Mayor Gina Louise-Sciarra faces challenger Jillian Duclos in Northampton’s mayoral election

Early voting in Northampton’s local election is underway with ballots being cast before the general election next week. One-term incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra is squaring off against challenger Jillian Duclos in Northampton’s general election on Nov. 4.

Project Main Street

A major topic on voter’s minds is the downtown infrastructure project called Picture Main Street. The 3-year plan approximating 29 million dollars aims to redesign downtown infrastructure by increasing pedestrian and bike safety while creating better road signage. Right now, the plan is in its design phase. The main source of funding is coming from the state department of transportation and the remaining costs will be shouldered by the city and federal ARPA funds.

Mayor Sciarra said the project, spearheaded by her office, is important because the downtown corridor is in the top 5% for accident clusters in the entire state.

“It's about safety. It's about accessibility. It will greatly improve accessibility for people who are in wheelchairs, who use mobility devices,” Sciarra said.

Challenger Jillian Duclous, who The Fabulous 413 interviewed at a local coffee shop on Main Street, said she thinks the project needs to be more detailed and explained to the public.

“I think a lot of people I talk to don't understand why we're doing Picture Main Street,” Duclos said. “I think we're lacking a vision around what that's going to look like, where we're going to start, where we're going to be in the middle and where we're going to end up, and what we're hoping to see at the end.”

City finances in question

Voters are also concerned about the city’s $145 million dollar budget, which was not approved by city councilors, but Sciarra says still took effect in July in accordance with state law. Many believe the city is holding onto reserves that could provide additional funding for Northampton public schools.

Sciarra disagrees with critics.

“In the last three years, to be able to get more money and have those large increases in the schools, we actually have taken $5 million out of reserve funds. So free cash feeds, these reserve funds,” Sciarra said. “So it's not true that we don't use them and they just sit there. We do use them. There's special designation stabilization funds and then there's general stabilization and they all get used.”

But Duclos believes kids in the public schools aren’t getting the tools they need.

“We talk a lot about how there's been more money invested in education through this administration than ever before, but we're still moving backwards. So I'm just wondering if we're getting our return on investment. We really need to strategically look at how we can make schools work for the people who are a part of them [like] parents, students, teachers, administrators. And really, it hits the whole community,” Duclos said.

Voter turnout patterns

There are also races for city councilor at large, Ward 3 councilor, school committee at large and Ward 3 school committee.

Northampton city clerk Pamela Powers said voter turnout has been a little different this year.

“Usually we see about 30 to 35% turnout for a municipal election. I think it's probably going to be about that again. People will come out to vote for state elections more so than the local elections. However, pre-election we're seeing a lot more activity, a lot more interest, a lot more excitement about the candidates. So, that's different,” Powers said.

Powers said the number for mail in ballots is in the hundreds this year as opposed to the thousands when candidates are running for state elected seats. She also wants to remind voters the state usually mails a request form to vote by mail, but municipal elections have a different process.

“The voter will generally have to find the form or request the form and then send it in to the city clerk's or town clerk's office, so that may impact the amount of people who submit a request for a ballot in advance,” Powers said.

Powers also figured out a way for residents to see final tally votes in real time through an online Google spreadsheet on the city’s website.

The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 4.

According to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Sciarra has raised a little more than $23,000. Duclos has raised a little more than $16,000 total.