Pittsfield Council Wants Detailed Expenses For 100 North Move
 The City Council wants to know the financial impacts of moving the inspections departments to 100 North St., a move the mayor did administratively and without consulting the council last year. |
The City Council was unanimous in calling on Mayor Daniel Bianchi to provide written accounts of all expenditures relating to the move.
With the final bills just now being tallied and budget season coming up, now is the perfect time for the council to know where that money came from, Clairmont said.
The information can be used in determining if there is money to cut out of the upcoming budget since it is no longer needed for the move.
"What was the dollar amount of that move and maybe there are savings in the current budget," Clairmont said.
Last summer, Bianchi moved the health, building, utilities, fire, a community development agent and a conservation agent offices to the mezzanine level of 100 North St.
The space is costing the city $126,000 in rent, including utilities, custodial and maintenance, and that will continue downward if the city utilized the options for two subsequent years. The mayor told the council that he moved $105,000 from the city's contingency fund in the unclassified budget for the lease.
However, Clairmont says moving comes with one-time costs. Since the City Council never budgeted for those one-time moving expenses, without another move in the forecast, the department heads and the mayor should have to explain why that money isn't cut from future budgets.
Ward 5 Councilor Jonathan Lothrop wants even more, citing issues with the information technology department, issues with the foundation at City Hall, traffic issues on Allen Street for related construction, and staff time. He wants those items to all be addressed as well.
"We want to make sure we are including staff time. It is not just the dollar amounts on equipment," Lothrop said. "I'll be looking for that information to be included."
The move upset some city councilors because they had been left out of the process. The mayor released the bid and negotiated the short-term lease, which is under the administration's authority, without consulting the council. But since the lease requires funding for future years to either move back or to pay the rent, some members of the City Council felt it was important that they be included.
The debate wasn't so much over the need for the move, with employees and the mayor citing health and customer service reasons, but more about how it was handled.
Councilors were also peeved about the move because a $100,000 request in the capital budget to renovate new space for the inspection services was rejected because the mayor didn't provide details.
Further, Clairmont sought to find out if the request for proposals was intentionally written so that only the building's owner, Scarafoni & Associates, could apply. Clairmont said the move to that particular building dated back to 2013. Essentially, he says there was a lack of transparency in making the move and that the bidding process was rigged for the desired outcome.
When Clairmont sough emails between staff members about it to figure out what was really behind the move, Bianchi levied a $63.95 charge for some 175 emails. Clairmont balked at it.
In other business, the City Council approved Tuesday adopting language from the state Open Meeting Law to the council's rules in an attempt to bring more order to the open microphone period. The petition from Council President Melissa Mazzeo also changes the time one can sign up for open microphone from 7:30 to 7 p.m.
Resident Craig Gaetani has been at odds with Mazzeo on the use of that period, including having Mazzeo call him out of order once again on Tuesday night.
The City Council also referred a number of petitions for the Berkshire Innovation Center to its finance subcommittee. The council is asked to approve a tax break, lease agreement, and bridge financing to move the project forward.
Tags: #PittsfieldBudget, inspections office, open forum, open meeting,
