NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Rod Bunt quit abruptly Thursday as the city's director of tourism and cultural development.

Mayor Richard Alcombright said he and Bunt had spoken Wednesday and the parting was amicable. Bunt submitted his resignation effective today.

"I wasn't shocked, he wasn't shocked," said the mayor, who added that Bunt was planning to pursue opportunities in the private sector. "I'll miss him, he's a great guy."

Bunt told the North Adams Transcript, which broke the story earlier this afternoon, that his annual salary of $34,160 hasn't moved much since he was hired in 2001 and he "had some irons in the fire."

The former WNAW morning show host was named director for the newly created office in 2001 by former Mayor John Barrett III. He oversaw events and promotions in the city including the annual farmers' market, Winterfest and the Fall Foliage Festival.

He told the Transcript it wouldn't be fair to the city to hold the post while looking elsewhere. Bunt said he would be available to help the new director transition into the job.

"Rod's been the events guy for the city for 10-plus years," said Alcombright. "He's done a lot of things and grown a lot of events. He's been kind of the feet on the street for us."

Bunt reportedly also resigned as director of the annual Fall Foliage Parade, according to an e-mail sent from parade sponsor Berkshire Chamber of Commerce to the Parade Committee.

His name was removed from the city's website by Thursday afternoon. The mayor's administrative assistant Lisa Loomis is listed as the contact and will be the liasion to the chamber.

A call to Bunt on Thursday has not yet been returned.

With a summer season filled with the Food Festival, the return of Wilco and a giant Zumba dance fundraiser on Main Street for the annual Relay for Life, the position won't go vacant long. Bunt's departure, however, will give the city an opportunity to re-envision the job's responsibilities and write a "carefully crafted" job description, said the mayor.

That will mean searching for someone with a marketing and branding background, and possibly experience in business and the arts, to coordinate with the city's cultural and business groups. The mayor expected to post the position within the next week or so.

"I fully intend to fill the position," said Alcombright. "There are a lot of events that are in a sense city events that you can't bump off onto the private sectors."

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA Gallery 51 is hosting a panel discussion and community meeting on Thursday, March 3, about the countywide Lift Ev'ry Voice summer arts festival.

Joining festival steering committee Chairmen Shirley Edgerton and Don Quinn Kelley will be Mayor Richard Alcombright.

The meeting starts at 6:30 at the Main Street gallery.

The monthlong festival will celebrate African-American history and culture both in the Berkshires and around the world. It will be held June 19 to July 2, and local cultural and civic organizations and businesses are encouraged to be part of it by planning appropriate programs.

Gov. Deval Patrick and first lady Diane Patrick of Richmond are the honorary co-chairmen. Many of Berkshire County's cultural and civic organizatinos will be programming events as part of Lift Ev'ry Voice, including Tanglewood, the Colonial Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Clark Art Institute, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and the Upper Housatonic Valley African-American Heritage Trail.

The festival kicks off with a Juneteenth celebration on June 19 and ends with Berkshire County's only traditionally African-American neighborhood festival, the Gather-in, on July 23 in Pittsfield. Other notable events include world premiere plays at both Berkshire Theatre Festival and Barrington Stage Company; Earth, Wind and Firehttp://www.earthwindandfire.com/'s 40th anniversary World Tour at Tanglewood, and a Youth Day at Mass MoCA.

Lift Ev'ry Voice founding partners include the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, the Women of Color Giving Circle, the City of Pittsfield, Upper Housatonic Heritage, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Women's Times.

For more information visit www.liftevryvoice.com.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city is looking to pump more than $300,000 in repairs and renovations into Western Gateway Heritage State Park this spring. The hope is to have the park ready to take advantage of the completion of the Hadley Overpass and a state signage program in 2012.

"We see this now as a unique opportunity at the right time with all development that's going on to further utilize Heritage State Park," Mayor Richard Alcombright told the Redevelopment Authority on Monday. "The thing is we have to make it better or do something with it and generate some community interest ... or sell it."

The proposed renovations would include a complete landscape redesign at a cost of $100,000 to $150,000, resetting of the cobblestones, painting, replacement of doors and windows on several buildings, a new roof on Building 4, decking, and new signage. The mayor said he also would like to create a playground or child-friendly stations throughout the park.

The city has operated the park since the 1980s and its success has varied over the years. Its best-known tenant is the Freight Yard Pub; it also has a museum operated by the North Adams Historical Society, a quilt shop, theater group, coffee distributor, Northern Berkshire Community Television studios and state visitors center and museum. It's been particularly hard hit because of the ongoing work on the Hadley Overpass.

"The park is losing somewhere around $20,000 or so a year," said the mayor. "We're hopeful that with the improvements this summer, with a recommitment of the city to provide activity down there and the completion of the bridge that this will be money well-spent."

For years, officials had hoped to link the park to the Mount Greylock State Reservation but were blocked by bad road conditions to the mountain. Furnace Street and Reservoir Road have been redone in the last decade and the state spent more than $21 million and two years repairing roads around the summit.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is looking to install signage and a kiosk, possibly an information center, at the park to aid visitors in finding their way to the state's highest peak. The main visitors center is on Rockwell Road in Lanesborough; the mountain can also be reached by taking Notch Road off Route 2 through a heavy residential area.

"The hope is that Heritage State Park will become the northside visitors center for Mount Greylock," said the mayor. "What makes us very excited about that is last year, 248,000 visitors reached the summit. Let's assume 15-20 percent go up or down the north side  — that would breathe some life into the park."

He expected to spend $330,000 if the landscaping can be brought in at about $100,000. There is currently $313,000 in the park reserve account, a state grant of $50,000 and, possibly, $50,000 in unrestricted funds from DCR. The city has been maintaining the property but a project this size would be too hard to do internally, said Alcombright.

An easement agreement in being worked out with the owners of the Sons of Italy that could trade parking for access across city property to the sewer line. The parking area created on the south side of the bridge would be retained.

Chairman Paul Hopkins, Michael Leary and Kyle Hanlon were supportive but encouraged the mayor to locate parking spaces closer to the pub. Most complaints, they said, were about the distance patrons had to walk.

"It's a great start," said Leary.

The Redevelopment Authority meets as needed and has purview over select areas of the downtown. It was unclear if the park falls under its jurisdiction and for years the property has been overseen by the mayor's office.

Alcombright said it was the city solicitor's opinion that it should fall under the board, of which the mayor is a member. Besides, he said, he wanted the board in the loop particularly when spending funds.

"It's a good sum of money, it's a big project and we will come back before the authority for an appropriation," he said.