GREENFIELD — Two months after John Lobik resigned as Precinct 2 City Councilor, his replacement, Mark Berson has been sworn in to fill the council’s13th seat.
“Mark is extremely capable,” City Council President Karen “Rudy” Renaud said Wednesday when Berson was confirmed. “It was also so great to see so many qualified people want this seat.”
The Greenfield lawyer who was chairman of the commission that designed of the city’s mayor system of government was voted in unanimously by the Greenfield City Council at its Wednesday night meeting.
Berson then took his seat on the council for the remainder of the meeting. His term ends this year, but he can run for the seat in November’s municipal election.
Berson has identified himself as a pragmatist who dreams big.
“I think the politics of a small town has to be incredibly practical,” Berson said in January when interviewing for the position. “We cannot do everything we’d like to do, but on the other hand there are certain fundamental things we have to do.”
The decision to find Lobik’s replacement for the final year of his term played out in several, often public steps. In early December, Lobik announced he would resign at the end of the year because of family health concerns. The decision came in the midst of the council’s heated discussion on building a new public library, which has divided the legislative body.
Headed into the December council meeting, questions swirled around how Lobik would vote on the library. Ultimately he never had a chance to vote because the call to vote was tabled when the pro-library cohort on the council realized it was likely to be defeated. This left a library vote still on the horizon and every vote being closely counted by supporters of the library trying to approve the $19.5 million project.
After the dramatic late December council meeting, Lobik rescinded his resignation saying the health concerns were no longer as immediate. By this time the council and the City Clerk’s Office had already put out a call for councilors interested in interviewing for a one-year seat.
Before the new year, however, Lobik returned to his original decision to resign, emailing the clerk’s office, “Sorry for all the trouble.”
Berson was one of five candidates for the Precinct 2 seat. He was tapped by a screening committee as a compromise candidate. Berson has said he supports building a new library.
At the meeting, Berson, 75, said he was not likely to run for the next four-year term, but since then he has said it’s a consideration.
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264