Election 2009: Caccamo Goal Is Sustainable Community

11:22AM / Tuesday, September 08, 2009Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayoral candidate Nicholas J. Caccamo says developing a more sustainable community can mean keeping the current trash removal system intact for residents:

Being a more sustainable community means meeting the needs of Pittsfield today, without affecting the needs of tomorrow. Easy ways the city can become more sustainable is to increase its recycling efforts each week and take on personal composting in our back yards. These simple efforts would help lower the cities waste disposal costs at the end of year and keep the current trash removal system intact.

■ The first step to increasing city recycling efforts is to make sure all residents know what is and what is not recyclable. Next, residents need to understand what composting is and why is it useful. The benefits of composting for the resident include:

■ As the city prepares to again debate shifting towards a more regulated trash removal program, composting will help families to more easily meet the requirements of this program.

■ The less trash collected by the city each week would reduce the end of year cost of total trash removal.

■ Composting provides residents with a method to utilize leaves during the fall, reducing personal yard waste removal costs.

A long-term goal I have for becoming more sustainable community would be to create a three-bin waste system at all schools in Pittsfield. The system would have one bin each for trash, recyclables, and compostable materials. With additional education, students would understand that not all waste is the same and understand how to properly dispose of their particular items. The system would pay dividends in the future as students take this information back home and continue to practice proper waste disposal as they get older.

More information about my plans to help improve the city can be found at my Web site caccamoformayor.webs.com.

Submitted by the campaign to elected Nicholas J. Caccamo

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Dalton Officials Talk Meters Amidst Rate Increases

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:44AM / Tuesday, February 03, 2026

DALTON, Mass. — The anticipated rise in the water and sewer rates has sparked discussion on whether implementing meters could help mitigate the costs for residents

The single-family water rate has been $160 since 2011, however, because of the need to improve the town's water main infrastructure, prices are anticipated to increase.

"The infrastructure in town is aged … we have a bunch of old mains in town that need to be changed out," said Water Superintendent Robert Benlien during a joint meeting with the Select Board.

The district had contracted Tighe and Bond to conduct an asset management study in 2022, where it was recommended that the district increase its water rates by 5 percent a year over five years, he said.

This should raise enough funds to take on the needed infrastructure projects, Benlien said, cautioning that the projections are a few years old so the cost estimates have increased since then.

"The AC mains, which were put in the '60s and '70s, have just about reached the end of their life expectancy. We've had a lot of problems down in Greenridge Park," which had an anticipated $4 million price tag, he said.

The main on Main Street, that goes from the Pittsfield/town line to North Street, and up through woods to the tank, was priced at $7.6 million in 2022, he said.

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