert in group dynamics and interpersonal communication I'm working to rebuild a professional team oriented environment one based on respect collaboration and trust. And beyond fixing problems I've been building community launching the keys to the city program restoring employee hours that have been cut helping boost morale and creating new parking solutions on Cottage Street to help local businesses while making the best highest use of a public resource. I've been doing the work as mayor while working another full time job. I'm not just talking about what should be done I'm getting it done. There's no learning curve I'm doing the work now. I think we should view this election as a job interview for one of the most critical jobs. Who has the most robust relevant education the most experience and the skills to get the work done? I would be honored to be hired by the citizens to continue to lead Easthampton as its mayor. I believe in Easthampton and I'm ready to keep moving our city forward with integrity compassion and action. And I want to say thank you to Dave. I want to say thank you to the chamber. I want to say thank you to the audience. I want to say thank you to the other candidates. But most importantly I want to thank my wife and children for all the support and love that they've given me over these last 22 years. Thank you.
Dave Madsen (Moderator): Thank you. How about a round of applause for all three candidates. My thanks to Salem Derby Lindsi Sekula and JT Tirrell for taking the time to be with us tonight. Your city will be served well by any one of these three candidates. So my thanks to them. My thanks to all of you for being here for the chamber itself for taking part and sponsoring this tonight. Remember this is your first real big test of rank choice voting so think wisely. You have three good candidates to be your next mayor of Easthampton. Don't forget to vote on November 4th. That's the last thing. Now it's all up to you. Thank you all. Have a good night.