Pittsfield Council Asks Mayor To Hire Efficiency Consultant

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
05:02PM / Wednesday, December 10, 2014Print Story | Email Story

The City Council approved the request for an efficiency consultant 7-4 on Tuesday night.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council is asking the mayor to hire an outside consultant to find ways to cut operating costs.

The City Council voted 7-4 Tuesday to send a request to the mayor to hire a "Lean Six Sigma" consultant.

The concept combines business methodologies of Lean (often used in manufacturing processes) and Six Sigma to streamline processes, reduce waste and improve customer service.

The effort was headed by Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso, who said the consultants will be able to look at purchasing and processes to find ways to be more efficient with the tax dollars.

"This is one of the times where I think a consultant will pay for itself. We will get that money back," she said.

Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo supported the idea saying that bring in "new eyes" to look at the processes could be beneficial. Amuso said consultants who were once hired for Berkshire Health Systems returned with an array of options — some easily implemented and some more difficult.

However, some councilors say spending money on a consultant isn't needed and that department heads can do the job.

"I'm not going to support this in regard to asking the mayor to hire a consultant. I don't think we need to hire a consultant. The mayor needs to get the department heads together to ask these questions," Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli said.

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi said there should be a committee formed and department heads brought together to look for cost savings.

"I honestly think this should be an ongoing process. We should be doing this all of the time," said Council Vice President Christopher Connell.

Caccamo, however, pointed out that all of the department heads said they were level funded and have cut everything out already during the budgeting process.

"We need a new set of eyes coming in here who can see things that we can't on the inside," added Ward 1 Councilor Lisa Tully.

Connell joined Councilor at Large Barry Clairmont, Morandi and Simonelli in voting against it. The rest of the council approved it.

The council tabled a request for $1.1 million from the sewer enterprise fund to the Department of Utility's operating budget. The funds are intended to be used to replace two boilers and the roof. The Finance Subcommittee approved the expense but added it wanted more information from Commissioner of Public Utilities Bruce Collingwood.

Collingwood had to leave prior to that item coming up for discussion so he was unavailable to answer questions.

Some councilors said they had concerns with spending that amount at once instead of in phases. The funding is for all steps — design and construction.

"We should have more control over the dollars," Clairmont said. "I am not against the project. I just think we should pay for the design phase at this point and deal with the construction later."

The council also approved changing the zoning on Center Street to make way for a parking lot for the proposed Hotel on North.

Tags: consultant, efficiencies,

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Pittsfield Schools Schedule Morningside, Budget Hearings This Week

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:23AM / Monday, April 06, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee will hold another public hearing for the potential closure of Morningside Community School.

On Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m., community members will have the chance to give feedback in the Reid Middle School library. Last month, the Pittsfield Public Schools announced the possible closure of Morningside, which serves elementary grades, for the 2026-2027 school year and redistribution of its students to other city schools.

In the last couple of weeks, the district has solicited input from employees and community members through meetings at the school.

Morningside Community School was built in the mid-1970s with an open classroom concept. Morningside serves about 374 students and has a 7 percent accountability score, outperformed by 93 percent of the state.

For fiscal year 2027, the district has allocated about $5.2 million for the school. The committee has also requested a version of the proposed $87.2 million district budget with Morningside closed.

Pittsfield has another open concept school, Conte Community School, that is planned to consolidate with Crosby Elementary School, and possibly Stearns Elementary School, in a new building on the Crosby site by 2030. The status of the project's owner's project manager will be discussed on Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. at Taconic High School during the School Building Needs Commission meeting.

That leaves the school officials wondering if Morningside students could have better educational outcomes if resources followed them to other nearby schools. Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips has stressed that a decision has not yet been made.

Considerations for the school’s closure include: The feasibility of the facility to provide a conducive teaching and learning environment with an open campus design, the funding allocation needed to ensure Morningside students can have equitable learning opportunities, and declining enrollment across Pittsfield elementary schools.