Pittsfield Seeks Input on Fair Housing

03:30PM / Tuesday, December 19, 2023Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City of Pittsfield is seeking public input as part of an analysis focusing on fair housing, discriminatory housing policies and practices required by the federal Fair Housing Act.

This analysis will identify local concerns and guide the City on how to allocate federal funds to improve economic equity and growth in the community.

A public comment period is now open through Jan. 16, 2024 seeking input regarding barriers to access to housing, public services, employment, transportation, and education based on race, age, income, or disability.

Comments can be sent by email to njoyner@cityofpittsfield.org or by mail to the: Department of Community Development, Pittsfield City Hall, 70 Allen Street Pittsfield, MA 01201.

Also, a survey, with questions about Fair Housing in your community, is available in both English

and Spanish at these links:

Fair Housing Survey (English)

Fair Housing Survey (Spanish)

These surveys are also available on the city's website cityofpittsfield.org, under Community Development/Fair Housing Survey. The survey will be open through Jan. 16, 2024.

For further information, contact the Pittsfield Department of Community Development, (413) 499-9358.

Tags: housing,

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Pittsfield Switching to OpenGov for Permitting Software

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:09AM / Tuesday, February 24, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city plans to move on from its "clunky" permitting software in the new fiscal year, switching to OpenGov instead.

On Thursday, the Finance Subcommittee supported a $199,269 free cash appropriation for the conversion to a new online permitting software. Chief Information Officer Kevin Zawistowski explained that Permit Eyes, the current governmental software, is no longer meeting Pittsfield's needs.

The nearly $200,000 appropriation is for the software license and implementation. Going forward, the annual cost for OpenGov will be about $83,000; about $66,000 for the next fiscal year, not including building permits.

"We've had significant issues across the board with the functionality of the system, right down to the actual permits that they're attempting to help us with," he said.

"Without going into details with that, we have to find a new system so that our permits can actually be done effectively, and we can kind of restore trust in our permitting process online."

The city is having delays on permits, customer support, and a "lack of ownership and apology" when mistakes are made, Zawistowski reported. Pittsfield currently pays $49,280 annually for the software, which Open Gov is expected to replace after July 1.

Running alongside this effort, the city wants to bring building permitting software under the city umbrella, rather than being countywide under the vendor Pittsfield is moving away from.

Finance Director Matthew Kerwood explained that the city has gone through a procurement process, OpenGov being the lowest bidder, and the vendor has been paid with contingency money "because we needed to get this project moving." He said Permit Eyes is a "clunky" piece of software, and the company has not invested in technology upgrades where it should have.

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