!!PLANET EXCLUSIVE!! PICKED POCKETS AND PICKLEFIELD PAYROLL (ONLY THE HIGHEST IN THE STATE!)
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION NOV. 17-9, 2023) — And now ladies and gentlemen, from high atop the Aragon Ballroom in beautiful, downtown Picklefield, for your dining and dancing pleasure, THE PLANET presents our latest exclusive: The Top 100 city salaries.
It’s exclusive because no other area medium bothers to give you this information, least of all your city government or the local daily newspaper once known as the Berkshire Eagle. The late Jonathan Levine, the most figged newsman in the area, and his much-missed Pittsfield Gazette ventured into this territory.
In Jonathan’s name and memory, we publish the salaries of everyone in the city.
The wonderful part of this, Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, is that YOU, yes YOU, are paying for every dime.
Top salary goes to PPD Sgt. Andrew Couture, who only took down $237,971. T-t-t-that’s more than Sgt. Joe Friday made on Dragnet.
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To use this site, you’ll notice at the bottom this the 60 top salaries, their positions, and, if you click on the name, other pertinent information. You’ll then notice hot links 1, 2, 3 … 88, 89, 90. Clicking on No 2., for example, gives you salaries 61 through 120. You can got through all 90 lists by using the hot links at the bottom of the page that you open. You’ll get the hang of it.
Trust THE PLANET, there’s hours of fun for the entire family. For taxpayers, though, we recommend a good supply of dramamine.
City of Pittsfield Employee Salaries
Highest City of Pittsfield employee salary in year 2022 was $237,971. City of Pittsfield employees number in year 2022 was 2,186. City of Pittsfield average salary was $46,615 and median salary was $43,756. According to the last payroll, City of Pittsfield average salary is 38 percent lower than USA average and 10 percent lower than Massachusetts state average. City of Pittsfield employee salaries are usually between $15,257 and $72,145. Top 10% of highest-earning employees have salaries ranging from $90,370 to $237,971.
Note how police, fire, and schools dominate the top salaries. No wonder why those looking to be handed office (no one “wins” elections in Picklefield) muck up so shamelessly to the Big 3 unions. You know what that means, right?
City elections are foregone conclusions, or, in a word, rigged.
Don’t be fooled by the average salary and median salary. Those are skewed by part-timers. For example, the lowest salary is for $83. When factoring out these reimbursements of $15,000 or less, taking into account both business and homeowner tax rates, coupled with the deadbeats (those on some form of pubic assistance) and falling #of taxpayers — ARE YOU STRAPPED IN — Pittsfield ranks as the Commonwealth’s MOST EXPENSIVE STATE for public payroll.
Name | Year | Job Title | Employer | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andrew Couture | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Marc Strout E | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Marc Maddalena E | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Kirchner R | 2022 | Police Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Daniel Aitken A | 2022 | Fire Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Jeffrey Bradford J | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
James Roccabruna M | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Joseph Curtis C | 2022 | Superintendent Of Schools | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Neil Myers E | 2022 | Deputy Fire Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Cheryl Callahan | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
John Mazzeo J | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Kenneth Cowan D | 2022 | Fire Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
David Kirchner P Jr | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
James Heath | 2022 | Fire Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Richard Saldo A | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Michael Grady D | 2022 | Police Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
John Gray E | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Ronald Clement B Jr | 2022 | Deputy Fire Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Thomas Sammons C | 2022 | Fire Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
David Potash P | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Michael Maddalena J | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Gary Traversa P | 2022 | Police Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Michael Wynn J | 2022 | Police Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
David Carusotto J | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Jennifer Brueckmann J | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Daniel Garner B | 2022 | Deputy Fire Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
John Soules J | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Risley | 2022 | Fire Provisional/Temp Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Jacob Barbour M | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Mark Trapani B | 2022 | Police Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Noyes D | 2022 | Deputy Fire Chief | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Candy Allessio L | 2022 | Principals | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Thomas Dawley C | 2022 | Police Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Thomas Bowler J | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Ryan Williams M | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Aaron Garner V | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Randolph Stein | 2022 | Fire Prevention Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Steven Hunt R | 2022 | Police Outside Detail | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Marisa Mendonsa | 2022 | Asst Supt Of Schools | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Robert Stevens L | 2022 | Fire Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
James Parise J | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
John Murphy P III | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Edward Hughes D | 2022 | Fire Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Kristen Behnke C | 2022 | Assn’t Supt Of Bus & Finance | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Michael McLaughlin | 2022 | Fire Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Robert Leary S | 2022 | Fire Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Nicole Lynn Gaynor | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Michael Murphy D | 2022 | Police Detective | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Bishop | 2022 | Principals | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Jessica Godfroy | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Gary Herland P | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Killeen S | 2022 | Police Sergeant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Bryan Betters P | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Vincent Barbarotta F | 2022 | Superintendent – Highway | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Judy Rush | 2022 | Curriculum Director | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Billie Lamoureaux Jo | 2022 | Teachers | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Matthew Hill H | 2022 | Police Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
David Hallas K | 2022 | Police Patrol Officer | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Timothy Conroy J | 2022 | Fire Captain | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
Scott McGinnis M | 2022 | Fire Prevention Lieutenant | City of Pittsfield | View Salary Details |
—————————————————————
“Next time the city clerk calls roll call for council meetings, councilors should answer ‘Not Guilty‘” — Sir Donald Turpentine.
OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.
LOVE TO ALL.
Copyright (c) 2023 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.
I believe that Strout doesn’t live in Pittsfield, to boot.
I suppose he has a relative that makes as much as he does?
There is a Couture.Not sure she is related.
Neither does Jimmy “I love Pittsfield” Ruberto.
Neither does Danno.
Danno doesn’t work for the City silly.
Why would any cop want to live in this shithole of a city?
For two hunge and change wouldn’t you? Dum dum
No.
And no one knows just how big a shithole Pittsfield is. Even some of them don’t get the full picture. But as you know, since Tyer took over crime of all kinds has been down down down in Pittsfield and almost everyone is now going to church and volunteering like crazy. Nine out of ten kids are achieving honors in school and then going home to mow their neighbors lawn free of charge.
One does not too often read about overdoses or gangs or fentanyl or homelessness because although it exists it is minimal and not really worth discussing.
But just to be extra careful, on day one of her mayor-ship, Tyer hauled her ass to the wooded border of her city, which just happened to be the farthest possible point on the map that allowed her to be considered living in the city and eligible to be mayor.
The new mayor lives in a very nice neighborhood as well, high on a hill and will also not be near any of the riff raff that roam freely through most other neighborhoods.
If any of you do not believe you are living n a cartoon you need to go back and watch some Walt Disney cartoons and look at the parallels in your real life. Not so different I assure you.
All this confirmed on WGOB. Not a cartoon. Did you hear the warning about the feral humanoids biting pedestrians on North? Some are clothed. Be careful out there, warning in place until 13:00.
That’s right man. How many shootings under her watch? How many homicides? She wasn’t going to tolerate it, remember? How many millions did she increase the cops budget by? How much did crime fall? A fair and balanced report card would give her an F on crime. Period. Period. Period.
So what? Neither do hundreds of other city employees including plenty other high ranking cops.
Only the police chief and fire chief are required to, by city law. No other cops and firemen are required to.
This is true.
Yea, and that is precisely why a shitload of cops have moved from this shithole of a city. They acutally know how bad it is.
No wonder the GOBs freaked over an internal auditor and why the police and fire lined up behind Marchetti. It’s cops gone wild.
and the police are the first and foremost complainers in this city that they need more and more to do their job. What a racket.
How’s that whole progressive Pittsfield working out? with the highest paid woman in the city is 10th on the list, and only two women in the top 25 highest paid and only 7 women in the top 50. Seems pretty damn sexist to me. Peter Marchetti will fit in just right as the mayor with his record. Just ask Victoria May.
Marchetti will straighten them bitches out.
Most women can’t handle the road jobs. Just telling it like it is.
Budget Debates 2022:
I wondered aloud if budget lines were ‘opt-in’ as in pass the hat around what would people pay for? That was around the time Marchetti tried to get me ousted from the Council for disputing the relative value of a social worker. I was talking about the real flesh and bones social worker we’d dig up. He wanted to restrict the debate to the metaphysical social worker endowed with all the virtues of social workydom. Such a marvel can cure bedsores, repair bad medical attention, calm the deranged, cure the blind, house the homeless. I suspected that the sort we’d hire would be best counted on to make certain every day her briefcase has all the needed forms in multiple languages ready to roll in her Ford SUV. The City Councilor would be counted on to do the social work. (Yes, that’s me.)
No one’s digging wells on the East side of town; we’d all pay for water sewer. But how much would drop into the hat to give the HR head a new desk, title, and $20K pay raise? I suspect not that much.]
Budget Debates 2023:
I asked to cut out all the bonuses that are added onto 5% automatic raises. 5%! When I got raises, before the dark days of CoVID, they were at most 2%. The argument for hikes: “These are our neighbors we need to take care of.” Actually, it’s the people who are submitting their wishlists to the Council who are getting well taken care of.
I wonder what the hot topic for Spring 2024 shall bear. In a month, they will be drawing the lists and digging the well a bit deeper to meet demand.
Pp’s 4-87 are not linked.
Councilor, when are you leaving for Vermont?
Need a ride?
Municipal Social Worker
Episode 1: The apprenticeship, and the miracles.
Go on one of the linked pages. At the bottom, there will be a link to the next page. That’s how you get to 4-87.
TO ALL
Got this tip that I’m passing along: “DCF said a child died, in our jurisdiction, today …. That’s all I know. It’s a fact.”
How is this an “exclusive,” Dan? Massachusetts has long made information about public employee salaries available. See here: https://cthrupayroll.mass.gov/#!/year/2023
Just because some of our local brethren are ignorant of this does not allow you to post links to a pre-existing database and lie that it’s an exclusive.
I love it, H!
Dan can validly claim it’s an exclusive because he’s the first media outlet to publish it.
Thanks, K, for pointing out something that H.L. obviously did not understand.
Nonsense. The Office of the Comptroller has made public employee salaries available for years.
https://cthrupayroll.mass.gov/#!/year/2023/\
Learn how to spell “kindergarten,” Professor.
Sorry, H, but K once again “owns” you on this. Truth is, you just don’t want to admit it. Is that too tough for you do? You might want to HONESTLY examine that question, not here or in an public forum, but tonight, when you’re in the bathroom, alone, looking at yourself in the mirror. You’ll find out if you have courage or not, and you are the only one to whom it will really matter. Hope you take the opportunity to grow as a person.
Do I tell you how to spell your name, H.L.?
If some other outlet publishes it, then it won’t be an exclusive anymore.
And who tells you how to spell YOUR name, H.L.?
It is a garden for the kinder, sheyna punim.
I love how some teachers are pulling in over $100k somehow. That’s more than some administrators. I’m assuming the Police/Fire depts are getting that due to massive overtime and understaffing. Makes me feel better when they sit around waiting to pull me over for citations and civil infractions like speeding that I have to pay out for years to come on my private sector salary.
What a crock.
Don’t feel bad,a friend of mine just paid out a grand for her dui out of state 15 years ago.
As my old auntie used to say, there no T like OT
And my old auntie used to say – sex may not make the world go round, but it sure makes the ride fun.
Auntie Zatunie?
Is Barry’s Auntie still milking the US taxpayers?
Another criminal alien that should have been deported years ago……..
How about the Fire Dept now do traffic details watching holes
It’s nothing to be alarmed about
The contractor pays for details. Do they pay the city and the city pays the detail officer? Or is detail money separate and not included in city salary?
They get paid in their city checks. The city bills the contractor, and adds a 10 percent upcharge per hour, for administrative fee. I wouldn’t stand in the road looking in a hole, or doing traffic, all day, for 100 per hour, even if I could play on my phone. What a shitty way to spend your life.
They don’t watch holes. They draw circles around them in the morning and measure how much they move in the evening.
wow…. I may not hesitate any longer to call and ask for help getting my cat out of the tree. Kidding. in todays world it seems fair that a police officer makes at least as much as a UPS driver. a UPS drive makes $150,000 a year. give me a break. yeah they work hard for sure but that was a power play and they played us until we caved.
Yeah but UPS drivers are working the entire time they are on the clock. Unlike firefighters that stay busy sleeping, parking in the fire lane at Big Y to shop before cooking their gourmet meals and watching tv
Yes but don’t forget risking their life to protect someone or their property when there is an emergency. so I can see your logic.
Hard job too and high stress. Plus the driver skill, certification, lifestyle restrictions. You won’t smell pot on a UPS driver any more you would on a fireman.
Good point.
Are you wanting them to fight fires….amazing
How the F are these people making this kind of money in this Shity City. I am sure they are not doing 100 grand and better in there job to earn this. Once again look at the sheriffs dept same thing over paid and under thinkers here in Berkshire County and Hampden County is even worse.
Somewhere in those salaries there has to be sleep time on the job.
Firefighters eat till their tired, sleep till their hungry, then repeat. Ruberto gave them a 24 on, 24 off schedule, so you work 2 out of 7 days. But if a cop is caught napping at 0 dark thirty, it’s a big fucking deal.
Too bad he hated the cops and the police chief, who he drove outta town.
Better they sleep than start fires.
And everybody loves a firefighter, because they don’t lock you up!
If I wanted to be liked I would have been a fireman.
I want a city public pension plus perks like Pittsfield’s top public payroll patriots, please, Pete & re-Pete!
The reach around twins
You couldn’t handle being a cop, not even in your prime, buddy. Don’t take it personal. Most people can’t handle it, especially long term. I could write pages and pages about how the job is killing me. The war on cops, started by Obama, the Black Lies Matter – his hands were never up, defund the police, eteffing cetera. And a 10 second video on social media, that ignores everything leading up to it, and a rush to judgment, and a bunch of liberal, Woke A Holes running the goverment. I’m done just as soon as I can be.
PPD and PFD seem top heavy. These salaries are out of line when the income of residents is considered. Pittsfield is a hackorama.
Yes BEN, and when salaries of public employees are so disproportionately out of whack with income of residents, it tends to breed a sense of complacency and entitlement. That’s when you see services and service-quality plummet and citizen morale sink. That sets up the perfect scenario for hack pols who know that as long as they play ball with union demands, they will be given their seats.
Perfectly explained.
Is that why Pittsfield politics has two Peters: Pete & re-Pete? To serve the vested interests (all of the unionized public employees in Pittsfield politics) and the special interests (the out-of-town millionaire businessmen who receive huge tax breaks from the city, while Grandma has to choose between food and medicine due to the thousands of dollars she pays in municipal taxes and fees).
Here is the list:
Mayor-elect Gavel and his anointed City Council President re-Pete
Mayor Gated Community and her 3rd husband Cumby’s Clairmont
Mayor Montello: The Bianchi Bust
Mayor Rolodex: The Ruberto Renaissance in downtown Pittsfield that rivals Paris, London, NYC, and L.A.’s homeless shelters
Mayor Aberration: The Level 5 Schoolmarm who sued the city and walked away with an unknown settlement during the Bianchi administration.
Similar to the Hathaway hack, Sara’s former political boss, Nuciforo, is currently suing the city for $440,000 in HCAs fees plus unspecified additional monetary damages to his Pittsfield Pot Kingdom on Dalton Avenue named “Berkshire Roots” that stinks up nearby residential neighborhoods with his unpleasant smelling largest in the Berkshires pot growing operation
(The late) Mayor Bar-stool: The Doyle debacle
Then we have:
Maryland Markey who really lives in Chevy Chase and supports GE’s plan to put a PCBs toxic waste dump in Lee (Mass.) – So much for the Democrat’s so-called Green New Deal that really allows China to pollute more greenhouse gas emissions than ever before, while we pay top dollar for our energy consumption
Elizabeth Warren (D-Joe Biden and his record setting campaign fundraising dollars from Wall Street and K Street. So much for Main Street, USA)
PAC Man Richie Neal from K Street, especially insurance companies’ corporate lobbyist firms that put big bucks into his multi-million-dollar campaign coffers – What the Hell do K Street’s corporate lobbyist firms have to do with the people in Western Massachusetts, Congressman-for-life Richard E. Neal?
State Senator Paul Marxism (D-Karen Spilka’s biggest Rubber Stamp)
State Representative Trippy Country-Buffet (D-Happy Endings and illegal immigrants – Sarcasm: Just what Pittsfield needs from Boston)
State Representative Shitty Pigpen: (D-GE’s PCBs dump in Lee supporter over the protests of his constituents who live in Lee and Lenoxdale and beyond)
State Representative John Barrett III (D-career politician for life)
Boy, isn’t the above list of politicians who represent the city a dream come true for the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family who works and lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts? I think not because they have to pay taxes and then pound sand! It is really the Kapanski’s nightmare list of failed corrupt career politicians who only do DISSERVICES to the common people they represent in local, state and federal government.
Jon Melle
Jon, it’s no longer Grandma choosing between food and medicine; it’s those of us who are low income and the working poor who can’t afford to stay here and can’t afford to leave
has anyone added in all the perks???
To be fair, who would take orders from a Tyer or a Marchetti if they weren’t being paid millions? Anywhere else in the country has better governance and a higher standard of living. Basically they are like Blackwater contractors getting paid big bucks to stay in the shitshow.
The saddest news of the day related to all of this is that tge bumbling idiot Jumping Joe Curtis just got resigned for 4 more years. From av helper to incompetent superintendent, unreal.
Like most department heads in Pittsfield he agreed to be putty, pliable and subservient. These attributes are mandatory and is one of the core problems keeping the city from being functional in any normal way.
Great work, Dan. You have earned your stripes. Now go home lock your door and hire protection.
Looks like some major redistribution of tax $$ is in order.
Cleptocracy
Well I’m all in favor of those levels of salary funding for the fire dept, but for that kind of $$ the cops should be doing a much better job. Makes you wonder abt whether it should be spread to public works or social services. Or at least set higher expectations for cop activities.
In total agreement my good friend.
Dan Get one of those security cameras.
Get a llama. Much more useful. No one ever want to complain to a judge about getting beaten up by a llama.
Dalai?
Llamas provide some of the finest service in home surveillance and security. We use them back where I come from when crocs are hard to get. I personally don’t like crocs because they are hard to train. My neighbor lost his left hand teaching his.
Had a coupla Llama when I lived in Peru back in the 70s. Went spelunking one day and came home and the bassards had eaten the asbestos siding off most of the house. I was going to cook the both of them up and invite the whole hamlet over for Shish Kabobs but I didn’t know if the asbestos would affect the taste. Then I sued Monsanto for not warning me that this could have happened and bought an Arabian horse which cooked up very nicely. All worked out in the end.
Asbestos is perfectly safe to eat. Cooking has no effect (it’s insulation duh) Just don’t inhale while chewing. Too bad about the horse, but they don’t pay their eats so makes sense.
Good information. Might mix a few ounces of fibers into the dressing for Thanksgiving. Cheaper than trying to dispose of the stuff.
Unless you are have lead paint chips with your salsa………
esophageal/stomach/intestinal cancers
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4856305/
“…..Many countries are now experiencing an epidemic of asbestos-related disease that is the legacy of occupational exposure during the 20th century because of the long latency period (up to 40 years) between initial asbestos exposure and exhibition of disease. However, the gastrointestinal (GI) cancers resulting from asbestos exposure are not as clearly defined. In this review, we summarize some of the recent epidemiology of asbestos-related diseases and then focus on the evidence implicating asbestos in causing GI malignancies……”
It’s baloney. You can eat as much of it as you please.
Wash it down with GE transformer oil!
It is baloney all right. Eating baloney will give you stomach cancer; eating asbestos will give you stomach and colon cancer.
And it was a Pittsfield Cop who broke the case open on the Lenox Lama that was shot and killed with an arrow, some years back, by a drunken youth.
That would be a diplomatic crisis if he shot a Lama. If it were a llama, probably self- defense. Drunk teen thought it would be funny to tip a llama one night in Lenox.
Wot fer?
I believe his rank is General, General Jereesimo.
That wd be Sgt.
Wait until you all see my contract extension with a hefty raise!
Hopefully the district teacher’s don’t protest and file a union petition of no confidence. I can’t be THAT hated
Wellll, I’m not wastin this spell of real sunshine like I’m used to back in Jackson. Usually it’s the bright grey stuff that leaves stains on your arms and legs up here in Pittsfield. So, I’m sitting on my patio out behind my house. I made it this summer just after I moved into my fresh digs. 35 pallets with rolled linoleum sheetrock screwed to my back door side and leveled with a stump. My first house was a little more solid, but I have EHS syndrome. That is what my doc says, anyhoo. Got it just after I moved in when my left foot turned turquoise and my hair frizzled and stood straight up like a mad scientist. EHS, and I’m a party to those shacktown kin of mine to a lawsuit. Not sure where we are with it but the Board of Health is running a bingo night tonight to raise more funds.
I found a comfy spot, private except for my immediate neighbor, on the third island on Pontoosac Lake. It’s the only spot in town where 5G doesn’t reach. My good luck. Visit me sometime – third house with the red door. Don’t knock on the one with the blue door – he don’t like visitors.
What does any of this bull have to do with Jumpin’ Joe? Reasonable that you ask such a question and, oh wait…it’s coming in now on WGOB. I can’t miss this
McCandless made an appearance on pctv panhandle a-thon and actually said Joe was smarter than he was. Schilling for a new contract I’m sure. Now that’s friendship.
Ask the staff in McCandless’s current district how low he and most of the other administrators set that bar. John Krols stereotyped IEP students are smarter than now skinny Jake. Their school committee is a bunch of do nothing politicos like Julie Bowen. Same as Pittsfield
Pittsfield politics pays its Superintendent big bucks in return for Level 5 public schools – the WORST rating! It must be about the state administered federal public education funding that City Hall sees as its CASH COW! It certainly is NOT about the students’ academic performance levels.
What is worse: Level 5 public schools, the 25-year-old indebted and polluted PEDA debacle, the 15 empty storefronts on North Street, the city always being listed in the top 10 cities by population for VIOLENT CRIME in Massachusetts, the city’s $205.6 million fiscal year 2024 operating budget in return for a SHIT SANDWICH, Jimmy Ruberto’s letters to the Eagle from Naples, Florida and Lenox about his views of Pittsfield politics, Nuciforo’s Pittsfield Pot Kingdom stinking up nearby residential neighborhoods and his lawsuit versus the city?
What a cluster f*#k!
“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards” – Mark Twain
Maybe President Pete will petition for a raise for the Mayor Pete as $115,000 seems a little cheap for a guy who just spent 8 years sitting on his ass. Kind of reaching across the aisle if you will. An olive branch to show good faith and a willingness to work together for the good of both of them.
Well, Peter M said he’ll be taking a pay cut when he becomes mayor. Now that his “leave of absence” is over, is Peter back at the Co-Op? Inquiring minds want to know.
In theory, he could do both jobs. There is no minimum hours requirement for mayor, and we all know what bankers hours are.
Liar’s Poker. Bankers hours.
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
https://youtu.be/IGo6x_uzG8Y?si=Ak2GEEo05YVmV-PW
I imagine that is lockbox non information and if Petes coming administration is anything like Tyers there will be a lot of that stuff you would like to know but never will. And don’t sit back and wait for local media to dig anything out for ya, at least not if it is Pittsfield stuff.
Now if you want to know all about what is going on with town officials in Sandisfield, they can help you. Pittsfield? Not so much.
Then came the upgrade with unions and school committees. Ever wonder about a committee of 5 forming a subcommittee to troubleshoot what is a silly idea in the first place?
Hmm, our schools are level 5, I propose a subcommittee to explore another human resource position.
Level five. Might be a level 2 if all those scads of “honor” students were independently tested huh?
Nobody fudges, obscures and obfuscates statistics like Pittsfield and with no oversight in sight we will dance blindly into the oasis.
I would like to nominate ‘DUH?” as the new Pittsfield motto and would like to see it etched into the granite steps of city hall.
‘Duh’ Academy.
Skoo Komittee woman got cheezed off when I petitoned for some statistical sort of report. She wrote me: “I understand you want some numbers pertaining to attendance and reports. Please tell me what you want to do with this report? I am experienced in statistics and it seems to me you are going to abuse it.”
That is poor.
Wow
It’s none of her damn business.
Btw, you misspelled scohol.
Yes, “SCOHOL” … even I forget the proper spelling.
There ya go. A protective lock box on the city vitals which is why tyer and Marchetti fight tooth and nail against any suggestion of a real audit. Thye both give you that thousand mile stare when asked about one.
A real audit of Pittsfields books might make Jim Boutons book “FOUL BALL” (a story of Pittsfield inner workings) look like a beginner class in macrame. Which is why almost no city officials want to discuss the subject and neither do any local newspapers.
By the way FOUL BALL by Jim Bouton should be required reading for anyone thinking of moving to Pittsfield.It gives you a taste of the inner workings and poison pill politics that are the core of the city. You may find it in the local library unless all copies have mysteriously disappeared.
The civil service test is held every two years. If you Rubes aren’t smart enough to pass a basic intelligence exam who’s fault is that? When I got out of the service after Nam, everyone Said I was crazy to work for the city, go work at the GE they all told me. How’d that work out for ya?
GE didn’t have sheep.
No but they found two in city government to sign off on the consent decree.
“……two democrats in city office….”
Ask the police how the civil service test has worked out for them.
If you had GE stock, it worked out very well.
That was my parents, I am happy to say.
Posters like Merry and Bright ask why there is little to no traffic enforcement on Picklefield roads. This article sheds light on the reason why.
The officers are tired from standing on the road all morning. They need their rest for the next morning’s OT shift.
What better way to rest up, then while on-duty, jump in a cruiser and find a spot to hide for the shift and catch up on their beauty rest.
Zero proactive police work means no traffic enforcement or active patrolling of the neighborhoods or businesses. If dispatch doesn’t call their unit (beat) number, they aren’t heard from all shift long.
There is no way a Picklefield Police Officer should be clearing over $200,000 in salary a year. $200K plus is the usual salary for police chiefs in major urban cities, not officers or sergeants.
Years ago, one of my PPD friends told me the PPD drug unit used to show up early in the morning then disappear until 4PM, when they showed up for the beginning of their shifts. They would be cleaned up and with a different set of clothes on than what they were wearing in the morning.
She told me it was an unkept secret the drug unit used to go home and rest up or take care of their normal business, ALL WHILE ON CITY OT. Most were putting in 40+ hours a week in overtime doing this and it was allowed.
She told me they would hide this theft of city money and time, by claiming they were doing “surveillance” on a suspect/house. The only surveillance they were doing was checking their eye lids for cracks.
If the city wants to get a handle on this, two things need to happen: (1) limit the amount of OT an officer can work in a pay period (two weeks). This keeps the officer fresh and able to do the job they were hired for. (2) create a call for service for each officer. This will allow supervisors to see who’s doing proactive police work versus those who only handle radio calls and no more. No proactive police work, this would make the officer ineligible for OT. Plus, it shines a light on the laziness of the officer.
MA needs to get rid of the manhole cover law which mandates police officers at road construction. Every other state uses flagmen and traffic barriers to do the job with little to no issues.
Picklefield Police are trying to catch up w/their MA State Police counterparts in OT money earned and little police work being done.
Mass. State Police Overtime Scandal: Here are 23 of the troopers we know were suspended or retired and how much they made – masslive.com
That all suggests a weak and or incompetent police chief. the kind Pittsfield seems to foment.
Did Pittsfield just pass its 1000 traffic accident of the year? You are not going to find that information but that is a good ball park number I assure you. I just wonder sometimes if there was just one police officer out all day two days a week handing out tickets (not warnings) if this would make people more conscience of their driving. I swear it is a rare trip across town that I do not witness at least two complete asshole vehicle maneuvers putting peoples lives in danger. It is like people just know no one is watching and they will take all kinds of crazy risks.
Is Pittsfield considered a high risk zone for insurance purposes? Are Pittsfield residents paying a built in surcharge on their insurance because their city is considered a dangerous area?
Agree with Markus.
Good to see that Jennifer “I took down an 88 yr old lady w a paring knife” Brueckmann and her pissy boyfriend Rick Saldo are pulling down a cool $ 298, 112 between the 2 of them. I’m sure they will top $ 300 k this year.
On a related note it’s good to see that PFD retired mechanics qualify to do road jobs too.
What a friggin racket this is.
Marchetti wants the Curtis deal done before he takes office so he can wring his hands of it. He campaigned against Curtis to win votes, but he was never gonna upset the apple cart – on literally anything. Weee Willy Cameron has been given the marching orders to get this deal done before January 1. Why wouldn’t they wait until the new mayor comes on in? … well, there’s your answer. You’re welcome, everyone!
Look for other things for the old mayor to sign off on as she glibly dances out the door. She has even less reason now than before to give a shit so watch for her to sign off on things that the Marchetti admin or taxpayers will be unable to change.
Thanks Dan for the list,
This is absolutely disgusting! 5 PPD guarding a hole or waving traffic by but not a one walking North Street or in the parks shooing away the junkies. No wonder these small towns can’t keep any officers at 18 hr Pittsfield has beat officers making 125K of course if you want one of these cushy salaries you have to be a golf bud, cousin, or in the Bro club.
You’re more than welcome, JD. The road details need to be eliminated. No other state in the union has them. The city should take matters into its own hands, go “home rule,” and put an end to the ridiculousness.
Dan, most states and cities and town do in fact have cops doing details. It is the only way cops can make any money. How much, by the way, do you think a cop should be paid, for patrolling a shithole of city, getting spit upon by a woman who tells him she has aids, wresting around with drunks and druggies, being Monday morning quarterbacked by the higher ups who were off all weekend, and risking their life on an hourly basis, in this shithole of city? Dunkin Donuts pays almost 20 per hour. Don’t you think a patrol officer should make $30
Absolutely not true Blue. Major states like FL, CA, and TX, do not use police officers on road construction.
Maybe the state police in those states if it impacts traffic at all on highways.
Cars traveling at 70+ MPH pose a much greater danger than those cars doing 35-40 MPH on Picklefield streets, I’m sure you’d agree Blue?
Cops aren’t needed for road construction on city streets. You know it and the cops not paying attention to the traffic conditions because their eyes are glued in their phones know it too.
Plus, don’t most police officers tell people they don’t “get to into the job to get rich?”
Making over a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS in a yearly salary that requires only a HS diploma as a minimum requirement, is rich IMO.
Convince me differently Blue.
Respectfully, you are ignorant of how the police pay is structured- and although I actually don’t know who made what, or how, it is usually a combination of hours, rank, college degrees, and a whole bunch of overtime the cops do mot even want to do, but are ordered to. Dan’s list probably also includes people cashing in accrued time upon retirement. As to road jobs, what I said is true, despite the fact that civilians are allowed to do it in every state, including Massachusetts.
At least one of these salaries won’t be on next year’s list. Lt. Bradford was caught bangin’ his female co-responder and retired quickly and quietly. That’s ok, he played nice and he’ll keep his big taxpayer pension after his dishonorable discharge. Joe Taxpayer will foot the bill for the extramarital OT. Party on, boys!
If that’s true he’s an idiot. His wife is a total smoke show. She’ll replace him faster than you can say Jack Robinson.
You show me a guy eating filet migneon every night and I’ll show you guy wanting a hamburger.
Just wondering how many employees are making over their appointed line item salaries. In the private sector, your salary is what it is. Plus or minus.
You should not be posting this unless you have facts to back it up, and even then, boys will be boys, girls will be girls. If it is true, and he retired, then so be it. It is not against the law.
if we are going to post about every city employee who ever banged another one, we will have a very long, long list, and it will include mayors, plenty of school personnel, more cops, and whole bunch more. My point is none it is really relevant to the discussion. Same shit happens all over the world, every day.
And department heads.
If this is even true, if they were off duty, what’s it to ya????
At Tuesday CC meeting morales was raked over the coals by the city council. He couldn’t give a straight answer to any question he was asked by the city council. He tried to justify the need to install super sized storage tanks and the buildings to house them. He simply doesn’t realize that sandfloat clarifiers dont need to have storage tanks because the sand float clarifiers process water so quickly and on demand that they do not require these massive storage tanks. Incidentily the costs for these tanks were 30 million dollars. These tanks will never have to hold water to fight even the most severe city fire and Co incidently have never once been needed to fight any fire in the city in the past 40 years. Morales is not a trained water/waste water expert and because he isn’t this is why we installed these massive unnecessary overly costly storage tanks. I had petitioned that morales and the city consultants appear before the council but the only one to show up was morales. I will r-petition the council to bring the consultants before the council and ask that I be able to ask the consultants the pertinent questions that they must answer so that we the taxpayers will realize that we are being robbed blind by morales and the consultants. I am very close to being able to show that we sre being robbed and everyone will see it is so when I put these miscreants on the examination table. I ask that everyone watch the next city council to see if I am given the green light to expose the 74 million dollar pink elephant that is being wrapped around the tax and rate payers necks. It’s time now to lay everything on the table and start to reduce the costs of this poorly thought out albatross and for everybody to get involved. I can’t do everything myself. I’ve been carrying the ball all by myself and it’s time for everyone to step up. Charge!!!!!
Excellent work, CG. The persistence in your attempts to apply your vast technical knowledge to the water “problem” is just one reason you’re a Supercitizen.
You do know most of what comes out of his mouth is made up? The man is crazy in my opinion.
https://youtu.be/Ez_hQdWN4Rg?si=so6bfiQzeXlGYgWc
So evidently you are now also a pro at water treatment plants, it must be very tiring to be so perfect like you. If you are so knowledgeable, why have you not approached the CC with your ideas?
CG is a violent wingnut who’s been convicted of threatening to shoot a City employee. Dan’s support of him is inexplicable and disgusting.
You voted for a man, who thinks he’s a woman.
QED
Jojo was a man, who thought he was a woman
It’s interesting that many years ago you were fighting for the water sewer project costs to. Wasn’t the e p a here with a private meeting with Tyer and Marchetti. I thought they were going to fine the City if we didn’t come into compliance? Phosphorus I believe had to be taken out of the plant because of the failure of the plants new design that didn’t work. A question? Why isn’t the consultants held liable for not meeting the standards. And isn’t it very odd that the phosphorous levels requirements reduced? What a JOKE.
Go get ‘em!
Craig, no one is going to get you there with you because no one wants to look crazy, other than Blumin, who is pretty much crazy. They all cheer you on here, but don’t show up. You are amusement to the people on this board. They play you like a violin. When no one shows up this time, stop making a fool of yourself for the pleasure of those on this board.
How many criminals or previous arrested employees do we have in departments?
Ask older or retired PPD officers their thoughts on what they thought of Jeff Bradford from their time working with him.
Snake, brown nosing, a$$ kisser, is a common theme among those I know.
This story shouldn’t shock you. Par for the course with the Lt.
The lieutenant was a top notch officer, one of the very best. Did his job, and did it well. Your source is full of shit.
Really?
Ask some of the recently (within the last 5-7 years) retired detectives and drug unit guys what they thought of Jeff and then come back here and post.
Dan, thanks for posting this information. There should be a limit on how much detail overtime can be made by these officers. These high salary officers are doing 16-hour days all week. This explains why cruisers are hiding on New York Avenue, back of Wahconah Park, parking lot of BIC building and many other “secret” snoozing places. The officers are too tired to do their jobs and their supervision is doing the same so once again there is no oversight. Easy money!
I am sure others have attempted to maneuver the shear cluster fruck construction site on vibrant and dynamic North Street by Maplewood Avenue and Linden Street. The other day was stuck in traffic sitting in the only available lane, Morale’s Bike Lane going North. Fire truck and Tower One is trying to get by, there is no place for cars to move out of the way. Watched as 4 detail officers just stared in the trench totally oblivious to what they were supposed to be doing. To add to the chaos, along comes Bike Lane Morales on his electric bike speeding right through a red light as a vehicle was trying to turn into Maplewood to get out of the way of the fire trucks. Thought Morales was a goner for a minute. Didn’t even phase him he just went on his merry way.
One positive of sitting in the traffic, looked up at Tyer’s crappy dull decorations and thought maybe Bitching Peter and pal Re-Pete White can pick out some new vibrant and dynamic Pride Christmas decorations.
If I had a choice to pay people to put up 500 American flags as opposed to 100 American flags in Park Square for Veterans day I would go with 500 because people would not get the message with just 100. And it probably does not cost any more to store, maintain and transport hundreds more anyway.
Next year can we do 1000? It would just be more fun. Cost and labor intensiveness is no factor in Pittsfield.
Is the extra pay that Marchetti’s sister in law Kim Bertelli got for transporting the absentee ballots not on this list? Maybe off the books in an unmarked envelope?
Janitors and bus drivers 60 g?
Plus health insurance..a ten grand expenditure
Yo, Sammy, Marchetti mopped your boy Krol, big time. He didn’t need to lie, cheat and steal, like someone else we know.
Dats not what da girls in da clerks office be sayin’ on the dl yo
Yeah I dim trust no bleach blond me foos
A Pittsfield politics’ Parody: Little Joey goes to his Level 5 public school and asks his woman teacher if it is O.K. if he calls her “A BITCH” like Mayor Peter Marchetti allegedly called bank employee Victoria May “A BITCH”. The woman teacher replies to her student that it is not nice to call anyone “A BITCH”. Little Joey replies that if Mayor Peter Marchetti does it, then why don’t you tell him that. The woman teacher replies that she doesn’t want the Mayor of Pittsfield to call her “A BITCH”. Little Joey writes a letter to Mayor Peter Marchetti telling him that it is not nice to call anyone “A BITCH”. Mayor Peter Marchetti writes back to little Joey that he goes to ANGER MANAGEMENT groups so that he won’t allegedly call women “A BITCH” anymore. Little Joey writes back to Mayor Peter Marchetti and asks him where did he learn to call women “A BITCH”. Mayor Peter Marchetti wrote back to little Joey and said that he is the product of the Pittsfield public school system. Little Joey asked his parents if they would please move out of Pittsfield to a more civilized community. Little Joey’s parents told him that if they could of moved out of Pittsfield, they would have done so long ago. Little Joey said to his parents that he is stuck in Pittsfield with Mayor Peter Marchetti allegedly calling women “A BITCH”, Level 5 public schools, 15 empty storefronts on North Street’s “Social Services Alley”, Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities by population for violent crime in Massachusetts, the 25-year-old polluted PEDA debacle, Nuciforo’s pot kingdom stinking up nearby residential neighborhoods, capped PCBs sites and two PCBS toxic waste dumps, State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier saying her one and only state legislative priority in Boston is to legalize sex workers, and record setting municipal budgets and spending in return for A SHIT SANDWICH. Little Joey’s parents apologized to their disillusioned son, but said it is called “Life in the Pitts”!
Elton John is Marchetti’s role model. I.believe Elton John had a hit song titled… The Bitch Is Back…….just sayin.
Peter Marchetti dresses up like Elton John on Halloween.
And like Angielo during regular season.
No. He doesn’t dress at all like Angelo.
If he did he never would have been allowed to run for mayor.
Like the man or dislike the man, all this fagbashing of him has to STOP.
I totally agree. Can we just focus on the fact that he did a full face let down of all the people who trusted him to do the job of council president? The fact that he secretly worked for private interests instead of the taxpayers?
Will the other Pete do exactly the same as the predictable forecast suggests?
Vegas odds say… OH YAH HE WILL!
They call that a GUARANTEE.
Don’t let Your Son go down on Me.
Levon…Levon likes his money…
Calls his boy Jesus, cuz he likes the name.
Jesus wants to go to Venus…
He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said “God is dead
And the War’s begun”
Alvin Tostig has a son today
…while Levon slowly dies.
Hello Governor Maura Healey,
Over 20-year Lenox State Representative blamed your administration earlier this year of 2023 for the housing crisis in Berkshire County. I remember writing to you about the news story in iBerkshires.com
Yesterday, Rep. Smitty Pignatelli said in a public radio interview that your administration’s non-plan for immigrants could bankrupt the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
https://www.wamc.org/news/2023-11-17/berkshire-officials-on-beacon-hill-voice-frustration-over-stalemate-on-supplemental-budget-migrant-crisis-funding
How do you feel about Rep. Smitty Pignatelli blaming you for the do-nothing corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill? I think it is unfair because Rep. Smitty Pignatelli is a total failure in Boston and the Berkshires alike!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
My nomination for the nickname for the new mayor is a riiff on Mayor McCheese:
Mayor Bitch, please
Mayor McBuffoon
Mayor Lumpy will be welcoming Hamasshole refugees before long.
Misses Marchetti
mayor back stabber is also available…or will be once tyer moves along
How about bitchcoin?
J6 body camera footage
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/11/exclusive-j6-police-body-cam-footage-is-uncovered/
I saw some video footage from WWII. People relaxing at the beach. Guess WWII was just a hoax ROTFL
Israel just took out a school with 200 kids? Where’s the news? Also Israel ship taken captive by the enemy? Where’s the news?
Yemen escorted it,yes.
Everything is a diversion away from Trumps coup and his stolen Top Secrets and his demanding a victory in Georgia….Fascist Facts for FOX viewers.Expect it all day everyday from the top 1% who need to convince the stupid
One can as easily say the “Trump coup” story is a diversion away from how President Biden & CO. have done their best to destroy America.
Talk about baloney…
Only if it’s fried. One of the great classics.
It’s not an “exclusive” when the data is published online someplace else.
November 19, 2023
Hello Governor Maura Healey,
I do NOT understand how the news media allows Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli to openly blame Governor Maura Healey for the state’s issues, matters and problems. Rep. Smitty Pignatelli has been in the same elected office since the beginning of 2003, which is a little less than 21 years time now. He writes phony, lofty op-eds in the Berkshire Eagle and other Western Massachusetts newspapers about the public issues that face the people he represents in Boston. Never – not even once – has Rep. Smitty Pignatelli ever said and/or wrote about holding up a proverbial mirror to self-reflect on his over two decades-long FAILED public record in state government.
Governor Maura Healey has been in her current elected office for 10.5-months versus Rep. Smitty Pignatelli’s 20-years and 10.5-months. The Berkshires has a housing crisis. Who did Rep. Smitty Pignatelli blame? NOT himself, of course. He blamed Governor Maura Healey, but the Berkshires’ housing crisis long preceded her administration! The state has an immigrant and homelessness crisis. Who did Smitty Pignatelli blame? NOT himself, of course. He blamed Governor Maura Healey, who I see on my TV on the Boston news stations almost every single day, as well as I hear her on the Boston radio stations a couple of times per week, working hard on all of these public matters.
Rep. Smitty Pignatelli is on a 7-weeks-long taxpayer-funded vacation. In 2024, Rep. Smitty Pignatelli will go on a 5-months-long taxpayer funded vacation from August 1st – December 31st. Meanwhile Governor Maura Healey is always on TV on the Boston news, as well as radio, stations making a real difference for the people of Massachusetts.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle