On Tuesday, at-large city councilor Pete White was voted leader of the 11-member body that represents Pittsfield residents in city hall. In the 2023 election, Pittsfielders returned White to council chambers for a fifth two-year term. He enters 2024 as city hall’s top voter getter across the election’s contested races. For his past two terms, White served as Vice President under the leadership of Peter Marchetti, Pittsfield’s freshly sworn-in new mayor.
“I just look forward to him coming through on the promises he made on the campaign, so we can work for the people of Pittsfield, trying to provide better housing alternatives for everyone- Those who are homeless and also those who are just struggling to keep their homes, better jobs, better housing," White told WAMC. "I look forward to just working with everyone and having that opportunity to keep the ball rolling.”
After a term where conservatives decried Pittsfield as having a spending problem, WAMC asked White how he plans to approach formulating the budget for fiscal year 2025.
“I think looking at contractual obligations first, to see where we must be by our commitments to our employees, and then making sure that we can afford the initiatives that President Marchetti – Or, not President, Mayor Marchetti- That's going to take a little bit getting used to, well deserved – the initiatives like having more first responders, and having more alternatives to how policing has been done, typically, and then just seeing what we can do in other areas while working within the budget that we have,” said the city council president.
White says the budget ball is in Marchetti’s court for now.
“I really need to see what Mayor Marchetti puts forward and what initiatives are needed in the city before looking at cuts to be made," he said. "And also, I want to hear what incoming councilors want to hear. You know, the president leads the meetings, facilitates the meetings, but does in no way controls the debate. So, that is going to be up to councilors critiquing what the mayor puts forward, and I think we need to give Mayor Marchetti a chance to put the budget forward that envisions how he sees Pittsfield moving forward, and then see what we can do to afford it- Whether that's reducing areas, or finding ways to spend differently.”
White says that after years of unfulfilled promises, the body will finally address the city’s trash ordinances over the 2024-2025 session.
“I will make sure of this," he told WAMC. "But I do believe that it is still at the committee of the whole, on the agenda. It was never taken care of to discuss a bag plan that would be modified pay-to-throw. I was a supporter of Mayor [Linda] Tyer’s toter initiative, and we need to find ways- That is one of our largest increasing costs each year, and even if people just dried out their garbage and don't put wet things in and composted, we can put other educational tools out there that will hopefully change it, but having an unlimited amount of trash that you can put out on the curb is just too costly.”
In response to calls for reform after the police killing of a 22-year-old in the depths of a mental health crisis in 2022, White detailed his vision for expanding the response capabilities of the city’s police department — specifically, making sure mental health co-responders are available at all hours of the day.
“I think actual policy, having it in place, is trying to get it so we have more than the two or three that we have now," he said. "And making it so we can have somebody out on, so we have a co-responder for all shifts. So, it's not just a, 'sometimes we have this sometimes we don't,' while also looking at continued education for our officers who are out there on the front line that may not always have a co-responder with them, but making sure that they're learning more techniques than they have to make sure that they have alternatives.”
The Pittsfield city council meets for the first time this term Tuesday at 6 p.m.
