Mayor Peter Marchetti presents Albert Ingegni III with a certificate of appreciation for his four decades of service on the ZBA in this PCTV screenshot.

Albert Ingegni III tells the council about how his father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo who died at age 94 in 2020, enjoyed his many years serving the city and told Ingegni to do the same. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's not every day that a citizen is recognized for decades of service to a local board — except for Tuesday.

Albert Ingegni III was applauded for four decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals during City Council. Mayor Peter Marchetti presented him with a certificate of thanks for his commitment to the community.

"It's not every day that you get to stand before the City Council in honor of a Pittsfield citizen who has dedicated 40 years of his life serving on a board or commission," he said.

"As we say that, I know that there are many people that want to serve on boards and commissions and this office will take any resume that there is and evaluate each person but tonight, we're here to honor Albert Ingegni."

The honoree is currently chair of the ZBA, which handles applicants who are appealing a decision or asking for a variance.

Ingegni said he was thinking on the ride over about his late father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo, who told him to "enjoy every moment of it because it goes really quickly."

"He was right," he said. "Thank you all."

The council accepted $18,000 from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and a  $310,060 from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program.

The $310,060 will go toward the Planning for Safety in the Heart of the Berkshires project that will develop a comprehensive safety action plan, create a traffic-calming toolkit, and implement pilot demonstration activities.  There is a $78,000 required match that will be funded through Chapter 90.

The $18,000 will cover the hiring of boat ramp monitors over the summer, with are paid between $16.95 and $18.06 an hour. These positions are especially important because of a possible zebra mussel infestation in Onota Lake.

The city is currently testing to determine if there is a zebra mussel colonization near the lake's boat ramp after a water sample showed the invasive species' DNA last fall.

Mitigation efforts began in 2009 when zebra mussels were found in Laurel Lake in Lee. From then to last fall, the city was in "prevention of invasion" mode; after the detection, it moved to rapid response mode with the intent of eradicating any pioneer infestation.

Earlier this month, the Conservation Commission OK'd a pesticide treatment if the invasive species are confirmed.

"We've spent a lot of time and effort since 2009 to prevent the introduction of zebra muscles into our city water bodies and even to the point of searching for zebra mussel DNA annually at our city lakes," Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath said.

"In September we found one sample had zebra mussel DNA and that really caused some red flags to myself and the team that I work with locally and with the state so we're now in a position of really trying to understand what's happening at Onota Lake and the only way we can determine that is through further water sampling for eDNA."

There haven't been any additional detections and more monitoring is being done next week.

McGrath stressed the importance of clean boating, whether the city is preventing zebra mussels from entering or leaving the lake.

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