Letter: North Adams Public Hearing on the City Budget on June 10

To the Editor:

North Adams should provide a meaningful and practical opportunity to engage citizens in a dialogue on the budget.

Traditionally the City Council Finance Committee conducts meetings at which there is a line-by-line review of the budget.

This year five meetings lasting 1.5 to 2.5 hours were held over a two-week period. These meetings meet the needs of the City Council members to take a deep dive into the budget. They do not meet the needs of most members of the public. It is challenging for most North Adams citizens to commit eight hours over a two-week period to attend these meetings.

This year a citizen's petition for a public hearing on the budget was submitted to the city in accordance with a state law that mandates that a city must conduct a public hearing if 10 registered voters submit a written request for a public hearing on the budget. In response to this petition the city has scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday June 10th at 6:00 p.m. at the North Adams City Hall. The mayor will provide an overview presentation on the budget and members of the public will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.

I urge North Adams residents who want their voices heard on the city budget to attend the public hearing. This will demonstrate the importance of providing a citizen-friendly forum for discussion of the budget and will open the door to making this forum an annual event.

Virginia Riehl
North Adams, Mass.

Jillian Tatro's Killer Guilty of First-Degree Murder

Staff Reports 03:25PM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Jillian Tatro

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A Berkshire County jury on Tuesday returned a verdict of guilty in the murder of Jillian Tatro four years ago. 

 

Luis Rosado, 53, was found guilty of murder in the first degree with extreme atrocity for stabbing his 38-year-old wife to death in an apartment they shared at 46 Charles St. on May 28, 2022.

 

He and Tatro had been married five months and during that time, Tatro had sought a restraining order against her husband.

 

Rosado had been convicted of domestic violence on another individual in October 2020. At the time, he was charged with three counts of assault and battery on a household member, strangulation and larceny and was sentenced to a minimum of a year in the Berkshire County House of Corrections.

 

He went on trial for murder this past week in Pittsfield and was found guilty by a Berkshire Superior Court jury. Sentencing has not yet occurred. 

 

The conviction was announced on Tuesday morning by Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue at the arraignment of David L. Boucher, who is charged with murder in the death of his father. 

 

"While we were waiting here this morning, [a jury] returned a verdict of guilty in the first degree, cruel and atrocious behavior. So I don't know when the sentence will be. I don't know whether it will be life without parole," he said. "Obviously, I really want to congratulate the North Adams Police Department and all the departments of law enforcement that worked hard on this case."