Pittsfield Appoints In-House Solicitor, COA Director

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:00PM / Friday, December 13, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The City Council appointed two leadership positions on Tuesday, bringing legal services in-house and a new face to the senior center.

Following Stephen Pagnotta's retirement, the city has hired Devon Grierson as the in-house City Solicitor for legal matters. Jennifer Reynolds was also appointed as the director of the Council on Aging/Senior Center.

Both will begin work in early January.

"I am proud to say that we are going to have an in-house, full-time city solicitor," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

For the past several years, the city has been under a contract with Donovan O'Connor & Dodig LLP for city solicitor services. Over the summer, it was revealed that City Solicitor Stephen Pagnotta intends to retire at the end of the year and the firm has communicated that nobody is willing to take his position.

In July, the Personnel Review Board supported a reclassification from Grade M-9 with a salary ranging from $98,171 to $127,623 annually to Grade M-10 with a salary ranging from $107,983 to $140,377 annually.

Marchetti told the board that the city needed to take a dual approach, advertising for an in-house solicitor and putting out an RFP to engage another law firm. He was also doubtful about interest from other law firms.

"I don't think we're going to find a law firm in Berkshire County who is going to want to take the position and quite frankly, I don't think that I as mayor want a city solicitor stationed in Boston that is only here when needed," he said.

Months later, Grierson answered the call. Now the city will not be contracting out for legal services.

Prior to this, Grierson worked as the first associate city solicitor of Springfield, similarly providing legal guidance to all city departments, boards, and commissions, supervising the legal services division of the law department, and drafting and approving the form of all contracts issued by the city.

He earned a Bachelor's in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and then graduated from the Western New England University School of Law.

Reynolds has worked as the senior center director for the town of Bernardston, and Amherst's senior services office manager. This year, she was recognized with the Massachusetts Council on Aging Innovation of the Year Award, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute Top Innovator in Digital Inclusion Award, and the National Council on Aging Program of Excellence Award.

In other news, the council accepted several grants, including $18,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation for boat ramp monitors.

Zebra mussels were detected in both city lakes this year. Boat monitors check incoming vessels for the invasive species before entering the waterbody.

Other accepted grants: $40,000 was accepted from the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance and Massachusetts Office on Disability for the FY25 Municipal ADA Improvement Grant; $15,000 was accepted from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for initiatives in Pittsfield's Upstreet Cultural District spearheaded by the Office of Cultural Development; $64,763.75 was accepted from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for the FY25 Violence Against Women Act STOP Grant.

Tags: city solicitor, Council on Aging,

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Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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