At Large City Council Candidate Jim Henry Endorses Roxann Wedegartner for Greenfield Mayor

Any time there is a change of leadership, it is of the utmost importance that voters choose wisely. Greenfield is at such a crossroads. Not only are we going to have new leadership on the City Council, but we will also have a new mayor, and the decisions Greenfield voters make for these important offices will shape the future direction of our community.

I am one of the five candidates seeking one of the two at-large seats on the city council. Many people will recall that my father, Richard Henry, served for 15 years as a member of the Board of Assessors. Others will recall that my mother Ruth Ellen M. Henry has served Greenfield as a Soldiers’ Memorial Trustee, a member of the city Licensing Commission, and she and dad both worked as poll workers for decades. I, too, served in many elected and appointed capacities, including as a councilor in precinct three.

Sadly, my father passed in April of this year. The outpouring of love and support from the people of Greenfield and Franklin County inspired me to run for City Council and continue the legacy of community 

service for which my family is known.

Early this year, I learned that Mayor Martin was planning to retire, and I soon learned that my friend Roxann Wedegartner planned to run for Mayor. This pleased me tremendously, because I have known the Wedegartner family since they moved to Greenfield when their son Ian and I were in 8^th grade at the Greenfield Middle School, and I was honored to serve alongside Dick Wedegartner as members of the council.

The fact that I had these connections to the Wedegartner family was only one reason I was pleased that Roxann was running for mayor. There are interesting parallels between my career and Roxann’s.

Roxann was once a reporter, and she has a degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts. I have a master’s degree in journalism, a bachelor’s degree in communications, and a master’s of fine arts degree in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Bay Path University.

Roxann served as a member of the School Committee for six years, and three of those years as chairman. I, too, served as a member of the school committee, and helped negotiate agreements with all five collective bargaining units representing different school employees. I have also worked as a journalism, English, and communications professor for 15 years.

Roxann also served as chair of the Planning Board for many years. I was honored to serve as a member of the Planning Board, and I rose to the level of Vice Chairman. When I was elected to the Town Council, I stepped down from the Planning Board, but was assigned to the council’s Economic Development and Planning Committee, and the Federal, State, and Regional Matters Committee.

I was also a member of the first Charter Review Commission to recommend a mayoral form of government. We debated whether to recommend a strong mayor, weak mayor, or ceremonial mayor, and ultimately decided to recommend a strong mayor, because we believed the mayor should be accountable to the voters, and if the voters would hold the mayor accountable, the mayor ought to have the authority to build a team to get things done in our city.

Roxann is exactly the kind of mayor my colleagues on the Charter Review Commission hoped to attract. She has the experience to lead with wisdom, and she has the ideas to move Greenfield forward. 

She has a vision to revitalize downtown, with a new library as the focal point of that effort. She knows the role zoning can play to encourage or hinder growth, and she is committed to removing barriers to good economic growth that works for Greenfield.

It is for these and many other reasons that I am pleased to endorse Roxann Wedegartner for Mayor of Greenfield. 

I also ask the voters to vote for me, Jim Henry, as an at large city councilor, because the future Mayor Wedegartner will need allies on the city council to help with legislative aspects of her plans for Greenfield’s future.