Matthew Kudlate's Bid for Ward 2 Focuses on Needs of Constituents
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Former Pittsfield firefighter and small-business owner Matthew Kudlate is running to represent Ward 2 on the City Council with an emphasis on fulfilling the needs of constituents.
This is Kudlate's first run for political office and he feels that his personal investment in the ward empowers him to be a successful leader.
His agenda will be based on collective input from residents of the area that is gathered through outreach.
"Most of the people that I've been running into ... definitely do not know me as from politics. I'm not a politician, I have never trained for that or anything, but they trust that I'm going to be able to represent their best interests," he said.
"Especially with all my investment in just Ward 2 in itself, never mind in Pittsfield. All of my family lives in Pittsfield and just Ward 2 with us having property here, a business, my whole family, and kids to go to Allendale School, every decision that I'm going to be making is going to affect my family and every other family in this neighborhood, and city in general."
Kudlate has lived in the ward for 15 years and operates Berkshire Gravesite Services, a funerary products retailer and monument cleaning business there.
He is an Army veteran and was a firefighter from 2007 to 2015.
After leaving the department and facing a loss within his family, he and his partner Jessica Schrump started Berkshire Gravesite to assist other families in the funerary process.
Running for council is something that Kudlate has considered for three years. When Nicholas Russo dropped his bid for Ward 2 earlier this month, he saw it as a fitting time to enter the race and provide representation for the area he calls home.
He said many people within the ward have brought up road maintenance and the city's ongoing debates over trash and a "pay as you throw" trash system.
This system provides residents with 104 15-gallon bags free each year at cost. Any additional PAYT bags would be purchased with the cost of $1.50 per 30-gallon bag and $0.80 per 15-gallon bag.
"As far as big issues, that's something that a lot of people want to have brought up to me as a concern, they don't want to do that so I've promised them to look into it and learn more about it," Kudlate said, adding he was unsure about the future of Pittsfield's trash system.
"Anybody is going to be afraid that it's going to cost them more with taxes going up and things so, I promised to look into that the best I can, you know, I have a family of five myself, so any trash decision that would be made is definitely going to have a big effect on us."
He also wants to go to bat for small businesses, as they took a huge hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ward 2 includes the east side of North Street from Park Square to Berkshire Medical Center, which includes a large array of independently owned shops and restaurants.
"We just went through one of the hardest periods ever to be a small-business owner, especially a brick and mortar business owner, so of course, I'm going to be as supportive as I possibly can over the next couple of weeks," Kudlate explained.
"I plan on going and reaching out to as many [businesses] in the ward that I can, especially on North Street. 'What can we do for you? What can I, as a councilor do to help?' And start to identify some of those issues, especially along North Street, that's a huge hot-button issue right now with all the changes that they've just made to North Street."
For outreach, he has gone door to door speaking to residents of the ward and anticipates meeting even more in the future. He is looking forward to speaking to and hearing the ideas of anyone who wants to reach out.
"I still want to prove myself, I'm not just going to walk into the job if there's nobody else, so I'm still going to be out there meeting everybody in the neighborhood just as I've already been doing," Kudlate said regarding the race if he was the only candidate for Ward 2.
"I don't have an agenda, I'm not gonna be knocking on people's doors to say 'Hey, we need safer schools, we need better roads' and things like that, I'm going and say, 'What do you want me to do? Where do you want it to go? What are the issues in your neighborhood right here?'"
Kudlate will face Charles Kronick in the November election. Incumbent Kevin Morandi is not running for re-election.
This is part of a series of candidate interviews for the 2021 November elections in Pittsfield that will appear over the next two months. Interviews will appear in random order as they are completed.
Tags: election 2021, municipal election,
