PITTSFIELD, Mass. — About this time three years ago Mayor Linda Tyer stood in front of a blighted John Street property as just a candidate.

 

She made it a focus that blight would be a major piece of her campaign. About this time next year, Mayor Linda Tyer will be a candidate again and she believes that property will no longer be in existence.

 

"This fall, finally, the house that I stood in front of on John Street during the campaign is coming down. It takes a while for us to move through this process because people have property rights, there are ownership issues, sometimes there are state issues. But we move as fast as we can in the constraints of the legal environment," Tyer said.

 

Tyer said she will be running for re-election next year and she is planning to emphasize the work she's done. 

 

"I am running for re-election. I will stack my resume and record of accomplishment against any challenger. I understand challenges are to be expected, that is part of the process. We are ready to show the community that we have actually delivered on many of our promises," Tyer said. 

 

"We were dealt a fiscal crisis that was unexpected and we have survived it through smart, nuts and bolts governing. I look forward to talking to the community again and asking for their support for another term."

 

But before then, there is still work to be done - and that includes work on blight. Those efforts have flown fairly low on the radar for the most of the city and maybe partly because finances, public safety, trash, and upgrades to the wastewater treatment center took the spotlight.

 

But as the summer cools and the city has mostly moved past those issues, Tyer said the city's efforts toward blight has been ongoing.

 

"Government is working hard for them and our commitment toward addressing blight is showing some progress. There is a lot more work to do," Tyer said.

 

As a campaign promise, Tyer formed a blighted property task force. That has been done and consists of building inspectors, fire inspectors, health inspectors, community development, and the purchasing agent. She said the group meets monthly to provide updates and discuss 109 residential and six commercial properties the city is keeping an eye on.

 

"These properties rate in various states of processes," Tyer said. 

 

It is a long process and the city uses a few tools to tackle blight. The properties have legal and ownership issues. In some cases, the city's best bet is to just raze the building altogether. Tyer said that since she took office 14 properties were demolished and another group of properties is set for the fall - including the one she stood in front of three years ago.

 

In total over the last two and a half years or so, the city put $563,906 of federal Community Development Block Grant fund, $50,000 in state grant funds, and $60,300 in city funds toward demolishing blighted properties. She said that averages about $44,500 per property.

 

Tyer twice sought additional funds for demolitions - once in the budget and once in response to the clean up of the burned down JB Paper Mill - but both times the City Council rejected to expend the funds. 

 

"We've got a lot of work to do, there is no doubt about it. But we've made significant progress. We'd like to do more but the City Council has consistently rejected our request for additional funding," Tyer said. 

 

Tyer continued to say that $77,000 was spent on nuisance abatements. Those funds are used to clean or board up properties and then a lien is placed on the deed in hopes to recoup the loss when the property is sold. In some cases receivership is an option. Tyer said four properties went into receivership, all of which were later sold, and in general six are in the receivership process with the attorney general's office.

 

During her election bid, she did say she hoped to hire more nuisance abatement officers and that hasn't happened. But, she highlighted the work the Health Department is doing saying there had been 7,174 nuisance inspections and 2,424 housing inspections. Those are in response to complaints or employees noticing things in the city and it has helped build the blighted property list.

 

"We're on it. We're coming to your neighborhood as soon as we can," Tyer said.

 

Tyer had also pitched a windows and doors ordinance for blight but she said that never came to fruition, partly because of the financial implications it would have on nuisance abatements.

 

While blighted properties are one thing, Tyer has been working on a plan to help residents upgrade their homes. A major part of the financial crisis the city has been wading through recently is due to years of stagnant housing values. Tyer has been in meetings with MassHousing and local lending institutions to come up with a plan to incentives and help residents making improvements to their homes - particularly when it comes to exterior work.

 

"We will have a more specific plan as we move into the fall," Tyer said of the program she teased during her state of the city address in January.

 

But, "part of my hesitation is that I wanted to propose to the City Council a certain sum of money from the economic development fund to put toward this housing initiative. But it turns out we have a lot of economic development prospects we are in conversations with. Now I want to use that fund to have maximum impact on economic development."

 

Now she's shifting her ideas toward how else to come up with a pool of money for such projects. Currently, the city is working with businesses to incentives them to move to the area and with some existing businesses already here about growing. She'd like to save the development funds in the city's coffers from General Electric on incentivizing that.

 

Tyer said she didn't want to reveal too much about the prospects but feels the "irons in the fire" are hot enough to warrant reservation about spending money that could be used in a package.

 

When it comes to economic development, last year the city hired Michael Coakley as the business development manager. He has taken the role of a "quarterback" in what Tyer had called a "red carpet team." Now those involved have been refining its pitch.

 

Tyer said she had a manufacturer sit down with the group and they had a presentation focused on financial incentives and the tax structure. And that's what the company was looking to hear. But then later, an e-commerce company sat down with the group and didn't care about that as much. She said it gave her pause for a second but not as much emphasis had been placed on the community lifestyle, culture, and state of the neighborhoods and downtowns in the pitch. 

 

"They have been focused really on the financial side of what it will look like for them. When we recruit someone we always think that is what they want to know. We design our presentations around here is what we can offer you," Tyer said.

 

This summer she said the economic development team has been creating videos and aspects of the presentation that incorporate those features too.

 

Tyer said she has made a point this summer in particular to "going on the road." She said she spent time listening to companies, employees, and non-profits hoping to craft another aspect of the economic development efforts. What she found is workforce development is a repeated concern.

 

"Our companies are feeling strained by a lack of a trained workforce," Tyer said. 

 

There is a pipeline in creation with the new Taconic High School, Berkshire Innovation Center, and higher education like Berkshire Community College. But Tyer said she wants to find a way to formalize partnerships between that emerging pipeline and businesses. It would be targeted in that if a student goes through Taconic's programming and then programming at the BIC and BCC, then there would be a job waiting for them at the end in a local business.

 

"We have a lot of kids who leave Pittsfield and go off to college and a lot of kids who don't. It is important that we have programs to help those kids gain the skills they need to take the jobs that are here," Tyer said.

 

What she hasn't been focused on is trash. Tyer spent most of the last summer pushing for refuse reform in the form of a toter plan. It limited the amount of trash a resident could dispose of by giving each household one trash and one recycling toter which would be emptied at no additional cost. Beyond that, residents would have had to pay.

 

It was not a well-liked plan and the City Council rejected it. The council now has it's own trash ordinance and is looking to craft a different type of reform to the system. 

 

"We took our best shot at it. I think in the last six months, I spent a lot of time self-reflecting on it and the staff has as well. We don't see a path forward at this time. The City Council has the ordinance on their desk. It is on their table," Tyer said.

 

Meanwhile, the state-headed efforts on Tyler Street have continued. The state designated the Morningside area as a Transformative Development Initiative area and is paying for a fellow to take the lead on redevelopment efforts. The city's next role is in the crafting of a design for a streetscape project.

 

"We are in the process of pulling together a streetscape design. The consultants have been selected and a steering committee will be pulled together to start developing the plans, the designs for Tyler Street," Tyer said. 

 

The former St. Mary's property is set to be redeveloped and Tyer said her administration supports that and will be putting forth funds to repair water lines to the property. That is going to be housing and Tyer said the TDI program is also working on another housing program for other areas of Morningside.

 

The mayor added that there is also interest in the former Tyler Street firehouse and city officials are working on securing a grant to do an environmental assessment on it to ease concerns the potential buyer would have.

 

Public safety has been a priority of the Tyer administration and that included hiring more officers and appointing a police chief. At Chief Michael Wynn's swearing-in last year, Tyer committed herself toward building a new police station.

 

But, there hasn't been much news on that front. State Sen. Adam Hinds was able to put $4 million into an economic development bond bill for a design and now the city has to wait to see if the governor will release it.

 

Recently the mayor also proposed a Police Advisory Committee. But, those who were originally behind the effort have been critical of it - saying it doesn't have the authority to actually be effective.

 

Tyer is sticking to her proposal saying it provides more oversight than currently rather than making changes - though she does think her proposal of it being 13 members was too large and she might ask to scale that down to seven.

 

"I do think what we proposed does offer a fair and balanced approach to strengthening relationships with the police and public. We're going to continue to advocate for the proposal we submitted," Tyer said.

 

While the mayor has appointed a police chief, Robert Czerwinski still remains as the "acting chief." Tyer said she does not intend to go through the civil service process to hire a chief, meaning Czerwinski will stay in the acting capacity, serving at the whim of the mayor, but he also doesn't have to compete for the job through an assessment center.

 

This summer was also one for the airport as a solar array project has progressed, the runway was paved, and a grant to update the master plan was reeled in. But recently Gloria Bouillon left the job as airport manager.

 

"She just had an opportunity she couldn't pass up in Beverly. We couldn't match the salary. She saw that as an opportunity for professional advancement," Tyer said.

 

"It was a huge loss. I will not hesitate to say that was tough to take. She was bright, talented, she was a key department head among staff. She had a good relationship with our public safety team. It was tough losing her."

 

Kristopher Keane has been appointed to take over on an interim basis. Tyer said the process to hire an airport manager has not yet begun.

 

This summer also featured controversy when the city kicked the Friends of Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter out of the city's property and ended the contract to take care of stray dogs. That got tied up in legal battles and Tyer continues to be relatively hushed about it. But, she said the animal control officer has been handling the city's strays well since taking over the task.

 

"We are pleased things are settled and the organization that continues to call themselves Friends of Eleanor Sonsini are on their own and not a part of this organization. We haven't made any progress in changing the structure that is in place now where our animal control officer is managing the shelter and the only time we have dogs there are the dogs our city receives when they are lost or stray. That's not a huge number," Tyer said.

 

"At this point, we are managing it without the added complications of a contract with a private group and without the added cost."

 

And more recently this summer, Gregory Crewdson used the city as the backdrop for a photography project. Tyer said the city will be looking to set up an event in 2019 to show off the outcome.