Pittsfield Council Accepts $8M in GE Rest of River FundsBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:22AM / Wednesday, January 10, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city now has $8 million in PCB pollution settlement funds to support economic development.
The City Council on Tuesday accepted the payment of $8,000,000 from General Electric Corp. per the Rest of River settlement agreement on the cleanup of the Housatonic River. The funds will be put into the city's Economic Development Fund which supports growing businesses in the community.
Mayor Peter Marchetti explained that the cleanup has been making its way south for years.
"Once all the communities in the Berkshires agreed, Pittsfield’s payment was $8 million along with some other items that we've accepted previously including some of the land by GE," he said.
Some of the Economic Development Fund appropriations over the last few years include $960,000 for the extension of water and sewer lines along Dan Fox Drive connecting the lines immediately to Bousquet Mountain, $140,000 for Hot Plate Brewing Co., and $250,000 for Electro Magnetic Applications Inc. to develop a characterization testing chamber.
In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup of the Housatonic River from Pittsfield to the Connecticut border was signed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, General Electric, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.
As part of the agreement, GE was to give $8 million to the city. Formerly called the GE Fund, the account was established in 2000 with $10 million from GE as part of the consent decree for the cleanup of the company's Pittsfield facility and surrounding areas. It also created the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority and conveyed what is now the William Stanley Business Park to the city.
According to the agreement, GE is to pay a total of $55 million to Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield to distribute among themselves. In addition to Pittsfield’s $8 million, GE donated the land and building that it owns on Woodlawn Avenue to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority which is now the William Stanley Business Park.
The council also re-accepted state funds for the revitalization of Pontoosuc Lake Park and received clarification on the process.
In November, it was announced that the state fully funded a grant request for the revisioning of Pontoosuc Lake Park, a well-loved gem for sightseeing and recreation.
The $500,000 boost is being matched by city funds, totaling $1 million, and construction is expected to begin next summer.
To facilitate this, the council approved three Orders regarding the reacceptance of grant funds from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for the Pontoosuc Lake Park Project: Order 1 rescinding Order 120 of the series of 2023; Order 2 authorizing to borrow a sum not to exceed $500,000.00 for the Pontoosuc Lake Park Improvement Project; and Order 3 to expend funds for the Pontoosuc Lake Park Improvement Project.
There were some questions about the "borrowing," that Marchetti explained is a correction from the past council.
"We received a grant for the $500,000 for the Pontoosuc renovations. The grant is a reimbursable grant so we asked you to pull back the original city council approval," he said.
"We're coming forward with a borrowing for $500,000 so that we have the money to be able to pay that. I do believe that the order specifically says that when we receive reimbursements we're going to pay off the borrowing."
Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren asked what the cost of the borrowing is and Finance Director Matthew Kerwood explained that it is zero.
"We're receiving a $500,000 grant for the project so therefore, this borrowing will not even take place," he said.
He added that the program requires the legislative body to appropriate the money for the project upfront with the idea that it's then reimbursed.
"If I don't have the borrowing authorization and I don't have the cash flow, then I can't continue the project," Marchetti explained. "So it is there purely as a mechanism to allow us the opportunity if we need to if we don't have cash flow to be able to pay the bills to get reimbursed."
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