This week, the new Charter Review Committee in Pittsfield, Massachusetts held its first meeting. The seven-member body is tasked with the systematic evaluation of the legal document that defines the governing system of Berkshire County’s largest community. A report is expected in the coming months. Members appointed by Mayor Linda Tyer include Ward 6 city councilor Dina Lampiasi, Pittsfield High School vice principal of teaching and learning Brendan Sheran, and Women of Color Giving Circle member Leah Reed. Its chair, attorney Michael McCarthy, also served on the last version of the committee that reviewed Pittsfield’s charter back in 2012. The former Pittsfield city solicitor spoke with WAMC about the committee’s goals.
MCCARTHY: The original commission 10 years ago created the new city charter that we all have been living under for 10 years now. And at that time, we did an expansive review on the leadership of retired Justice Edward Lapointe. We reviewed various types of city charters, various forms of city government. And what we ended up doing is, we ended up with a charter that I think could be characterized as a strong mayor, but with a really important and vibrant city council as well. Our committee is tasked with reviewing basically, how has the city charter been working? Is there anything that should be done to tweak the city charter? But we are not allowed to change the basic structure of city government. So, we're not going to be changing the city council, we're not going to be changing the mayor's office, the basics are going to stay the same. We're supposed to review the charter every 10 years. It’s a healthy thing to put our fingers on the pulse of the city charter to make sure it's working for city government as well as the community.
WAMC: This year, as this new committee approaches the charter once again, what is on the chopping block, so to speak? What issues are rising to the surface in this conversation?
Well, as of now, there are no particular issues that are rising to the surface. We are going to set up a second session- We had a date, but that date has to be changed because some of our participants discover they have to be in other government committee meetings. So, we don't have a final date for our second meeting yet. But at that meeting, we're going to invite the three city councilors who had filed petitions aimed at our committee taking a look at something, but we're inviting them first so we can find out exactly what's on their minds and what they think. We've heard some rumblings, just from the community and the rumor mill, about the initiative or citizen petitions. We've heard some rumblings about the charter objection within the structure of the city council. But I don't know what the substance of those questions or comments will be. Our committee is very open minded, and we’ll find out more about what's either on the chopping block or what's the topic of interest as we hear from members of the community, including members of city government.
Based on your previous experience working on charter review in Pittsfield, what do you think the most realistic expectations for the community can be for material outcomes from this process?
Because our function is limited to tweaking the charter or making minor changes to procedures as opposed to reforming city government, we have a limited mission. And so, the public should not expect too much to happen. But we have a wide-open mind, and there might be some seemingly minor thing that has a big impact on the community that we're not aware of at the moment. The charter objection, I understand, is one thing. The initiative petition, where citizens bring things to the city council and the mayor by petition, those things might become substantive and significant in the mind of the community. And those are the things that we can make recommendations on. Keep in mind, our charter review committee that we're starting now cannot change anything. All we can do is make recommendations to the mayor and the city council, and it will be up to them to seek an amendment to the city charter or some sort of clarifying ordinance as the case may be. But we're just at the very beginning here. We as a committee have wide-open minds, we have really quality people on the committee who are all committed to helping our city government work for our community and all its citizens. So, we're looking forward to this with a wide-open mind, and we'll be happy to make recommendations as needed to the mayor and the city council accordingly.
