NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Barring any further changes, voters will have a round dozen City Council candidates on the ballot this fall.

The potential field had been a large 18 — one short of the number for a preliminary election — but swiftly declined as the deadline drew near. Three more candidates have fallen off after the deadline passed.

The latest to withdraw is Michael Denault, who informed the city clerk on Monday that he was buying a house in Vermont, taking him out of the running. Anthony Sarkis Jr. withdrew his name earlier and incumbent David A. Bond, who took out papers late, missed the required 50 certified signatures by two.

City Clerk Marilyn

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — In 2012, Newton native Evan Falchuk grew tired of the bickering in politics. And instead of siding with the Democrats or the Republicans, he decided to side with the 53 percent of Massachusetts voters who are unenrolled.

Falchuk is a founding member of United Independent, a designation he hopes to turn into a recognized political party, and is running for governor. His platform is relatively simple — to take a practical, pragmatic approach at solving the state's problems.

"People want to be involved in the decision-making process," the 43-year-old said in an interview on Tuesday. "We're finding

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Nearly more than half the City Council will turn over in this year's municipal elections.

Among the names missing from the ballot will be Council President Michael Bloom, Alan Marden and Marie Harpin — all of whom have served for at least two decades. Also missing is another veteran of city politics, John Barrett III, who served only two years on the council but 26 as mayor.

Three potential candidates had taken out papers to challenge Mayor Richard Alcombright but only one had returned them by Tuesday: Robert R. Moulton Jr.

Not returning papers are Richard David Greene, who had been handing out his campaign

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There will not be a citywide preliminary election.

As of the deadline, there were only enough candidates to warrant a preliminary election in Wards 1 and 3. There are races in most of the other wards but there needs to be more than double the number of available seats to require a preliminary election to narrow the field.

In Ward 1, Tammy Ives and Lisa Tully are challenging incumbent Christine Yon for the City Council seat. In Ward 3, five people are vying for the seat vacated by Paul Capitanio, who is not seeking re-election. Nicholas Caccamo, Jeffery Germann, Richard Latura, Jennifer McGurn and Thomas Wells Jr. are all seeking that seat.

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: The city could see a lively mayoral preliminary election if the four potential candidates all return papers.

Ronald Boucher, former City Council president who unsuccessfully challenged Richard Alcombright's re-election two years ago, took out nomination papers on Friday. He joins potential candidates Richard David Greene and Robert R. Moulton Jr., a fellow former councilor who backed Alcombright at his first election and Boucher two years ago.

So far the only candidate to return the required nomination papers is Alcombright, who will be running for a third two-year term. Three candidates would have to return papers for a preliminary election on Sept. 24.

Five more

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