image description
Some city councilors were frustrated Tuesday night that projects they approved were never completed.

Pittsfield Cleaning Up Financial Books Regarding Bonding

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood was peppered with questions about why certain projects weren't done, but he wasn't in his current position when that happened. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood is looking to clean up the books on some $69 million worth of City Council bond authorizations that were never spent.
 
Kerwood says the city has a total of $190 million in authorizations to borrow for projects dating back a number of years. That includes the $120 million authorization for the new Taconic High School, which will be needed as the project continues but still leaves about $69 million in authorized but unspent funds.
 
The City Council approved a request to rescind $675,000 of the remainder Tuesday night in efforts to close out projects that were either never done or came in under budget.
 
"The majority of the projects that are on that list have been completed. The funds that you see to be rescinded are residual funds," Kerwood told the council.
 
However, the council was taken aback that a few projects for which it had approved funding were never accomplished. The rescinding orders date back to 2008 and includes some larger ticket items, such as $169,000 for South Landfill drainage projects. That was money left over from 2008 when two projects regarding the landfill and area were approved totaling $390,000.
 
Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo had a series of questions attempting to track down how that authorization was spent, wondering if the city spent some of the money on engineering and then never followed through with the construction work. 
 
Kerwood said one of the authorizations was for the King Street dump in response to the state Department of Environmental "putting pressure" on the city to address concerns. But, after the order was made, the DEP "backed off" and the urgency to complete the project dissipated. So that work was never completed.
 
Some work was completed with the nearby South Landfill for projects, but not all of the authorization was spent and the rest is already bonded and accounted for in the debt services line.
 
Mazzeo continued to prod about what level of work was or wasn't done. But Kerwood wasn't in his role at the time and was short on answers. The questions should be directed to the department heads at the time, he's just cleaning up the financial paperwork, he said.
 
"I think it is unfair for you to be asking me about why or why not these projects were done," said Kerwood, who was appointed to his post in January. "This is money that was left over for the most part. There were a few projects for whatever reason didn't go forward. I can't speak to the specifics."
 
In 2010, the City Council approved $50,000 to repair heating units at Conte Community School and Morningside Community School. Those, too, went unspent and instead money for the repairs have been coming from the Building Maintenance budget. Acting Director of Building Maintenance Brian Filiault said he didn't even know about that bond authorization or else he would have tapped into those funds instead.
 
In 2011, the council approved $83,000 to replace boilers at the Police Department. But, an administrative decision was made not to replace them and instead just repair them through the Building Maintenance Department.
 
"There is no desire to replace the boilers at the Police Department with the understanding that this won't be the police department building in the future," Kerwood said.
 
Those three projects were just a few of the ones Kerwood had reviewed recently when looking over the bond authorizations. He said those projects, coupled with other authorizations that came in low were unneeded. If those projects ever do move forward, he said they would probably need more money and a new authorization anyway.
 
But that the projects weren't done at all are what irritated a few of the councilors. Mazzeo said every year the capital budget is debated and review thoroughly by the City Council, and debate had been so hot that one year a budget was never approved. She said those projects approved were always seen as a necessity and years later the projects are still not complete.
 
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli echoed that sentiment saying, "My concern is that at one point in time, every one of these projects was deemed necessary and needed."
 
Another such project was renovating the assessor's office. In 2008, the council approved $70,000 for that project. On Tuesday, the council approved taking some of that bonding authorization and putting it toward a project approved this year that was short on money. Kerwood said the administration has no intention of completing the assessor's office project.
 
"I sat in that chair and approved that capital project. Here we are seven or eight years later, the project originally envisioned was never done. There was some work done in the assessor's office but in talking to those who were around at the time, the work that was done was taken out of the building maintenance operation budget," said Kerwood, who was a city councilor at the time. "It wasn't a lot of work. They cut a hole and made a doorway."
 
The City Council pulled just short of $26,000 from that authorization and rescinded the rest. That $26,000 was transferred to the authorization to replace the counter at the tax collector's office — a project costing $56,000.
 
According to Purchasing Agent Colleen Hunter Mullett, the bids for the construction came in above the $40,000 allocated for both architectural designs and construction. The additional $26,000 will fully fund that project. 
 
"We don't have the time to do that in-house. We are so bogged down by our own projects and maintenance,"  Filiault said.
 
He said the project is a full demolition and rebuilding of the counter. That includes replacing the electrical and data systems. The counter needs to be custom made, Filiault said, adding to the cost. He said his department has the skills and the talent to do the project but not the time. The architectural work is required because of the size of the building, he said.
 
Additionally, provisions have to be made to keep the tax-collecting operations going during the two-week period in which the counter will be under construction.
 
"It is all custom made," he said. "It is a lot of money, no question about it, but there is a lot in the project."
 
Mazzeo, however, quipped that with a price like that she could renovate an entire kitchen. While Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell said, "I think we're trying to put a Cadillac in a Chevrolet garage." 
 
While Kerwood is trying to clean up the authorizations, he said there is still a lot more authorized debt available, which can be moved around similar to what was done with the assessor's project and the tax counter.
 
He and Mayor Linda Tyer are implementing a new system for capital projects, which will be released to department heads soon.
 
"You can be sure Matt and I will be holding department heads accountable for their requests," Tyer said.
 
Tyer said the new plan asks for such things from department heads as follow-ups on previous projects and project timeliness. The hope is that bond authorizations aren't on the books for nearly decades at a time. 
 
"We have a new structure in place for what that five-year capital plan will look like," Tyer said.
 
Kerwood said the administration will be working to ensure the projects are actually done in a timely manner. And in the end, the efforts to clean up unused authorizations will help the bond rating, he said. 

Tags: bonding,   capital projects,   municipal finances,   

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

Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories