BRTA Board OKs Contract for Administrator, Reviews Open Meeting Complaint

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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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.


Tags: BRTA,   open meeting complaint,   

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Companion Corner: Princess at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There is an energetic girl waiting to find her new home at the Berkshire Humane Society.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.  

Princess is a six year old shepherd mix that has been at the shelter for just over a month.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Princess.

"She's very social, very friendly. When you're out walking her, she just wants to go say hi to every single new person. Loves to make new friends. She's a lot of fun. She's very active. She's very spunky. She's very playful, and she's going to need a very very active family who's going to do a lot with her." 

But Princess is no stranger to the shelter. She was a puppy five years ago and got adopted quickly, but now she needs a new family to take care of her.

"She was adopted out fairly quickly as a young puppy. She's been in the same home for the past five years. Unfortunately, they were moving out of state somewhere," Olivieri said. "They could not take her with them, so she ended up coming as a return to shelter, and she came back to stay with us."

Princess needs to go to a home as the only animal or with other male dogs that are her size or bigger.

"Her perfect home would be kids eight and up. No cats. No small animals. She has quite a prey drive. She could go to a home with another dog around her size or larger, preferably a male dog. She does a little bit better with male dogs, and she's looking for a home where people are home quite a bit, so that she's not left alone for too long. She has some separation anxiety," Olivieri said. 

She also needs a very active home that can let her use her energy every day, as she is very rambunctious. Especially with playing with her favorite toy, the flirt pole.

"She could use a home where people are going to give her a lot of attention and more than just a few walks a day; she's going to need lots of exercise, lots of playtime, lots of mental stimulation," Olivieri said. "She likes to learn, so someone who would be willing to take her to training classes or work on some training with her, as well as hikes, getting out and about, doing new things, different things. She is very athletic. She'd excel at things like agility, some dog sports. Just someone who is really going to want to engage and do a lot of different kinds of activities with her." 

Once you let her get her energy out, she is a cuddler who wouldn't mind being held like a baby from time to time.

"She's very sweet. She's very cuddly. She's very affectionate, but she is not a couch potato. She will stay on that couch with you for a little bit, and then she's ready to go off and do something else. So she's very busy. She's very active," Olivieri said. "Once all of her exercise needs are met during the day, she will settle down nicely, and she will want to be right by your side, cuddle with you at night on the couch, sleep with you."

Princess is very healthy but does experience some anxiety and is not fully potty trained and might have the occasional accident.

"She does have a little bit of anxiety, so she is on some medication for it right now," Olivieri said. "So a lot of structure, a lot of outlets, and familiarity, getting used to a new routine and everything is gonna be really good for her. I mean, she's just lovely. Like I said, she's very social. She likes to play with other dogs. She likes to meet new people."

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