GREENFIELD — After two years of representing Precinct 7, Jasper Lapienski has submitted his resignation from City Council, effective Jan. 1, 2024.

“I plan to focus my time and energy on my work with the Jewish community, where I believe that it will be more fully appreciated,” Lapienski wrote in an email to the Recorder on Monday.

He said in an interview later that he isn’t necessarily a political person.

“It’s not my thing,” he said.

In celebration of the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this month, Lapienski constructed and placed the first menorah in roughly 30 years on the Greenfield Common. He also hosted a public illumination ceremony, believed to be the city’s first, on the seventh night of the holiday.

“It was such a beautiful thing to see the community come out every night and light the menorah, and wanting to be so engaged,” Lapienski said. “I didn’t build and place the menorah with the intention of using it as a launching point for something else. I was very much pleasantly surprised to see how much people were interested in that kind of thing.”

City Council President Dan Guin said he had accepted Lapienski’s resignation, which he submitted to the city clerk’s office Monday morning.

“It was good working with him,” he said. “And I wish him all the best.”

Lapienski was elected in November 2021 to serve a four-year term, ending in 2025. In August 2022, citing frustration with remote meetings, he sought to resign from his assigned subcommittee meetings: Appointments and Ordinances and Community Relations and Education.

Also in August 2022, City Council censured Lapienski for “derogatory comments on the floor” and for using news media outlets to disrespect and attack other councilors and city employees. The censure followed calls from the public for his resignation after a letter he penned in the Recorder after the paper publicized Turners Falls photographer Anja Schütz’s “Pro-Roe” photography project, featuring models wearing white T-shirts with pro-choice phrases. Lapienski took issue with fellow councilor Marianne Bullock, who modeled wearing swimsuit bottoms and a shirt saying “Abort the Court.”

Reflecting on the two years he served as a city councilor, Lapienski said his experience was “one of frustration.”

“There were a lot of things I thought we could have done, but nobody wanted to do them,” he said. “I generally met resistance when I wanted to do anything.”

Still, he said, the decision wasn’t an easy one.

“I recognize that I represent, demographically, a lot of categories that will not continue to be represented, and that’s one reason why this decision was not easy,” he said, listing his faith as one of those groups, as well as his status as a landlord. “Because of this decision, I will continue to be an advocate for people who don’t have one on the council when it makes sense to do so.”

Lapienski’s resignation follows the resignation of Doug Mayo, who represented Precinct 8 until September. The City Council is expected to consider the appointment of Lora Wondolowski to fill the Precinct 8 vacancy at its meeting on Wednesday.

In her letter of interest, Wondolowski indicated she is a 20-year resident of Greenfield with a background in nonprofit work and political campaigns. She has served on several area boards, including the Connecticut River Conservancy, the United Way of Pioneer Valley, the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, the Pride Zone and Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center.

Due to the fact it isn’t currently an agenda item, the soon-to-be vacant position in Precinct 7, however, will not be discussed. Guin said information on the process for filling the vacancy left by Lapienski will be forthcoming.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter (X): @MaryEByrne.