Pittsfield Council Moves 10 Department Budgets Forward / Pittsfield.com

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council preliminarily approved 10 departmental budgets totaling $5,811,456 on Wednesday that included the creation of an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with a half-year budget of about $100,000.

There were no alterations made to budget line items despite several attempted amendments but the council did reject a request by the Country Club of Pittsfield for project funding through the Community Preservation Act Fund. That fund is replenished 1 percent surcharge on certain property taxes.

The council did take a swipe at the Health Department when a motion to cut $30,000 out of its budget failed by one vote. The five councilors voting to cut the budget referenced the Health Departments reticence in taking up the cell tower health issues brought forward by residents last year.

The budgets for RSVP, Information Technology, Berkshire Athenaeum, Building Maintenance, Pittsfield Municipal Airport, Human Resources, the new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Community Development, Community Preservation, Health Department and Building Inspector were reviewed during the three-hour meeting.

The next meeting of the Committee of the Whole is Monday at 6 p.m. when the School Department budget will be reviewed.

The Pittsfield Municipal Airport's budget of $284,728 was approved with some conversation around the Maintenance line item.

Connell motioned to reduce the level-funded Maintenance line by $5,000, which did not pass.

During this segment, the conversation became tense between Council President Peter Marchetti and Connell, as Connell's audio over the Zoom platform was hard to hear.

"That's why we need to have these meetings in person," Connell said, to which Marchetti replied that he is the only member of the council who "cannot seem to figure it out."

The budget preliminarily passed in a 10-1 vote with Connell opposing.

Account Name	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2021 Approval	2022 Approval
Airport Manager	$59,659	$61,460	$61,837	$62,445	$66,265
Assistant Airport Manager	$47,755	$49,220	$50,696	$51,566	$54,768
Airport Inspector	$34,155	$39,598	$40,785	$41,396	$45,623
Scheduled Overtime	$15,000	$15,000	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Commission Clerk	$1,872	$1,872	$1,872	$1,872	$1,872
Contractual Services	$12,000	$12,000	$12,000	$12,000	$12,000
Utilities	$56,800	$56,800	$56,800	$55,000	$55,000
Telephone	$2,200	$2,200	$2,200	$2,200	$2,200
Maintenance	$33,500	$30,000	$30,000	$28,000	$28,000
Snow Removal	$4,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000
Membership and Dues	$0	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500
Supplies	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500
Equipment	$1,500	$0	$0	$0	$0
Total	$270,941	$277,150	$275,190	$273,479	$284,728

Human Resources

The budget of $218,982 is $17,277 more than the previous year and is attributed to salary increases.

Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon asked the Director of Huma Resources Michael Taylor why there is a line item for Diversity and Inclusion when the city is implementing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department.

Taylor said there will still be an element of DEI that falls under his department despite the new office.

"We're still going to work very collaboratively with this new office, whether it's on recruitment and retention efforts, or it's on professional development," he explained. "And instituting the recommendations on that DEI group had a pretty heavy professional development component and training requirement, not just for city employees, also city boards, commissions, elected officials and so forth."

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi motioned to reduce the department's medical services by $5,000 which did not pass.

The budget was passed in a 7-4 vote with Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, Morandi, and Connell opposing.

Account Name	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2021 Approval	2022 Approval
Director of Human Resources	-	-	-	$76,951	$90,430
Human Resources Specialist	-	-	-	$44,654	$48,452
Training	$4,500	$3,500	$5,000	$13,500	$13,500
Educational Opportunity	$4,500	$3,500	$5,000	$0	$0
City Physician/ Medical Services	$45,000	$45,000	$40,000	$30,000	$30,000
Online Application Program	$5,600	$5,600	$5,600	$5,600	$5,600
Advertising	$2,000	$2,500	$3,000	$3,000	$3,000
Diversity and Inclusion		$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000
Postage	$0	$0	$0		$0
Supplies	$3,000	$2,500	$3,000	$3,500	$3,500
Assessment Centers	$26,000	$19,500	$19,500	$19,500	$19,500
Total	$194,322	$196,825	$200,857	$201,705	$218,982

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The council preliminarily approved a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion six-month budget of $99,760.

"It's important to point out that if the city council approved this budget this evening, that there will be some administrative work that has to be undertaken," Mayor Tyer said in regard to the new department.

"For example, we will have to draft an ordinance to create the department which you will then have an opportunity to review, we will be assigned tuning the job descriptions, those job descriptions will go through the personnel Review Board process, and we will also have a chance to review and vote on those, so there's administrative work to do in, which is why you're seeing only a six-month budget."

Connell had a failed motion to cut the department's expenses in half, deducting $10,750. He cited concerns about the new department and worried that the administration has overestimated its spending.

City officials said budget was made to be "fairly conservative" and requires these figures to properly educate and pay its staff.

Morandi said he does not approve of this new department "at all," citing concerns of the financial impact of COVID-19.

The departmental budget was preliminarily approved in a 9-2 vote with Connell and Morandi voting in opposition.

Account Name	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2021 Approval	2022 Approval
Chief Diversity Officer	-	-	-	-	$51,610
Administrative Assistant	-	-	-	-	$18,250
DEI Ambassadors	-	-	-	-	$8,400
Contractual Services	-	-	-	-	$10,000
Recruitment and Retention	-	-	-	-	$5,000
Professional Development	-	-	-	-	$5,000
Supplies	-	-	-	-	$1,000
Travel & Dues	-	-	-	-	$500
Total	-	-	-	-	$99,760

Community Development

The Office of Community Development's budget of $734,391 was preliminarily approved unanimously.

In this budget, Downtown Pittsfield Inc. had a 19.9 percent increase in funding partly because of the "significant role" it had in helping downtown businesses during the pandemic.

Connell questioned Finance Director Matthew Kerwood, City Planner CJ Hoss, and Director of Community Development Deanna Ruffer on the administrative costs associated with Community Preservation Act funds.

The council reportedly received an email from Ruffer regarding the excess revenues that were not applied in specific line items and Connell assumed these were administrative costs. He asked why the department doesn't reduce a line item in the amount of the approximate administrative revenue from the CPA funds so that residents are not taxed on it.

"The general fund does not pay for any of the expenses associated with the operation and functioning of the Community Preservation. So I want to certainly make that clear," Kerwood said. "There's a formula that allocates the number of administrative costs, the amount of the cost to go into each of the buckets. And that's set by statute."

Account Name	2017 Approval	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2022 Approval
Director	$40,851	$41,712	$45,148	$46,788	$50,644
Parks Open Space Planner	$64,001	$64,000	$67,842	$70,306	$75,727
City Planner	$61,150	$60,916	$62,998	$65,286	$70,666
Conservation Agent	$50,851	$52,833	$54,028	$55,647	$58,171
Planning Administrator	$4,000	$0	$0	$0	$0
Administrative Coordinator	$40,905	$41,671	$35,853	$36,553	$39,273
Business Development Manager	$0	$0	$29,071	$30,880	$32,778
Community Development Specialist	$47,579	$50,677	$63,460	$87,316	$93,074
Administrative Assistant	$7,192	$6,381	$6,639	$6,274	$6,722
Playground Leaders	$18,879	$18,356	$17,700	$20,400	$2,000
ZBA Clerk	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Seasonal Labor	$17,195	$15,000	$14,625	$15,000	$10,000
Recreation Coordinator	$40,905	$41,671	$42,613	$43,686	$48,441
Human Services	$138,000	$107,000	$84,000	$71,750	$71,750
Regional Brownfields Program					$2,000
Land Use and Zoning	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000
Lake Management	$35,000	$54,950	$51,950	$52,000	$60,000
Supplies	$8,000	$7,995	$9,000	$7,500	$10,000
Recreation Programs	$7,500	$7,500	$7,300	$7,500	$7,500
Downtown Inc.	$32,250	$24,185	$24,185	$29,185	$35,000
Tyler Street Business Group	$10,000	$2,500	$0	$0
Planning Studies	$15,000	$5,000	$7,000	$7,000	$25,000
BRPC Assessment	$0	$33,928	$34,776	$35,645	$35,645
Total	$641,258	$666,938	$660,188	$690,716	$734,391

Community Preservation

The sum of $743,451.75 was preliminarily approved for the FY22 Community Preservation fund as follows:

$29,106.60 for Administrative Expenses
$58,213.20 for Historic Resources
$58,213.20 for Community Housing
$58,213.20 for Open Space and Recreation
$378,385.80 of FY2022 revenues and $161,319.75 of FY2021 for Community Preservation Fund purposes

The panel voted to support 12 of the 13 projects proposed for Community Preservation Act funds totaling $1,140,509.95.

In a 6-4 vote supported by Councilor Dina Guiel Lampiasi, Helen Moon, Patrick Kavey, Kevin Morandi, Anthony Maffuccio, Christopher Connell, and Nicholas Caccamo, the panel voted not to fund a $15,000 Chimney Restoration Project at the Country Club of Pittsfield.

Persip abstained because he is a member of the club.

Councilors cited concerns of Community Preservation Funds being awarded to a private club that is known to have an "affluent" member base.

Health Department

The $510,113 Health Department budget narrowly passed with 6-5 vote. Councilors Kavey, Connell, Morandi, Maffuccio, and Persip voted in opposition.

In Marchetti's first count, he forgot to include himself in the vote which made the motion fail. He then recounted and confirmed that the budget was preliminarily passed in a close vote.

Connell made a failed motion to defund the Health Department by $100,000 because of "some of the events that have taken place in the past year, especially regarding the lack of response to residents that live in proximity to the South Street cell tower."

"In the 1800s when ships are on high waters, and they want to send a warning shot, this is a shot across the bow," Connell said. "So I'm going to make a reduction or amendment or reduction, monitor $100,000 to the entire department. So the possibly the director can redo her staff, and use the extra money to possibly hire experts going forward."

The council does not have the ability to make motions that interfere with contractual obligations such as salaries so Connell had to change the motion to reduce the department by $30,000.

Moon pointed out that reducing the department's funding would impact response times to residents' concerns negatively because they would have fewer resources.

Mayor Linda Tyer defended the nearly $9,000 increase in the health director's salary, saying she had been given a bump mid-year of 9 percent and a 12 percent raise after her evaluation. Tyer cited the health director's "exemplary" efforts in leading the city through public health crisis of the past year and to bring her salary more in line with her responsibilities..

Account Name	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2021 Approval	2022 Approval
Board of Health Director	$64,023	$67,606	$70,062	$71,814	$80,500
Senior Sanitarian	$46,918	$48,822	$50,918	$52,832	$57,411
Inspector of Weights and Measures	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Animal Inspector	$4,500	$4,500	$4,500	$4,500	$4,500
Sanitarians	$83,565	$86,935	$90,663	$94,174	$98,593
Senior Code Enforcement Inspector	$46,918	$48,822	$50,918	$48,703	$50,988
Nuisance Control Officer	$33,279	$36,835	$38,406	$37,657	$39,424
Officer Manager	$34,956	$37,745	$39,371	$40,850	$41,622
Public Health Nurse	$48,920	$51,659	$54,605	$68,690	$72,537
Administrative Assistant	$29,266	$30,831	$35,489	$36,911	$32,838
Board of Health Clerk	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500
Water Testing	$1,200	$1,200	$1,200	$1,500	$1,500
Uniforms	$1,200	$1,200	$1,200	$1,700	$1,700
Contractual Services	$1,000	$1,500	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000
Telephone	$3,450	$1,500	$1,500	$1,700	$1,500
Equipment Maintenance	$4,500	$4,500	$4,500	$4,500	$3,000
Education and Training	$3,000	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000
Nuisance Abatement	$10,000	$10,000	$7,000	$7,000	$5,000
Code Enforcement	$4,300	$2,000	$3,000	$3,000	$2,500
Advertising	$300	$0	$0	$0	$0
Property Demolitions	$25,000	$23,00	$23,000	$0	$0
Medical Supplies	$7,000	$7,000	$9,000	$9,000	$9,000
Supplies	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000
Total	$456,795	$471,155	$492,832	$492,031	$510,113

Building Inspectors

The Building Inspector's budget of $491,622 is up $27,989, or 6 percent, over this year. The major change is shifting the senior clerk from part time to full time. Building Commissioner Jeffrey Clemons said the clerk is in charge of processing multi-family certificate of inspections that can fall through the cracks. "This person is the third person I've had in my two years in the position," Clemons said, believing the part-time hours were responsible for that. Persip said he was glad to see the move because the clerks play an important role and believed that this positions would pay for itself "very easily."

The budget passed unanimously and the council immediately moved to adjourn.

Account Name	2018 Approval	2019 Approval	2020 Approval	2021 Approval	2022 Approval
Senior Wire Inspector	$52,835	$54,700	$56,075	$57,532	$58,395
Building Commissioner	$64,022	$67,606	$70,062	$76,398	$81,783
Head Clerk	$33,525	$34,900	$34,890	$36,061	$37,609
Senior Clerk	$0	$0	$15,350	$15,350	$29,543
Building Inspectors	$149,205	$152,600	$158,816	$163,757	$169,180
Plumbing and Gas Inspector	$49,305	$51,305	$53,911	$48,890	$50,987
Inspector of Weights and Measures			$41,578	$44,164	$46,059
Temporary Labor	$6,000	$6,000	$3,000	$4,800	$4,800
Uniforms	$1,500	$3,000	$3,600	$3,600	$3,600
Telephone	$3,500	$3,500	$3,500	$3,665	$3,666
Supplies	$10,000	$10,000	$7,500	$9,416	$6,000
Total	$369,892	$383,611	$448,282	$463,633	$491,622