Incumbent Anthony Maffuccio and challenger Rhonda Serre met in the Berkshire Athenaeum for Tuesday’s event hosted by PCTV. After serving on the council from 2004 to 2010, Maffuccio returned to public life in 2019 and has since won two terms. Serre, now retired, worked for Congressman John Olver, MassDevelopment, Elder Services of Berkshire County, and Greylock Federal Credit Union over her career. A third candidate, Jonathan Morey, pulled out of the debate after initially agreeing to participate.
As Serre’s husband Shawn is Executive Director of PCTV, moderator and iBerkshires.com editor Tammy Daniels read a statement addressing any perception of a conflict of interest.
“PCTV has recused itself from all editorial control," said Daniels. "That means PCTV employees have no input into the questions asked of any candidate in these events and the moderator are not connected the PCTV.”
With that, the debate began. The candidates were asked to identify something the city council got completely wrong from its most recent session.
“The council that I've been on is, unfortunately, has been dysfunctional," answered Maffuccio. "I'm not proud that I sit up there with some of the councilors I have. They have abused a charter objection several times, and I don't believe that abuse should be allowed on our city council. And I am embarrassed that has been used in a way that it has over this term in such a short period of time. That is one of the most, largest things that sticks out in my head as city councilor, and how that was used in abuse as a mechanism to defer a vote until another meeting.”
Ward 2 city councilor Charles Kronick made a stir when he used the charter objection to delay confirmation of the 2023 budget at a June 2022 meeting. By pushing the vote, Kronick forced a special meeting to make sure the plan was approved before time limits on amendments made by the council itself expired. Serre agreed with Maffuccio.
“The charter objection is certainly not playing out the way it was designed," she said. "It is an important tool to make sure that processes don't come in and sweep away on the people's rights. At the same time, it is not used as a way to end debate because you don't like what you're getting. Certainly not in the budget area. There should absolutely be legislation, if we do keep the charter objection as a tool, which I do see how it could possibly be used responsibly, it should not be used during budget season. Absolutely should not. And I hate to say this, but didn't you second one of them?”
Maffuccio denied that he had.
“OK, I'm mistaken," said Serre. "I'm sorry.”
According to the official minutes from that fateful meeting last June, Maffuccio was in fact recorded as the councilor who seconded Kronick’s motion to use the charter objection on the 2023 budget.
Neither Serre nor Maffuccio endorsed fully removing the charter objection.
WAMC asked the candidates if they would support Pittsfield establishing a safe consumption site to help lower the rate of overdose deaths in the community.
“Safe consumption sites have had positive and negative reviews, both from Somerville, the Portland area- San Francisco has a nightmare story about theirs," answered Serre. "I think it is a very valid idea to pursue in the search for recovery and in the search for a social structure that can support people before, during, and after recovery. I'm not convinced that simply putting up a safe consumption spot gives those people what they deserve. But it does keep them alive so we can get an interaction and intervention for them tomorrow.”
“I'm not in support of, at this time, or being convinced that a safe house is something that would help recovery," said Maffuccio. "The medical field would have to step up and the organizations that bring forth this safe house would have to bring all the criterias forward on how this diagram would work in the city of Pittsfield. Personally, right now, the city of Pittsfield has a big epidemic going on with drugs, all through Berkshire County, but in Pittsfield, we have a lot of this going on, and right in the downtown area. So, we have to look at mechanisms and avenues for a recovery process, and a safe house I think would just add to aiding and letting them continue on a path of destruction at this point.”
Pittsfield’s preliminary election on September 19th will determine which two of the three candidates will continue to November’s general.
You can hear the full debate here:
