Charter Objection Halts Pittsfield DEI Office Restructure
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Council chambers saw another charter objection on Tuesday following a lengthy conversation about renaming and merging the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
The administration has been working to restructure the DEI office into the "Office of Equity, Access, and Opportunity"; the Ordinances and Rules subcommittee made some amendments to the proposed ordinance in August before referring it back with a positive recommendation.
"As I've stated here a number of times, I also believe that poverty is the root of all of our evils in the city, and needs to be addressed in some way, shape, or form. And this new revised office will allow us that opportunity," Mayor Peter Marchetti explained to the City Council.
"It is there to do what we have always done and add the ability to work on poverty issues to improve the quality of life for people of Pittsfield."
Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham delayed the vote through a charter objection to proposed City Code changes. He had unsuccessfully motioned to strike the transition of the DEI director's title and budget, and to remove mandatory staff trainings.
A charter objection is a formal procedural tool used by a councilor to instantly halt debate and postpone a vote until the next meeting. It has been three years since one was used during Pittsfield City Council.
Pittsfield Community Television estimated this as the 19th charter objection made in the city's history; the first since June of 2023. This was the sixth straight charter objection to come from a Ward 2 councilor; Charles Kronick called six of them.
The city's DEI Office was established in 2021, and Obasohan was hired in 2022. During fiscal year 2027 budget hearings, $5,800 was reduced from the department's $200,000 budget — $4,800 from the DEI ambassador line and $1,000 from travel and dues.
Marchetti said he is only changing a name and process. This would also merge the Human Rights Commission and Affirmative Action Committee into an Equity, Access and Opportunity Commission.
"If you want me to go on record to say that it takes us out of the federal guidance of DEI, you got it, councilor," he said, citing federal executive orders signed to remove DEI programs.
"I don't want the city jeopardized for funding. I don't want to change what we've done."
Cunningham spent more than an hour querying him and Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan about functions and effectiveness of the department, wanting more quantitative data than qualitative data such as the workplace climate survey conducted last year.
He said they should consider a new director and ask questions of Obasohan's leadership, noting the amendment "doesn't necessarily" fire him.
"During budget discussions, we struggled to get answers that we could feel confident in. I think we need to consider that, and I think we need to ensure that that kind of culture doesn't proliferate. I've seen it with police. Seen it with this department. I want to make sure that people are accountable. I want to make sure that directors know the code and answer to us properly," Cunningham said.
"That and the four years of unquantifiable evidence to solving a problem, I think, deserves another look because I want this mission to actually be helped. I want us to actually get somewhere with this, and if we're not quantifying it, and we don't have leadership that is able to show us that the money we're using from our residents' pockets is actually solving the problem we say it is, I think that kind of leadership needs to be reviewed. And I've felt this across a number of different departments, but this is the opportunity for this one."
Councilors pointed out that this conversation is about a department rather than a personnel matter; the City Council doesn't have the authority to hire or fire employees and only approves appointments.
"We've kind of gotten off topic in terms of scrutinizing the functionality and productivity of the office, forgetting that there's been a transition, and this is a field that is not really understood by a lot of people. It takes time to get that data to get going," Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi pointed out.
"And I think to Mayor Marchetti's credit, he has found what I understand from my conversation with you privately in your office is a vision of what you want this office to be, and I think that that's a beautiful thing for an elected official to figure out. I think it's a heroic thing to come forward and talk about how you want to transform this office."
There was also pushback against cutting a requirement that employees complete one training per year on belonging, equity, fairness, and diversity as human rights principles and other relevant topics.
Ward 7 Councilor Katherine Moody, as a woman who has worked in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) her entire adult life, said these trainings are vital.
"I have watched the workforce change where I couldn't get a job as a woman in STEM to where I wouldn't be allowed to do my job as a woman in STEM, to where now I'm just mostly ignored as a woman in STEM, to where now I'm starting to get leadership positions as a woman in STEM," she said.
"That's just my experience, and I'm a white blonde chick. So if you're gay presenting, if you're Black, if you're old, if you're too young, if you're any other color, these trainings are changing the world little by little by little. I will not support this amendment. Those trainings are important, and they make a difference."
Tags: charter objection, DEI,
