NORTHAMPTON — The city’s municipal election is still months away, but a significant makeover is already in the works for the City Council as three councilors won’t seek reelection and a ward representative will run for an at-large position.

At-large Councilor Jamila Gore, Ward 2’s Karen Foster and Ward 3’s Jim Nash have all signaled that they won’t run again this November. Nash and Foster are currently president and vice president of the council, respectively.

Meanwhile, Garrick Perry, the current Ward 4 councilor, has announced his intention to run for Gore’s at-large seat.

Four of the five remaining councilors contacted Thursday said they plan to run again, while a fifth could not be reached for comment.

Foster said she was stepping down to spend more time with her family and to focus more on her nonprofit, All Out Adventures, which organizes outdoor recreation activities for people with disabilities.

“There’s not enough space to do all of the things very well anymore,” Foster said. “The kids are getting older, so they have more evening activities. There’s just not enough hours in the day.”

Foster said she still would seek opportunities to be involved with the city in the future.

“I’m very invested in community work, and am looking forward to continuing, but I don’t know what that will be yet,” she said.

Nash, who has represented Ward 3 on the council for the past seven years and has served as council president for this term, said it was time for someone else to take the reins for his ward.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time on the council, and I want to finish in that space,” he said. “Being on the council is a seven-day-a-week job, and at some point you have to bring that level of responsibility to somebody else.”

Gore, who has served one term as at-large councilor, said she would not seek reelection for her seat, but that she would continue to work with the city on issues pertaining to housing, potentially serving on any boards or commissions that focus on the topic.

“It’s a big issue in the city. It’s talked about at almost every council meeting,” Gore said of the city’s housing. “I think that’s where I’m going to try to focus my attention on. I’m trying to learn a lot more about zoning and city planning and things like that.”

Gore’s at-large seat is being sought by Perry, who announced his candidacy for the position last week. Perry and Gore are the two African American members of the council, and recently helped sponsor a successful resolution to create a commission to investigate historical racial harms against Black residents and workers in the city.

“One of the things we discussed a lot was, ‘How do we get new perspectives? How do we make our city more attractive to minorities like myself, to people from cities?’” Perry said in an interview. “Because I know that our city has a lot to offer.”

A native of the Washington, D.C. metro area, Perry moved to the Valley in 1997 to attend Amherst College and stayed. Perry, who joined the council in 2020, has long been active in the city’s arts and entertainment scene, being a member of local music groups The Alchemystics and The Problemaddicts, as well as having previously worked at the musical venue Bishop’s Lounge.

He said that as an at-large councilor, he would focus on helping revitalize the city’s downtown and its entertainment venues, which have seen numerous closures since the pandemic.

“I think Northampton is at a crossroads,” Perry said. “I see it as a phenomenal city that is in the process of rebuilding, not just from the pandemic, but what I have seen as years of a slow decline.”

Other members of the council signaled their intention to seek another term for their respective wards in the November election.

Marianne LaBarge, who has served as the Ward 6 councilor since 1999, indicated that she would run again.

“We’ve got time to make the decision,” she said. “But in my heart, I very much want to run again.”

Ward 1 Councilor Stanley Moulton said he will seek reelection, in part to continue to support recent measures enacted by the council, such as commissions to study racialized harms and barriers to municipal service.

“It’s important that some of us work with remaining colleagues on these important initiatives,” Moulton said. “I’m anxious to see what recommendations these commissions make.”

The city’s other at-large councilor, Marissa Elkins, said she too would seek reelection for a second term in office.

“I’m planning to pull my papers as soon as they’re available,” Elkins said. “I hope the voters will have me for another term. I’ve really enjoyed it and just getting started on some of the work I was hoping to get off the ground.”

Rachel Maiore, the councilor for Ward 7, confirmed to the Gazette in an email she intended to run again for her ward, for what would be her third term on the council.

Alex Jarrett, the city’s Ward 5 councilor, was traveling and could not be reached for this article.

The municipal election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7.

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

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