NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Finance Committee in the last two weeks reviewed Public Safety, auditor, Zoning Board of Appeals, City Council, election and registration, Office of Community Development, city solicitor, License Commission, information technology, Planning Board, and vital statistics.

 

The committee consists of Chair Lisa Blackmer and Councilors Andrew Fitch and Lillian Zavatsky. 

 

The City Council budget includes a 3 percent cost of living increase, in line with the across the board COLA for all departments.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said she included a codification administration line of $6,000 to cover the extra meeting the city clerk is doing as the council reviews the city's codes.

 

The elections budget is up about $10,500, largely for worker salaries to accommodate two state elections this year, the primary and the general. City Clerk Tina Leonesio said the extra poll workers are needed because state elections tend to draw a higher number of voters. The cost of the ballots, however, are covered by the state.

 

Leonesio explained how her office was able to save money on the city census and mailings by printing and folding the documents in house, as well as purchasing the supplies and training to maintain the vital statistics rather than sending them out.  

 

"The cost is in the supplies, because we have to put so many things in the census now, it would be a very large expense to have it done by a vendor outside," she said, estimating it would cost three times as much "because we have to pay for every piece of paper they have to print and fold, plus the mailing."

 

The director of community development is in line for a step increase; funds have been budgeted for a fiscal compliance officer, which is currently vacant, and a community planner, who the mayor expected to start at the end of the month. The special projects coordinator, a part-time post, has been reduced by $10,000 to $20,000, and the projects coordinator increased by $8,137. Some of these salaries, particularly the director, are covered by Community Block Grant Funds or other grant funds.

 

"You're seeing an 11 percent increase, but we've shifted some of the dollars so the city was taking a little bit more of the salaries so we could have more money to do projects with the actual grants," the mayor said, noting the council had pushed for a community planner. 

 

Overall the Community Development Office is budgeted at $153,504.

 

The information technology budget is $1,189,113, up $235,594, the bulk of which is for data processing, services, software and equipment (including for elections). The mayor said this was one of the budgets that were holding her up, "most of this budget on expense is how we manage everything from our budget software to some of our police software to Zoom to all different kinds of programs."

 

Mark Pierson, chief technology officer, one of a two-person team, said the city has been moving toward migrating over to MicroSoft 365. 

 

The mayor said the city has received a $247,000 grant for fiber optic that requires a 5 percent match, included in the budget. This should mean a reduction in costs in the next budget cycle from Spectrum and Verizon connection points, she said. 

 

As an example, Pierson said the point-to-point 500 megabyte connection between the Department of Public Works and the core is costing the city $2,000 a month. 

 

He was asked if some of these costs could be shared with other communities.

 

"All these services, and increasingly so, are becoming per user, per month expense," he said, adding that while there has been talk about tying infrastructure together, the benefits, if any would be limited because of the way subscriptions are structured.

 

In Public Safety, again, most of the budget increases are for contracted, cost-of-living and step raises. 

 

The building inspector, or director of inspection services, is being raised from an S33B to an S24A in the compensation plan to better reflect the post's responsibilities.

 

Macksey said there had been discussions about reclassifying the position for years, and she hoped that it would entice Building Inspector William Meranti to stay on a few more years. 

 

The role of assistant director is budgeted for a full year and will be filled by Roger Lamarre. The mayor noted she has been trying to fill that role for some time so it had only been budgeted for half year. 

 

Other changes include $10,000 budgeted in animal control if needed for part-time coverage; a 4 percent increase for the fire chief and 6.59 percent for the deputy fire chief; and a 28 percent increase for the police lieutenant, bringing that position to $110,000. 

 

The mayor said deputy chief's salary hike was to make it align with other departments, and the lieutenant's was to recognize the disparity compared to sergeants, who are averaging $100,000.

 

"We do see a significant increase in the lieutenant line due to responsibilities and being competitive with current police contracts," she said. "We're at the point where the sergeants are making more money than the lieutenant on their straight time, just because of contractual obligations."

 

The general administration budget is holding a space for a mechanic to reduce repair costs at $63,580.

 

"We've interviewed a few people and had two really good prospects, but unfortunately they decided to pass on accepting our offer, so we still are looking for a creative way to fill that position, but we're keeping that in the budget because it is a priority position," said the mayor. 

 

The fire chief is also getting a $6,800 stipend to serve as the emergency management director. Blackmer asked that they start thinking about creating a separate position. 

 

"Everything I've been reading, and things that I've gone to say that the EMD should not be the fire chief, that they have a lot of other responsibilities, she said. "I think we need an extra body, a person who's not dedicated to all the other things that the fire chief has to do."

 

Zavatsky asked if the city could save money by joining the Berkshire County dispatch center. 

 

Fire Chief Brent Levesque said the center wouldn't be able to handle the call volume, noting the city handles also Northern Berkshire EMS, Clarksburg, and Stamford, Vt. 

 

"It's 20-something-thousand calls. They just don't have the staffing or the facility to increase their staffing to handle our call out," said Levesque, based on conversations with the State 911 Department, but did not have a report on the model.

 

It could also cost more, said Police Chief Mark Bailey, because then an officer would have to sit at the desk and monitor the lines, as Adams does. 

 

The city gets two 911 grants — a sustainability grant of $349,000 and development grant of $409,000 — that offsets the cost of dispatchers and equipment. 

 

"We do not believe in that model. I do not believe in that model," said the mayor. "I really don't want somebody from Pittsfield trying to describe a road to North Adams."

 

In terms of staffing, the Fire Department has 19 of 22 budgeted firefighters and four lieutenants. It is currently has two firefighters signed on to go the academy and anticipated a third. 

 

The Police Department lost four of its 31 officers and a sergeant, necessitating the budgeted sergeant assessment center at $30,250 (this takes the place of the Civil Service exam).

 

The department is also seeing a nearly $200,000 increase in overtime. 

 

"We thought that by hiring more people we would have less overtime, but unfortunately all of these people that we're hiring are entitled to time off," said Bailey, plus "we have to do our 40-hour in-service training every single year

 

While some of that can be done online, there's still two days of firearms training, use of less-lethal weapons, use of force policy and review, criminal law and procedure, investigation techniques, trainings in CPR, domestic violence and de-escalation, crisis negotiation, and other related issues. 

 

"Myself and another administrator went to a lead a certification trilogy to learn how to be better leaders, and my plan is to get all of my administration to go through these courses as well," he said. 

 

The chief said he's saved money with a grant to buy a virtual reality headset for taser training, and with taser cartridges at $10 a piece, saved about $10,000 year.