Berkshire Museum Welcomes New Trustees

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Trustees of Berkshire Museum held their Annual Meeting on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 - the first fully in-person board meeting since early 2020 – at which they elected officers and appointed three new Trustees. 
 
Ethan Kelpetar will continue as President for one more year. Jeffrey Belair will serve a full two-year term as Vice President, as will Rachel Melendez Mabee as Secretary, and Brian Tremblay as Treasurer.
 
Judith Bookbinder, James Greenfield, and Charles Walker were all duly elected to serve full terms on the Berkshire Museum's Board of Trustees.
 
"This is an exciting time at the Museum. We are thrilled to have Kim Bush Tomio as our new Executive Director, and we are working on the plans for a significant renovation of the first floor. It is the perfect time to welcome these new highly qualified and experienced people to our Board. We are so grateful for their commitment and to all Trustees, past and present, who have given so much to the Museum over the years," said Ethan Klepetar.
 
About the new Trustees:
 
Judith Bookbinder joins the Berkshire Museum Board of Trustees after being the Vice President of Creative Communications at The Hearst Corporation for 27 years. Judith retired from her position at Hearst in December 2021 and is currently working as a special projects consultant. Judith has established a deep connection to the Berkshire Museum through her grandchildren, having attended several birthday parties and many family events at the Museum. Judith and her husband, Larry Fischer, have resided in both New York City and the Berkshires since 1988. They now spend most of their time in their home in Lenox. Judith currently serves on the boards of the ANA Education Foundation (AEF) in New York, NY, and the Pine Cobble School in Williamstown. 
 
James Greenfield has served on the Investment Subcommittee of the Berkshire Museum for the past two years. He brings with him 36 years of investment experience in serving wealthy families and endowments as an investment portfolio manager. Jim and his wife Marla have a connection to the Berkshires of over 40 years. 
 
Charles Walker joins the Berkshire Museum Board of Trustees having recently retired from Disney/ABC News based in New York, NY where he served in multiple senior management roles including Director of Broadcast Engineering & Operations, Operations Producer, and Technical Production Manager. After retirement in 2021, Chuck decided to make Pittsfield and the Berkshires his permanent year-round home. For years prior to moving here, he would often visit the Berkshire Museum to learn more about the people, history, culture, and community of the Berkshires. 
 

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BRPC Committee Mulls Input on State Housing Plan

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's Regional Issues Committee brainstormed representation for the county in upcoming housing listening sessions.

"The administration is coming up with what they like to tout is their first housing plan that's been done for Massachusetts, and this is one of a number of various initiatives that they've done over the last several months," Executive Director Thomas Matuszko said.

"But it seems like they are intent upon doing something and taking comments from the different regions across the state and then turning that into policy so here is our chance to really speak up on that."

The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and members of the Housing Advisory Council will host multiple listening sessions around the Commonwealth to hear input on the Healey-Driscoll administration's five-year strategic statewide housing plan.

One will be held at Berkshire Community College on May 15 at 2 p.m.

One of Matuszko's biggest concerns is the overall age of the housing stock in Berkshire County.

"And that the various rehab programs that are out there are inadequate and they are too cumbersome to manipulate through," he explained.

"And so I think that there needs to be a greater emphasis not on new housing development only but housing retention and how we can do that in a meaningful way. It's going to be pretty important."

Non-commission member Andrew Groff, Williamstown's community developer director, added that the bureaucracies need to coordinate themselves and "stop creating well-intended policies like the new energy code that actually work against all of this other stuff."

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