Gove wants to keep momentum going

Jim Sullivan, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·4 min read

Oct. 25—AMESBURY — Although the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered Kassandra Gove's first-term plans as mayor, she is confident that she has earned another two years in the corner office.

"We have done so much in two years and have seen success with small changes," Gove said. "If we can do that over a sustained period of time and change the culture here, it will be amazing. But we need more time. We can do more for the people here and they deserve that."

Gove, a fifth-generation Amesbury native, holds a master's degree in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor's in dance education from Jacksonville University.

She was hired as executive director of the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce in 2015 and also worked as a real estate agent at Stone Ridge Properties before successfully running for mayor in 2019 in her first political campaign.

Gove, 36, took office in January 2020 with a mission of focusing on the city's future while preserving its past. The global pandemic hit U.S. shores in March of that year, less than 100 days after her inauguration.

"You take office and you have to expect the unexpected," Gove said last week. "You need to know that anything can happen and the buck stops with you. You are the one in charge and people are looking to you for directions. What was important to me was that I remained calm and confident and continued to make databased decisions and stayed true to my decision-making models."

Gove ran on a platform of increased government transparency and efficiency; her administration invested in tech platforms such as OpenGov (https://opengov.com/) for online permitting, SeeClickFix (https://seeclickfix.com/) for Public Works Department issues, and ClearGov (https://cleargov.com/) for budget transparency.

"ClearGov is where people can go to plug in their tax bill and see that they paid say $6,500 in annual taxes and this is where their money goes to," she said. "They can see that X thousands of dollars of that go toward the schools and a few hundred dollars goes toward trash pickup. They can really see where every cent of their tax dollars go."

She said making the city an easier place to do business for its businesses and residents was another of her priorities.

"People are very busy these days and when they think about the things they need to get done with the city, they want to do them in that moment," Gove said. "That could be at 8 a.m. or even 8 p.m. so having our online permitting available (on OpenGov) gives people the chance to do whatever they need to do, whenever they think about it and on a real-time basis."

She also moved the Office of Community and Economic Development, and inspectional services to the Municipal Development Center on South Hunt Road. But larger programs such as the I AMesbury 2030 master plan initiative would have to wait until earlier this year.

"We were triaging priorities last year but we were able to get a lot of things done," Gove said.

With debt on the new elementary school project hitting the books last year, the typical homeowner is now paying over 10% more in property taxes this year.

Gove said the city has moved to increase senior tax abatement amounts, and created a senior tax work-off program to offset the rising property taxes.

"Amesbury is predominantly a single-family-occupied community. If you can no longer afford your home, you can no longer afford Amesbury. I think that is unacceptable," she said.

She said her administration is working on a new smart growth district in the East End for more housing options, from studios to three-bedroom apartments.

"This would allow people to stay in their neighborhood and stay in Amesbury but provide options outside of a single-family home."

Gove said developing a strategy to spend federal ARPA recovery funds, continuing to stabilize small businesses, and providing intergenerational programs are among her priorities if reelected.

"This is about making Amesbury the best that it can be," she said. "I have a vision and I see what it can be. I believe I have the skills to get us there and I am just devoted to this community. This is not a job that I ever thought I would ever have. But it is really important to me that our community thrive and people have the opportunity to enjoy that and get the chance to live a healthy and active lifestyle in a place that they feel safe. I love it."

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.