Two Department Heads No Longer Work For PittsfieldBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
04:49PM / Monday, February 13, 2017 | |
 Bruce Collingwood and Janis Akerstrom have both left employment with the city. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Two department heads are no longer working for the city.
Mayor Linda Tyer said Commissioner of Public Utilities Bruce Collingwood and Director of Community Development Janis Akerstrom are no longer working for the city but that plans are in place for continuity of service. The mayor said she would not comment any further because it is a personnel issue.
It is not clear whether the two were fired or had resigned.
In an email to the City Council on Friday, Tyer wrote, "I thanked them for their service to the city of Pittsfield. Their tenure with the City of Pittsfield has come to an end effective immediately."
The email went on to read that Tyer planned to assess each position and determine the most effective way to operate the departments.
She followed up with an email on Monday saying she named Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy as the interim head of Public Utilities and Bonnie Galant as the director of Community Development. Galant is the city's Community Development and housing program manager
Collingwood had been with the city for 14 years, being hired in 2002. He served as the commissioner of public utilities and spent years in charge of the Department of Public Works as well.
Akerstrom moved to the city a year and a half ago from Orlando, Fla., to take the job after Douglas Clark resigned to attend to his engineering business.
City Hall has seen a number of personnel changes since Tyer took office just over a year ago. Immediately she replaced the Director of Finance Susan Carmel with Matthew Kerwood; Building Maintenance Director Peter Sondrini with Denis Guyer; and Personnel Director John DeAngelo with Michael Taylor.
City Solicitor Kathleen Degnan and Assistant City Solicitor Darren Lee both quit and Tyer contracted with Donovan & O'Connor for legal services.
Guyer resigned from his position in November as did Airport Manager Robert Snuck, who left after barely a year because of the demands of the job.
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