Pittsfield Subcommittee Reconvenes for Update on City Buildings

The outdated police station, once the welfare office, was estimated to cost $55 million to replace several years ago. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The buildings and maintenance subcommittee reconvened on Monday to talk about the poor condition of Pittsfield's facilities.

President Peter Marchetti requested a report on the condition of all city buildings and the panel reviewed an update to a 2016 study that identified "deplorable" conditions.

"I will say this was a difficult read, particularly just reading your narrative and the neglect that has happened over the last 30 years of our city buildings," Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said.

"So the deterioration that we've seen in the aftermath of COVID and shortages in manufacturing and the workforce, it's not just that. It's a multitude of things."

Director of Building Maintenance Brian Filiault explained that before the pandemic, the department had developed a game plan and momentum was looking good.

"COVID hit and took us right out. We were in survival mode. There were no funds, everything was just turmoil so it was basically keeping things alive is all we were doing at that point," he said.

"During COVID, a lot of school buildings were run with the windows open because of COVID, because of the air quality, had to keep the airflow, and boilers and everything else, pumps, running full bore never recovering took a major toll on our infrastructure and in a few buildings I've lost boilers. So, at this point, we re-evaluated where we were at and we looked at what was a critical path and we looked at those buildings and which ones needed what."

A new boiler has been put in Crosby Elementary School, Egremont Elementary School is in the process of getting one, and Pittsfield High School is getting a new digital control system as well as a boiler.

Williams Elementary School and Reid Middle School will get new roofs.

"Every year it's going to be two boilers, every year it's going to be a roof,"  Filiault said. "And what's what we want to try and keep going but those are the important things right now."

"The direction we're in is the direction we were in pre-COVID. We had a plan, we were underway, we got taken out," Filiault said.

"The only thing that I'm dealing with now after COVID is the supply chain. Stuff is expensive, it's not readily available, even just basic maintenance stuff. Some things that used to take us two, three days to get in could be five months.  It's crazy, and the cost of it, so we're trying to deal with that as well. It's a major undertaking and as you said there's a lot of maintenance that should have been done in a better time a long time ago."

The 2016 report pointed out that there was a 50 percent reduction in the workforce required to maintain buildings.

Filiault said that happened before his time and that the department used to be much larger with more plumbers, electricians, and carpenters.

"The city right now has one painter. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's a minimum of two painters just to be able to work in harmony," he said.

"It's very hard because if we start a project and I put a couple of carpenters on it and nine times out of 10 there's an emergency somewhere in the city, they gotta go, and it's hard to get anybody right now."

Lampiasi said she was "floored" to think about the fact that there are 11 tradesmen for all of the buildings with all of the issues that are outlined in the report.

Marchetti asked if the city has buildings that could be retrofitted for staff or if the city is at maximum capacity for most of its buildings.

The only space he can think of being available, with renovations, is the basement of City Hall.

The updated report is set to go before the full City Council.

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