Pittsfield Council Not Ready for In-Person Meetings
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A majority of the City Council is not ready to discuss a return to in-person meetings just yet.
The council on Tuesday filed a petition from former mayoral candidate Craig Gaetani requesting the it vote on a plan to resume in-person meetings 8-3 with Ward 4 councilor Chris Connell, Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi, and Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon voting in opposition.
A motion to approve was originally on the floor for discussion but the motion to file took precedent.
President Peter Marchetti explained that he put this petition on the agenda because he knows there is a mix of opinions among council members.
"I want you to know that I continue to look at what our colleagues across the state do," he added. "We're not meeting remotely because we've chosen to meet remotely."
Marchetti has reached out to the Massachusetts Municipal Councilors Association to ask how many colleagues are conducting in-person meetings and has not yet received a response.
He said when given the guidance to do so, it is his intention to find a way to go back into chambers when it is safe.
One area of concern is violation of the Open Meeting Law if residents are restricted from in-person meetings after the state-mandated allowance of 50 people per gathering is exceeded. City Solicitor Stephen Pagnotta confirmed that turning away a 51st person would be an OML violation unless the meeting is closed and rescheduled for another day.
"My concern councilors, especially as we approach the budget season, there's been a lot of communication in regards to the department budget and there's always a lot of communication in regards to the School Department budget," Marchetti said. "I don't want to schedule a budget hearing and then have to cancel it because I have to turn people away and we have an Open Meeting Law violation."
Morandi and Connell are in favor of planning a return to the Council Chambers or a larger destination for social distancing.
"I realize we're in a pandemic but the schools are starting to open up now," Morandi said. "We have a lot of people reaching out to us that want to be heard and it's very hard on Zoom, calling in here, and especially with the budget, times coming up, and everything. I think we should do the best we can to try to accommodate having it in a good-sized building where people could come and say what they got to say."
Connell believes that the Zoom platform is prohibiting people from voicing their opinions on city matters.
"We are shutting off people are from responding to issues that come up in front of the city because they cannot go on Zoom, they have problems going on Zoom," he said. "I think we need make every effort to ensure that when things loosen up, whether it's a larger building, a larger amount of data gathering, observing social distancing, that we should use it."
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio pointed out that in a press conference on the same day, Gov. Charlie Baker encouraged more than 20,000 jobs to be pivoted to remote and that only 9.6 percent of the United States is currently vaccinated.
"I think we would put the general population at risk. I think we will put one or another at risk. And I do believe that things should stay as they are for now until otherwise directed by the governor," he said. "I don't think the City Council should be taking a vote on this, because we really have no authority to override the governor's decision."
Moon agreed that public health is not in a place to permit in-person meetings though she finds it ironic that the council isn’t permitted to meet in person when children have returned to schools.
She pointed out that the petition asks for a plan to resume in-person meetings, not for immediate resumption.
Tags: COVID-19, Pittsfield city council ,
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