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During Restaurant Week, 13 participating restaurants will serve a lunch or dinner pre-fixe for $20.20 or another amount ending with $.20 (tax and gratuity not included).

Biz Briefs: Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Hosts Downtown Pittsfield Restaurant Week

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Downtown Pittsfield Restaurant Week

Downtown Pittsfield Inc. has announced Downtown Pittsfield Restaurant Week, a seven-day promotion running March 1-7. During Restaurant Week, 13 participating restaurants will serve a lunch or dinner pre-fixe for $20.20 or another amount ending with $.20 (tax and gratuity not included).

The goal of Downtown Pittsfield Restaurant Week is to highlight the numerous and diverse dining options of downtown Pittsfield and to help boost business during what is typically a slower time of the year for restaurants. DPI encourages residents to support their downtown favorites or try somewhere new. Participating restaurants include: Dottie's Coffee Lounge, Eat on North, Flavours of Malaysia, House of India, The Marketplace Café, Methuselah Bar & Lounge, Mission Restaurant, Otto's Kitchen & Comfort, Panchos Mexican Restaurant, Patrick’s Pub, That's a Wrap Café, Thrive Diner, and Tito's Mexican Grill.

New this year, dine downtown during Restaurant Week for a chance to win a basket of gift certificates. Pick up a Restaurant Week Passport at participating restaurants and purchase a Restaurant Week special to enter. Diners will receive a card punch, by restaurant staff, each time they buy a Restaurant Week special. Each punch entitles the diner one entry into the raffle (i.e., five punches equals five raffle entries). One grand prize winner will receive a basket of gift certificates for $20.20 from each participating restaurant.

For a full list of Restaurant Week promotions, visit the website or follow Downtown Pittsfield on Facebook.

 

SVHC 'Best Place to Work'

Southwestern Vermont Health Care has been named one of the 2020's Best Places to Work for the sixth year in a row. SVHC received the honor for the first time in 2015. It remains the only hospital in the state of Vermont to be recognized by the awards program.

This statewide program is presented by Vermont Business Magazine in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont State Council; the Vermont Department of Commerce and Community Development; and Best Companies Group. The program surveys and identifies the best places of employment to recognize organizations that benefit the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses.

In the recent past, SVHC has earned several other prominent distinctions, including appearing on Becker's Hospital Review's national list of the "Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare" since 2016. In October 2019, Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, SVHC's skilled nursing facility, earned a deficiency-free rating from Vermont regulators, and in November 2019, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center earned an "A" for hospital safety from the Leapfrog Group. In 2017, the hospital received the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s top honor, the Magnet Prize.


The final rankings for each category of the Best Places to Work in Vermont awards will be announced at a special awards presentation in March 2020. For more information on the Best Places to Work in Vermont program, visit the website.

 

Nonprofit directory

The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires has issued the second edition of its Nonprofit Resource Directory designed to make it easier for nonprofits to find business services in Berkshire County. The 68-page directory is underwritten by advertisers and mailed free to more than 300 nonprofits. A digital version is available for download online, and additional printed copies can be purchased for $10 at npcberkshires.org.

The 2020 Nonprofit Resource Directory is arranged by subject and includes accounting, banking, events, fundraising, graphic design, human resources, insurance, legal, legislators, marketing, office supplies, organizational development, print services, professional development and technology services. Subcategories within the main categories further pinpoint the specific types of services that nonprofits need such as videographers, media contacts, and grant writers.  

The NPC also fields referrals daily via phone at 413-645-3151 or email.

 

PearsonWallace Insurance opens office

Pearson Wallace Insurance has opened an office at 25 Henry St. in Pittsfield and 11 Amity St. Amherst. Founder Beth Pearson, a resident of Pittsfield and Amherst, said that the agency will provide quality and affordable insurance products and services to Massachusetts and New York.

Pearson Wallace currently provides personal auto, home and business insurance services. PWI opened these office with the intent of filling a gap for customers facing limited choices in choosing a local agent. Banks and big insurance retailers with headquarters in other cities and sometimes other countries are buying up the local agents, and in many cases reducing key staff, leaving the less-experienced insurance people to run the office. These big box retailers and banks are managing customers as a commodity, not as individuals.

PWI will focus on concierge insurance services, including RMV registry runs, workers comp audits, claims management and more. The office can be reached at 413-464-9390.

 

Public Works Award

The City of North Adams Public Works Department has been selected for the 2020 Best of North Adams Award in the Utility Companies category by the North Adams Award Program. Each year, the North Adams Award Program identifies companies that have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the North Adams area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2020 North Adams Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the North Adams Award Program and data provided by third parties.

 

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal.

Last Thursday's meeting was Administrator Kathleen Lambert's first official meeting taking over the reins; retiring director Robert Malnati stayed during a transition period that ended last month.

Lambert is trying to create a schedule that will lessen cancellations. There was a two-hour meeting the week before with the drivers union to negotiate run bids and Lambert is working with the new operating company Keolis, which is taking over from Transdev.

The board spoke about anonymous emails from drivers, which Lambert said she has not seen. iBerkshires was not able to see those letters, but has received some. 

"They were lengthy emails from someone describing themselves as concerning BRTA employee, and there was a signed letter from a whole group of employees basically stating their concerns. So, you know, to me, it was a set of whistleblowers, and that, what my understanding is that this really triggers a need for some type of process to review the merits of these whistleblowers, not going to call them accusations, but basically expressions of concern," said member Stephen Bannon.

A letter iBerkshires received spoke of unhappy drivers who were considering quitting because of decisions being made without "input from frontline staff," frustration and falling morale, and the removal of the former general manager shortly after Lambert came in.

Lambert said it's difficult to navigate a new change. She also noted many drivers don't want to do Saturday runs and it has been hard negotiating with drivers on the new runs.

"I would like you all to keep in mind that the process of change is super difficult. Transdev has been here for 20 years, and some of these drivers have never known any other operating company, the way some of the operations have been handled has been archaic," she said. "So getting folks up to speed on how a modern transit system works is going to be painful for them. So I don't want to say that I'm unsympathetic, because I am sympathetic, but I am trying to coax people along with a system that's going to seem very strange to them."

The board spoke about better communication between them and Lambert, citing cooperation will be best moving forward.

"There's just a lot of stuff in the air right now, and there are a lot of fires to put out to make this a coordinated effort. And if we don't keep our communications open and be straightforward, then you get blindsided about how you know the input that you could get from us about your position, and how you know what's going on in your direction, and we get blindsided. And I think that we have to make sure that this is a collaboration," said member Sherry Youngkin.

"Both sides have responsibilities, because in the long run, this advisory board is going to have to make decisions as to how we brought forward and if we've gone forward in a fair and helpful way. And I think that's hopefully what everybody is looking for also." 

Transdev and Keolis held a three-day recruiting event interviewing almost 40 candidates and offering jobs to eight, but only three stayed on to start training. Lambert said it was disappointing but she will keep trying to retain more people.

In her first report to the board, she noted that ridership dipped a little over 10 percent, but still remains higher than last year, adding that was because of cancellations of services because of the lack of drivers.

Like the last meeting, some of the advisory board members were torn over the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and the numbers of riders are low.

Lambert, however, said the ridership has doubled from last month.

"As I've spoken before, we have, generally, a six-month adoption for brand-new service before you can really go in and evaluate, are you being successful based on the grant that my predecessor wrote along with the team for PBTA and RTA, we are ahead of schedule, which is pretty good, so I'm hoping that will continue to improve," she said.

Member Renee Wood said the board never approved the service, adding the only thing she could find in the minutes was a vote to accept the equipment. She said it was supposed to be put on the agenda to discuss.

"The Link413 service has been three years in the making. It's been a grant that was accepted and has been working with our partners, PVTA and FRTA, to put into place. So I don't have the entire history of how that process worked, but it's been three years in the making, and did we not understand that once we accept that grant that we were going to put in new service?" Lambert said.

The board discussed if Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, was followed with an accurate review and accurate amount of time for public comment period on the service changes and if its attorney should review if the  grant conditions were properly followed.

Lambert said changes had the 60-day comment period included in the proposed route realignment packet, giving the opportunity for the community to respond to that as well but will look into the legality of the situation with their attorney.

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