BRTA Board OKs Contract for Administrator, Reviews Open Meeting Complaint

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority Board finalized the new administrator's contract on Thursday.

Kathleen Lambert accepted the position in September pending contract negotiations. The negotiations were halted at the board's meeting on Oct. 14 as they failed to have a quorum.

On Thursday, the board revised the language for the termination clause for performance reviews so they can be done as needed.

The BRTA also spoke about language for a response to an Open Meeting Law complaint made by board member Rene Wood.

Wood said the board violated Open Meeting at its meeting on Sept. 25, when they were speaking about the contract negotiations because it wasn't listed on the agenda. The agenda item was listed as "Administrator Search Update."

Executive Director Roobert Malnati was asked to respond to Wood and the violation. One of the requests was for legal counsel to offer an Open Meeting Law class to the board . 

"Legal counsel presented in person or Zoom class or Open Meeting Law, including this section that was offered back at our previous meeting in August, it will be offered again that we invite KP Law to provide an Open Meeting Law class if that is so desired," Malnati said.

Another note Wood added was for the board to remove a sentence from the Sept. 9 minutes regarding Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti's statement that Wood asking in the meeting for the advisory board to vote on Malnati writing a letter of support for Rep. Leigh Davis' microtransit bill was in violation of Open Meeting law.

"The minutes are the minutes. And so you want clarity on that. We can certainly give clarity to who made that statement, but it was part of that meeting. It was part of that discussion, and it should stand, and it's an opinion that was stated," Malnati said.

Marchetti clarified that he should not have stated it in that way but that it was still discouraged from being discussed.

"The frequently asked questions is pretty clear that you should not be bringing up a topic, and the Attorney General's Office strongly encourages that you postpone any discussion or action on an item," Marchetti said. "What if it's controversial or maybe of particular interest to the public? And I think the issue that we were going to discuss with Rep. Davis is microtransit bill, which I think is highly something that the folks in the public want to know more about.

"So going forward, I would have been against the recommendation of the thing. My misspeaking and saying it's a violation of Open Meeting Law, it's not a violation, but it's strongly encouraged not to do it." 

The board motioned to for Malnati's response.

Malnati also brought up that the ridership number for September is 29 percent higher than the former September where it was not fare free. "Fare free is helping our ridership" he stated.

Pittsfield Council Says 'Yes' to Soccer at Crane Park

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:35AM / Saturday, June 13, 2026

The pitch will have the logos of the city and the US. and Massachusetts soccer associations. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is gladly accepting a "mini-pitch" from the U.S. Soccer Foundation to bring games back to Crane Park. 

Fueling excitement around the World Cup, U.S. Soccer has been working with the Massachusetts Youth Soccer League to make these facilities available to 20 communities — one of which will be at the park at the intersection of Benedict Road and Springside Avenue. 

The City Council accepted the gift on Tuesday during its regular meeting. 

A mini pitch is a compact, modular field typically used for soccer, and it can also accommodate inline skates. It has a galvanized steel border with built-in goals and a rubber plastic surface that is clicked together; installed on the existing inline hockey court. 

Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham said he has gone door to door speaking with nearby residents, and they are "really excited" about the upgrade. He also sees it as a great addition. 

"They say that nobody really uses the court a ton now, and they are excited to see kids back on there playing," he said. 

Decades ago, the Crane Park facility was a wading pool. It closed in 1980, and before the turn of the century, it was filled in and marked for hockey. 

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath explained that the wooden border around the rink is showing its age, has been vandalized and tagged, and the facility is seeing a "real decline" in use. 

"This would seem to be an appropriate spot for us to remove the board system that's in place and install the mini pitch system through this grant," he said.