Councilor Kevin Morandi is presented with a plaque for his service. Morandi was one of five outgoing councilors recognized at their last meeting on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council approved an amended petition by Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio that better aligns the city's ordinance on snowmobiles with Mass General Law (MGL.)

The councilor wanted to mimic the state statute by adding snow vehicles to the city ordinance, which previously excluded that type of vehicle. For unknown reasons, snowmobiles have been locally exempt.

Maffuccio believes there will be better enforcement of snowmobile regulations if the city ordinance is the same as MGL, which was already enforceable.

"This protects my residents, their quality of life and it gives them an avenue now to call the police and they can be addressed," he said. "The Police Department with all due respect, which I'm a big supporter, do not take the time to go off for Mass General Law, they go off of city ordinances."

The Berkshire Snow Seekers snowmobile group originally opposed the ordinance but after working with Maffuccio to make amendments, showed up in support. President Chris Rogers and Vice President Kirk Stanaway affirmed this during public comment. 

In addition, the room was filled with affiliates who came to support the cause.

The first amendments state that the vehicles cannot be operated within 150 feet of an occupied residence without permission. The city code currently had the barrier set at 300 feet.

The other amendment states that the snowmobiles "shall be allowed on city lakes during the winter months." The original language said that they "may be."

Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon also suggested that the usage of "his or hers" in the ordinance be changed to "their" for inclusivity.

The snowmobilers feel that this ordinance actually supports them, allowing definite access to the lake during the winter and decreasing the barrier from a residence that they are permitted to ride in.

"They all came out to show up for this originally thinking it was going to hurt their community but I think now the understanding is this is going to help the snowmobile community, Councilor at Large Earl Persip III observed.

The motion passed 10-1 with Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi voting in opposition.

"Having another ordinance on the books that is already codified in Mass General Law, I don't support that," she said. "We don't have a mechanism to enforce it, I really think that [Police Chief Michael Wynn] should be part of this conversation in terms of coming up with a strategy with [Mayor Linda Tyer] and how are we going to address the problem that our constituents are bringing forward."

Other city councilors also brought up concerns with enforcement, citing the understaffed Police Department.

Though he voted for the ordinance, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said it has been discussed for four meetings now and he found that excessive for an ordinance that is almost a copy and paste of MGL.  

"It's already a law, so why are we writing a law that's already the law into place in the city when it's already an enforceable law by the Police Department and the State Police?" he said.

"I also I don't think the police are going to be able to enforce it, but I think they also have other things they should be focused on when they don't have enough officers, we will have a group of people in the city complain about something and then we overregulate, overregulate overregulate it and make it so the general population can't continue to do what they've been doing because there are people who are upset about it."

This was the last City Council of the term that was elected in 2019. In keeping with tradition, President Peter Marchetti presented five outgoing councilors with a plaque on behalf of the citizens of Pittsfield to thank them for their service to the community.

Moon, Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi, Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo, and Ward 4 Councilor Chris Connell did not seek re-election. Councilor at Large Yuki Cohen was not voted back into office.
 

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