BRTA Board OKs Contract for Administrator, Reviews Open Meeting Complaint

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority Board finalized the new administrator's contract on Thursday.

Kathleen Lambert accepted the position in September pending contract negotiations. The negotiations were halted at the board's meeting on Oct. 14 as they failed to have a quorum.

On Thursday, the board revised the language for the termination clause for performance reviews so they can be done as needed.

The BRTA also spoke about language for a response to an Open Meeting Law complaint made by board member Rene Wood.

Wood said the board violated Open Meeting at its meeting on Sept. 25, when they were speaking about the contract negotiations because it wasn't listed on the agenda. The agenda item was listed as "Administrator Search Update."

Executive Director Roobert Malnati was asked to respond to Wood and the violation. One of the requests was for legal counsel to offer an Open Meeting Law class to the board . 

"Legal counsel presented in person or Zoom class or Open Meeting Law, including this section that was offered back at our previous meeting in August, it will be offered again that we invite KP Law to provide an Open Meeting Law class if that is so desired," Malnati said.

Another note Wood added was for the board to remove a sentence from the Sept. 9 minutes regarding Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti's statement that Wood asking in the meeting for the advisory board to vote on Malnati writing a letter of support for Rep. Leigh Davis' microtransit bill was in violation of Open Meeting law.

"The minutes are the minutes. And so you want clarity on that. We can certainly give clarity to who made that statement, but it was part of that meeting. It was part of that discussion, and it should stand, and it's an opinion that was stated," Malnati said.

Marchetti clarified that he should not have stated it in that way but that it was still discouraged from being discussed.

"The frequently asked questions is pretty clear that you should not be bringing up a topic, and the Attorney General's Office strongly encourages that you postpone any discussion or action on an item," Marchetti said. "What if it's controversial or maybe of particular interest to the public? And I think the issue that we were going to discuss with Rep. Davis is microtransit bill, which I think is highly something that the folks in the public want to know more about.

"So going forward, I would have been against the recommendation of the thing. My misspeaking and saying it's a violation of Open Meeting Law, it's not a violation, but it's strongly encouraged not to do it." 

The board motioned to for Malnati's response.

Malnati also brought up that the ridership number for September is 29 percent higher than the former September where it was not fare free. "Fare free is helping our ridership" he stated.

Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'

DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action. 

 

The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.

 

"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.

 

"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature." 

 

Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures. 

 

Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis. 

 

Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.