Former New Bedford Mayor Fred Kalisz Passes Away
NEW BEDFORD Former New Bedford Mayor and current Southern Bristol County Register of Deeds Dr. Frederick M. Kalisz, Jr. has passed away due to complications with COVID-19.
Kalisz’s brother Michael Kalisz posted the news on Facebook just before 8 a.m. that the former mayor had died this morning. He was 63 years old.
Fred Kalisz was sworn into office on January 5, 1998, and served eight years as mayor before he was defeated by Scott W. Lang. Prior to his time as mayor, Kalisz served eight years on the New Bedford City Council, including serving as council president. He had also served almost four and a half years as program manager for the Buzzards Bay Project.
New Bedford's Richard Tyson Moultrie ran for mayor in 2019 and he lost. He is now going to run for the New Bedford City Council according to OCPF documents.
Mitchell sent a letter to City Council vetoing the council’s ordinance and stating his reasoning behind the veto on Nov. 24, which included that the residency requirement creates a preference for qualified city residents and cultivates a city workforce committed to the city.
Before the ordinance was enacted city employees were required to live in New Bedford unless they obtained a residency waiver, which the mayor had to put before City Council and the council then had to approve.
City Councilors have questioned the fairness of residency waivers with Coelho saying the process seemed to lack equality as some higher-level workers are granted permission to live outside of the city, while lower-level workers seemed to have a different set of rules.
The New Bedford City Council overrode the veto of Mayor Jon Mitchell and put in place a new ordinance covering the residency requirement for employees.
NEW BEDFORD By 2050, the city of New Bedford aims to be zero waste, use 100% renewable energy, and have thousands more trees planted, according to a climate action and resilience plan Mayor Jon Mitchell released Wednesday.
Just a week after the state released a roadmap to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the city released its own roadmap, NB Resilient, to guide not only the city, but also its residents in adapting to climate change and mitigating its impact.
“In the midst of the pandemic, we in New Bedford know that the world goes on. There are other challenges we face, there are other opportunities we must seize – and top among all of them are the threats and opportunities presented by climate change,” Mitchell said in the website s launch video.