NORTHAMPTON — When the Northampton City Council reconvenes next year, it will be the first time in more than a quarter-century that Marianne LaBarge will not be counted among its members.
LaBarge, 81, was defeated in the most recent municipal election by Christopher Stratton, bringing an end to 28 years serving on the City Council for Ward 6, first having been elected in 1997. But LaBarge told the Gazette in a recent interview she has no intention to retire quietly from public service.
“People are calling me, saying, will you still take care of me?” LaBarge said. “I will, and I will be vocal. That strong voice is not going to fade.”
LaBarge first ran for the Ward 6 council seat to replace her son, Richard LaBarge Jr. Her campaign was not based on the goals of familial succession, but rather political change: LaBarge is a longtime committed Democrat, while her son was a Republican.
“He would vote on things and I’d be so upset with him, and I’d say, ‘How could you vote this way?'” LaBarge recalled. “I said, ‘Richard, I think I need to think about running sometime.'”
During her time on the council, LaBarge became known for her advocacy for people with disabilities, and for her willingness to help the residents of Ward 6 on whatever issues they brought to her. Barbara Rakaska, a longtime friend of LaBarge, described her as someone who always worked tirelessly on behalf of her constituents no matter the issue, whether it be flooding at the bottom of their driveway or a dispute between neighboring homes.
“She walked the walk. That’s all I can say,” Rakaska said. “If someone in the ward needed help or had a question, she would help them get an answer. She knew what departments to get in touch with, and she had a very good rapport with the departments.”
Mimi Odgers, a longtime LaBarge supporter, first met her in 2008, when she and some of her fellow neighbors on Glendale Road were fighting against a proposed expansion of a nearby landfill.
“I didn’t know what to do and I had to stop it from happening,” Odgers said. “I called Marianne, and that was the first time meeting her, and she was fantastic, and just totally was also opposed to the landfill expansion.”
Odgers, with the support of LaBarge, led a grassroots campaign to prevent the expansion of the landfill, eventually succeeding in getting a city ordinance passed that prohibited landfills in water protection districts. Odgers credited LaBarge for the ordinance’s ultimate success.
“I couldn’t have done any of the stuff I did if it hadn’t been for her, her connections, her guidance, introducing me to people,” Odgers said. “It was a very, very difficult battle, and in the end we prevailed.”
On LaBarge’s final in-person council meeting on Dec. 18, she was feted by dozens of community members and current department heads. She was presented with multiple bouquets of flowers and an honorary salute from members of the Florence Veterans of Foreign Wars post. Those speaking in praise of her career included Police Chief John Cartledge, Public Works Director Donna LaScaleia, former City Councilor Bill Dwight and two former mayors — Clare Higgins and Mary Ford.
“You’re a virtual institution,” Dwight said to LaBarge during the meeting’s public comment period. “You are the quintessential retail politician, a door-to-door friend to every neighbor in every neighborhood in your ward. You are the bridge also between Northampton’s last two generations — a context that we will be poor without.”
Ford noted that despite all the years of service, LaBarge never let herself fall victim to tribal politics, always respecting the individuals who served beside her without the expectation of political support in return.
“When you talked about issues that you would bring to the mayor or the City Council, you would say ‘my people,’ and you really meant that,” Ford said. “You didn’t mean that they were a group that you were in control of. You meant everyone in that ward, and I think to some extent the whole city, that they were people to you.”
LaBarge told the Gazette she had been caught off-guard by her send-off at the council meeting.
“I knew nothing about it. That’s how secretive it was,” LaBarge said. “I just felt like crying. I held myself back.”
LaBarge’s departure comes as the city continues to struggle with divisions, mainly stemming from the city’s budget, as well as major pending projects like Picture Main Street and the Community Resilience Hub. LaBarge said that in her long career there had been previous disagreements over city budgets, but that the rhetoric over these issues had become increasingly concerning.
“When you had disagreements, you did it with respect,” LaBarge said. “The bullying and harassing, I’ve never seen anything like this happening in our city of Northampton. The environment is changing.”
Though LaBarge is out of elective office for now, she signaled she has every intention to try to run to reclaim her seat.
“I will always be very proud to serve as a city councilor for Ward 6,” LaBarge said. “I want everybody to have a good quality of life, a safe life, with respect and dignity.”