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Pittsfield Welcomes New Mayor, Council on Tuesday

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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Peter Marchetti will be sworn in to a four-year term as the new mayor of Pittsfield on Jan. 2. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city will inaugurate a new mayor and swear in city councilors on Tuesday morning at City Hall.

Peter Marchetti will be sworn in for a four-year term as mayor, replacing Mayor Linda Tyer who did not seek a third term.

After unsuccessfully running for mayor in 2011, this second time was a charm for Marchetti. In November, he was victorious over John Krol in the general election with 60 percent of the vote.

The incoming mayor has a decades-long tenure with the city, serving as council president for the last eight years, and will leave behind a more than 35-year career with Pittsfield Cooperative Bank.

His administrative team will include Catherine Van Bramer, who will continue her role as director of administrative services, and Brittany Walsh will be  his executive assistant.  

Several new faces will be sworn into the City Council and School Committee.

Kathleen Amuso and Alisa Costa will join incumbent at-Large councilors Earl Persip III and Peter White.

This will be Amuso's second time as a councilor. She served two terms at large after 10 years on the School Committee until deciding not to run again in 2017, though she has been active on other boards and committees. This Costa's first election but she has been involved in a number of civic boards and was four years the initiative director for Working Cities Pittsfield.

Both Marchetti and Karen Kalinowksy eschewed re-election for councilor at-large to instead run for mayor; Kalinowski did not make it past the preliminary election.


There will be new leadership in three of the city's wards after two councilors did not seek re-election and one was ousted by their challenger.

Brittany Bandani will serve as Ward 2 councilor and Matthew Wrinn will be sworn in for Ward 3 after replacing Charles Kronick and Kevin Sherman, respectively, decided not to run for re-election. Rhonda Serre won the Ward 7 seat over incumbent Anthony Maffuccio.

Returning are Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, Ward 4 Councilor James Conant and Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, all of whom were unopposed, and Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi, who was unsuccessfuly challenged. 

Newcomer School Committee members Diana Belair, William D. Garrity Jr. and Dominick C. Sacco will join incumbents William Cameron, Daniel Elias and Sara L. Hathaway.

City Clerk Michele Benjamin will also be sworn in.

The public is invited to join the inauguration ceremony in council chambers at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2, and the event will be streamed on Pittsfield Community Television. Following the ceremony, Marchetti is hosting a public reception at Hot Plate Brewing Co. with light hors d'oeuvres from Otto's Kitchen and Comfort.
 


Tags: inauguration,   swearing in,   

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Berkshire Planning Commission Approves 'Conservative' FY25 Budget

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has a "conservative" budget for fiscal year 2025 with a nearly 6 percent increase.

On Thursday, the commission approved a $6,640,005 budget for FY25, a $373,990 increase from the previous year.  The spending plan saw less growth from FY24 to FY25, as the FY23 to FY24 increase was more than $886,000, or over 16 percent.

Executive Director Thomas Matuszko said there aren't any dramatic changes.  

"This is very much different than a municipal budget in that it's not a controlling budget or a limiting budget," he said. "It is really just our best estimate of our ability to afford to operate."

The increase is largely due to new grants for public health programs, environmental and energy efforts, economic development, community planning, and the transportation program.

"We have a lot of grants and a lot of applications in. If any of those are awarded, which I'm sure there's going to be many of them, we would shift gears and if we have to add staff or direct expenses, we would," office manager Marianne Sniezek explained.

"But the budget that we have now is conservative and it covers all our expenses."

The budget was endorsed by the finance and executive committee before reaching the full planning commission.

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