image description

Pittsfield Welcomes New Mayor, Council on Tuesday

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

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,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Lanesborough Picks Information Panel for Public Safety Proposal

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town has a public safety building proposal to present to taxpayers, and now, an informational committee will help move the process forward.

On Monday, the Select Board voted to form a public safety building informational outreach committee and re-appointed four members: Dean Clement, Daniel MacWhinnie, Mark Siegars, and Lisa Dachinger.

"The Public Safety Building Committee has done their job. Now we need, hopefully with some of those same bodies, to form a new committee of some type and move forward," Select Board member Timothy Sorrell explained.

Earlier this month, the town officials voted to advance a $7.3 million combined police/emergency medical services facility to town meeting, discarding the option for a $6.5 million separate build.  The same design, then priced at $5.9 million, was shot down in 2023.

"There is the option to go to what could be a debt exclusion, which requires a two-thirds majority at either a special town meeting or an annual town meeting, and that can be followed by inclusion in a ballot," Town Administrator Gina Dario said.

Siegars advised that if the question goes to a ballot first with a fixed project budget, that amount can't be changed for a subsequent special town meeting vote.

"In our discussions, there are committee members who are willing to stay on if you wanted to continue the committee or appoint to new one, who have volunteered to be involved with any public information sessions to try to answer the questions with the idea that that they would also explore further and work with Gina and town counsel on specifically what the question should be for a special town meeting, and if, if warranted a subsequent ballot vote," he reported.

Chairman Michael Murphy echoed the former committees' arguments that the town can't explore grants and financing until it has approved an amount.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories