Letter: Dalton Public Safety Facility

To the Editor:

I must respond to the article: "Dalton Consultant to Assess Police Station" on 12/11/2025.

I do not know why the town has never pursued the option of renovating Town Hall to accommodate the needs of the Police Department and improve access to town offices.

There was $82,000 in ARP funds that could have already jump-started the process.

The following is my letter that iBerkshires published on 9/29/2025. This viable plan that I presented was tabled without any further discussion or consideration by the Select Board or by the Advisory Committee.

• Purchase the bank building located on the corner of Main Street and South Carson Avenue. Extend the building toward Main Street. Then build out the interior to accommodate the town offices. The offices would then be accessible to the handicapped.
• Stage the moving of the town offices to facilitate the renovation of the Town Hall for the new police facility to minimize disruption and inconvenience. I know that Hill Engineering put together a cost estimate to fix the problems in the basement of the Town Hall. I recall it was very reasonable.
• Add an elevator in the Town Hall to accommodate handicapped individuals.

I believe the above suggestions would cost considerably less than what has been proposed. If planned out properly, it would be a lot less disruptive. It would satisfy the needs for a new police facility.

I believe the next step would be to provide schematic floor plans of all floors of Town Hall and a floor plan of the bank building. Make paper dolls of all equipment and space requirements for offices, cubicles, etc., in order to produce a plan that would satisfy the town's needs.

I believe the town has an obligation to the struggling tax payers to abandon the idea of building a $10 million-plus police station. Renovating the Town Hall is a practical and cost effective way to go.

Bruce Lester
Dalton, Mass. 

Pittsfield Nearing the End of $40M ARPA Program

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:32AM / Friday, May 15, 2026

Gina Armstrong, special projects manager, updates the City Council on Tuesday on the last $400,000 in ARPA funds to be spent.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — In five years, the city has dispersed almost all of the $40.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Pittsfield has a year-end deadline to spend the last $400,000. Special Project Manager Gina Armstrong said if remaining projects conclude as planned, she will deliver a final report in July. 

"Which is really hard to believe," she said to the City Council on Tuesday. 

"In a way, it feels like we just started planning the use of the funds, and here we are. We're really measuring the impact, which is significant in just a broad scope of investments for the city." 

In 2021, Pittsfield was awarded $40,602,779 to be spent on public health, addressing negative economic impacts, infrastructure, and revenue replacement. Some of that money also went to administrative expenses. 

Funds for public health, $4.7 million, and infrastructure, $5.9 million, have been fully expended. As of March 31, $39,612,438 was spent on 84 projects; 95 percent of them are complete. 

Armstrong said this funding had a significant impact on the availability of affordable housing and support services for people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. 

Housing projects saw an $8.6 million ARPA investment, creating 84 affordable units, seven single-family homes that are in progress, and the Housing Resource Center at The First.