GREENFIELD — After hearing from all five candidates who applied to fill City Council’s vacant at-large seat, councilors who are members of Committee Chairs will submit their recommendations for a selected candidate by Wednesday, Oct. 9.

City Council President John Bottomley said a final candidate is expected to appear before City Council at its Oct. 16 meeting, and, pending a vote of approval, will likely be sworn-in that evening.

On Aug. 19, former At-Large Councilor Penny Ricketts announced her resignation from City Council, leaving behind a seat she had occupied for roughly a decade.

Mpress Bennu, Sara Brown, Stephanie Gale, Thomas Bledsoe and Charlotte Treiber, the five applicants for Ricketts’ position, spoke during a Committee Chairs meeting on Tuesday for five minutes each, explaining their motivations for applying to serve and their priorities for the city.

Mpress Bennu

Bennu, who submitted her application on Sept. 10, serves as chair of the Human Rights Commission, Franklin County Rotary Club president, Moving Mountains CEO and a Greenfield Savings Bank Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) analyst and community outreach officer.

Addressing Committee Chairs, Bennu said she hopes to use grant funding to open “pop-up shops” and other businesses in the city’s empty storefronts in an effort to boost the local economy and bring more young people downtown. Noting that many young people graduate “without knowing how to balance a checkbook,” Bennu added that she hopes to expand financial literacy-based education.

“I was marketing manager for a pop-up shop on Main Street ... where Greenfield Economic Development, along with [Greenfield Community College] was able to get a grant to have a pop-up shop. I believe that that’s one of the things that we can do within our downtown business,” Bennu said. “There are a lot of unique ideas in Greenfield, but people do not have the money as far as overhead costs to get a building, paper, insurance and things like that. I really do believe that we need to support small business and entrepreneurs.”

Discussing her goal of supporting minority-owned businesses, domestic violence and sexual assault victims, the homeless and those struggling with mental health issues, Bennu told councilors that her son struggles with mental health issues, and had to pass through the criminal justice system to get the care he needs.

“It’s just so sad that I have to go through the means of pressing criminal charges for my son that never had a criminal record in order to get him services,” Bennu said. “That’s just not OK, in my opinion.”

Sara Brown

Speaking before the councilors, Brown, who serves as Valley Housing Co-op’s co-founder and president, noted her passion for, and experience with, issues related to environmental preservation and affordable housing.

Brown explained that in a matter of months, the land trust raised $400,000 from roughly 70 community donors to purchase — and permanently designate as affordable — 32 acres of land on Stone Farm Lane. She added that her work played a significant role in the trust’s ability to secure $1.47 million in housing bond bill authorizations.

“This project is deeper than the single issue of affordable housing, which is incredibly important. It also demonstrates fundraising and community organizing, learning how to lead well and make decisions together. I believe in democratic stewardship of resources to ensure community well-being, equity and sustainability,” Brown said. “I believe my systems-thinking approach will benefit Greenfield, not just in putting out fires, but moving toward a more resilient system that benefits all of our community.”

Growing the city’s local economy through support for local businesses and the creation of jobs that pay a living wage, Brown added, are among her priorities alongside infrastructure improvements, the creation of green space and accessible food systems.

Brown also said that even if she is not selected for the role, she will run for the at-large seat in November 2025, when the remaining term will expire.

“To ensure we have a solid foundation into the future is more important than ever,” she said. “I believe this would be a tremendous opportunity to create a better future for all residents of our wonderful city.”

Thomas Bledsoe

Bledsoe was the founding CEO of the Housing Partnership Network (HPN), a collaborative of the nation’s leading nonprofit affordable housing developers, until his retirement in 2022.

Bledsoe and his wife moved to Greenfield earlier this year after living in Newton for 17 years. He said although he did not plan to run for public office upon his move to the city, he has decades of experience in housing, serving in leadership positions with housing nonprofits such as Wayfinders Community Builders and the Boston Housing Partnership. He believes this equipped him with the experience necessary to help the city in its effort to build more housing.

Having served as both the deputy secretary of what was then called the Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development and as director of the Boston’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Bledsoe said he had significant experience working in both government and housing development.

Bledsoe added that even if he is not selected for the at-large seat, he still hopes to, if the city allows, lend a hand to local government in any way he can. He said he considers housing development to be “fun work” and hopes to bring his knowledge to the table.

“I’ve been reading a lot in the paper about what’s going on with housing in particular, and I’m realizing I could offer some help here, because you guys are tackling some big stuff. It’s exciting what you’re trying to do, and I’ve been surprised at how there’s a lot of misunderstanding about it — and this is on the easier stuff, like ADUs [accessory dwelling units],” Bledsoe said. “I would like to get involved and help somehow here in Greenfield. … I wasn’t expecting this, but the opportunity is there.”

Stephanie Gale

A 25-year Greenfield resident, Gale formerly served as director of resource development, community engagement and marketing at United Way of Franklin County (now United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region), and more recently as a pretrial service coordinator for Youth Services Inc. in Brattleboro, Vermont.

In her remarks to councilors, she said she hopes to grow the city’s affordable and accessible housing, support the city’s school system and grow the local economy through support for local businesses. She quoted Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to express her view that local government should represent all Greenfield residents, regardless of who they are or where they come from.

“Former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln has said that ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the Earth,’ meaning that as long as we have a government, it should be composed of those with whom we serve and give service to its people — everyday, ordinary people, not only those who work in their leadership roles already,” Gale said. “Government should be accessible for all, no matter your socioeconomic status, your ability to work or not to work, if you’re housed or unhoused. Our government is supposed to work for us, not against us, to provide service to the community.”

Noting that she attended college as a single mother and experienced a roughly two-month bout of homelessness with her child after graduating, Gale said if she is chosen for the job, she hopes to engage directly with all of her constituents in an effort to “meet people where they are” and serve from a place of empathy. She added that she has been reading the city charter and has researched the fiscal year 2025 budget, along with other local documents.

“I feel that, because I’m a fast learner and have such interest in working on the issues facing our community, I will be able to effectively work with you all over the next year in this role,” she said.

Charlotte Treiber

Treiber co-chairs the Crossroads Cultural District Committee, founded the city’s monthly Arts Walk and co-founded the Main Street business MadHouse Multi-Arts. She said she hopes to bring increased public outreach and support for the arts and local businesses to Greenfield if she is picked for the at-large seat.

Addressing the councilors, Treiber said her role working as a property manager at Cliffside Apartments in Sunderland familiarized her with the “ins and outs” of affordable housing and Section 8. She added that her experience co-founding MadHouse Multi-Arts and the monthly Arts Walk provided her with an appreciation for community engagement and local business.

“I’m ready to take the next step into a local government, and I’m obviously passionate about the local economy and arts and culture, but that sort of extends to housing, schools, infrastructure, everything else involved,” Treiber said. “In terms of vision, I really think that we need more practical stores. … It would be a bit of a mission to try to make that more accessible and provide opportunities for businesses to come in and [offer] a place to buy towels and bed sheets in town.”

Treiber added that she would seek to ramp up the City Council’s role in public outreach, noting that she is a fan of the “Everything Greenfield” Facebook page, with which she said she would engage if selected for the seat, to better understand the more “fixable” problems the city is facing such as traffic safety and sidewalk accessibility.

“I’m loving that Everything Greenfield Facebook page, also. I feel like there’s a lot of really little issues, or not small, but a lot of fixable problems that people bring up, and I’d like to be a part of that,” Treiber said. “I think there’s a lot of older folks that live in Greenfield as well as kids and traffic safety … which is important for this town in particular, making sure sidewalks are in the best condition possible for wheelchairs.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.