PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city has partnered with Berkshire Medical Center on a hazard mitigation grant for backup power sources.

On Tuesday, the City Council accepted $1,951,089.30 from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for a new 1250 kilowatt generator and a 12,000-gallon above-grade fuel tank connecting the new generator to the hospital's east wing electrical room.

"This is emergency power generation if we were to lose normal operating power," said Joseph LaRoche, BMC's vice president of facilities planning and construction.

Pittsfield will act as the administrator of the grant and is only responsible for reporting. BMC must contribute a $216,787 match, which is 10 percent of the project cost of more than $2.1 million.

"The city has partnered with Berkshire Medical Center to make upgrades to the facility," Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath explained.

"There were some vulnerabilities identified in the current systems at the hospital and, in fact, a number of years ago, the city, when we developed our hazard mitigation plan, it was noted that there were vulnerabilities to, I guess what would we call them, emergency power energy systems at the hospital."

He thinks it is an important project for BMC and the larger community because "we need to make certain that the hospital is powered, and this system will help achieve those goals."

"The City of Pittsfield proposes to use Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding to install one (1) new 1250 KW generator powered by an existing natural gas line on an existing concrete pad to replace two (2) existing generators at the Berkshire Medical Center Medical Arts Complex East Wing," the contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administered the grant to MEMA, explains.

"One existing generator will be removed from outside of the Medical Arts Complex (MAC) building and replaced with the new generator. The other generator will be removed from its location on the fifth-floor electrical room of the hospital's East Wing (EW) building. The project also proposes installation of one (1) new 12,000-gallon above-grade fuel tank, approximately 250 feet of conduit trench excavation connecting the new generator to the hospital's east wing electrical room, and one (1) new transformer in the east wing electrical room."

A temporary generator will be rented and placed near the Medical Arts Complex while the others are disconnected.

"The city's responsibility as part of this arrangement is that we will handle the grant reporting through a system that we are already using for some of the federal grants that we administer," McGrath said.

In other news, the council approved a 10-year tax increment financing agreement for Unistress Corp.'s $4 million expansion at 550 Cheshire Road, which is expected to create 50 new jobs.

"I just want to say that I’m thankful to Unistress for continuing to grow in the city," Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said.

In February, the council acted as a decades-defunct financing authority to OK MassDevelopment assistance for the company. Approval from the Pittsfield Industrial Development Financing Authority, formed in the 1970s, was needed to move the process forward, yet that body is far in the past.

At the time, Mayor Peter Marchetti reported that he would return with another proposal to help the company.

With a TIE, Unistress will pay about $653,000 in property taxes over the next decade, starting at 100 percent forgiveness in the first year (about $24,000) and ending at 10 percent forgiveness (about $2,750) in 2035.

The company has projected a $4,150,750 capital investment expansion that includes soft costs, construction, utility and infrastructure improvements, and the purchase of two large overhead crane systems. The property's base value in fiscal year 2025 is $1,294,700, and the completed market value is $1,920,100. The $625,400 increment will see 10 percent less forgiveness each year.

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