Pittsfield's Ruffer Leaving For Cape Cod Job

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Ruffer at the dedication of the First Street Common in May; left, digging in for the launch of the streetscape project in 2009.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's community development direction is resigning to take a similar job on Cape Cod.

Deanna Ruffer will be the director for Chatham's newly reorganized Community Development Department and its head planner after eight years in Pittsfield.

Ruffer has won more than $22 million in grants and taken major roles in the development of the Beacon Cinema, the downtown streetscape project, the First Street Common, the Colonial Theater renovation and the current Rice Silk Mil residential project.

"Deanna is an accomplished professional who has managed a key city department during an era of extraordinary growth in Pittsfield," said Mayor Daniel Bianchi in a statement Monday afternoon. "Her expertise in the area of community development has been very beneficial to Pittsfield. All of us will miss her exceptional work ethic, her talent for putting difficult projects together and her skill at bringing them to very successful conclusions."

Ruffer was appointed to the city position in 2004 by former Mayor James Ruberto to manage the city's planning, land use, developments, neighborhood housing initiatives and administration of the federal Community Development Block Grants.

"Collaboration was a very important part of this job," Ruffer said. "We built a wide network of support both inside and outside of City Hall to help facilitate projects that were important for Pittsfield. I went to countless meetings and there was never a time when I didn’t learn something new from someone in attendance."

Ruffer said she chose the Chatham job because it will be "an exciting new challenge" and in a good area of the state.

"I'll be responsible for implementing the reorganization of the Community Development Department, which has been initiated by Chatham’s new town manager," Ruffer said. "This is an opportunity to apply my leadership skills in a geographic environment that we [she and her husband, Kevin] both love."

She said she is sad to leave the city with projects still in the works but is confident that the rest of the staff will be able to finish them.

"Mayor Bianchi and I developed an excellent working relationship from Day 1 and I have the greatest respect for him,” Ruffer said. "I’m sorry that I will not be able to continue as part of this administration. There are many exciting projects on the horizon that will continue to advance the city and position it well for the future."

Tags: community development,   planner,   town administrator,   

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Companion Corner: Cali and Kyzer at The Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a bonded dog pair awaiting a new family at the Berkshire Humane Society.

Kyzer and Cali are both poodles. Kyzer is the male and is 7 years old, a quite a bit bigger than his sister Cali, who is a miniature of Kyzer and 8 years old.

Canine adoption counselor Rhonda Cyr introduced us to the two.

"They came from a household that couldn't hold on to them, and it sounds like they may have been abandoned by their previous owner with somebody else, and so they came to us looking for a new home," she said.

The two love to be around you and snuggle. But both are very happy dogs.

"Kyzer is 7 years old, and his personality is that he kind of wants to be in everything. He's very loving, very snuggly, as you can tell. And Callie here, she's 8 years old, and she is kind of like the life of the party," said Cyr. "She wants to tell you everything about her day, and she's a little bit of a little ham."

The two are considered seniors and really like soft treats as Cali just had a few teeth removed and Kyzer has a tooth procedure coming up.

"Currently, they really like soft treats, because they are both on the senior side of things. So they have had some dental work, so they are really in need of something softer. They are not big chewers at this age, really, their main focus right now is just really socializing and cuddling," Cyr said.

The two would love a quiet home with someone who wants to snuggle. They shouldn't go to a home with bigger dogs but if you have a dog, you can bring them in for a visitation with the poodles to see if they will get along. Cats will be fine and the preference is for older and more responsible children so that the pups don't get hurt, as they are senior citizens.

"The perfect home for them would be a quiet home that's not too active. Like I said, they're very social, so they could handle some visitors," she said. "They're very friendly, but I don't think that they would really enjoy any other dogs in the home."

Poodles need to be regularly groomed, and the prospective adopter will have to keep an eye on their health. Kyzer has a heart murmur that needs to be monitored. This doesn't mean he is in bad health, as he could live a perfectly normal life, but he will need to be checked by a veterinary specialist routinely.

"Ideally, he would go to a home that could provide further health care with a specialist in cardiac care. And you know, he could very well live out the rest of his life comfortably and happy," Cyr said. "We just don't have all that information at the moment, but I think that you know the way he's going right now. He's got a good spirit, and he seems to be pretty happy."

The shelter is hoping the to get them a home for the holidays.

"We would love to get them a home in time for the holidays. They've been here since the eighth of November, and they're really, really looking as much as the staff loves them here, we're really looking to get them into a home and somewhere nice and cozy so they can spend the rest of their life together," she said.

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