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Police Chief Michael Wynn has been serving in an acting capacity since 2009.

Tyer Officially Appoints Wynn As Pittsfield's Chief of Police

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Linda Tyer has removed the word "acting" from Police Chief Michael Wynn's title.
 
Wynn had been promoted to administrative captain in 2007, essentially managing the department. In 2009, he was appointed "acting chief of police" and has served in that role since.
 
Tyer went through the Civil Service process again this year to make a more permanent hire and Wynn topped the list. The mayor said she offered Wynn the job and he accepted.
 
"My experience with Chief Wynn is that he always has been highly professional in his decision making and he is always seeking ways to be better at his position," Tyer said on Wednesday. "He really does exemplify leadership. He is clearly experienced."
 
Tyer says Wynn is a strong part of the city's leadership team and the two share a similar view on law enforcement. Tyer particularly likes his strong ties to the community and his ability to be frank about addressing law enforcement issues in the city.
 
"I feel strongly about the commitments he makes in the community," Tyer said.
 
Wynn said the appointment comes nearly 10 years to the date that he was appointed in the provisional capacity. He took over as head of the department on Dec. 1, 2007.
 
"It isn't going to change anything for me. I had the badge and I've been doing the job," Wynn said. "But it is a relief that this process is over and I know it is not going to come up again. This is the third time I've gone through this."
 
The biggest impact from Wynn's perspective is the stability of the department. Previously, he was just a mayoral decision away from being re-assigned back to a captain's position.
 
"I knew I was still going to be with the department unless something really bad happened. It gives me comfort that I don't have to be reassigned without warning."
 
But Wynn's focus isn't so much about his own comfort but the comfort of those serving in the department. The possibility of new leadership being ushered in was always there. 
 
"I'm glad the process is over. I'm excited to be moving forward and I think it will add stability to the department," Wynn said.
 
Wynn started with the department in 1995 as a patrol officer. In 2001, he was promoted to day-shift supervisor, which he held until 2007, when he was appointed as administrative captain.
 
He is also an adjunct instructor at Roger Williams University's Justice System Training and Research Institute and is formerly an instructor for the Municipal Police Training Committee, training recruitment classes of municipal officers.
 
He holds a bachelor of arts in English literature and a bachelor of arts in American studies from Williams College. He graduated the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council Academy in 1996 and later received his master's degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College in 2001. In 2004, he was a leadership fellow with the Drug Enforcement Administration, assigned to the DEA office of training and leadership development unit.
 
In the community, he served roles with the Norman Rockwell Museum, Berkshire Community College, Downtown Pittsfield Inc., Boys and Girls Club, the Christian Center, Berkshire United Way,  the Freemason Unity Lodge, the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, the Department of Children and Families Berkshire County Area Board, and the West Side Neighborhood Resource Center.
 
Wynn is the current president of the Berkshire County Law Enforcement Council and sits on the Western Massachusetts Regional Homeland Security Advisory Committee. His resume also features a number of accolades and a lengthy list of training workshops he participated in.
 
The city had been operating with "acting" chiefs in both Police and Fire departments for a number of years. The move was a way to skirt Civil Service regulations and lasted through multiple city administrations. Wynn had topped the candidate list in 2009 for the position, but former Mayor James Ruberto did not appoint him permanently.
 
In 2014, after voters approved a new charter, the Charter Review Commission crafted language specifying that steps be taken "immediately" for a permanent hiring. But former Mayor Daniel Bianchi disliked the Civil Service process altogether and sought a way to get out of it. A study committee was formed to look into the issue and ultimately the recommendation was to use assessment centers to better judge a candidate.
 
During the mayoral campaign, Tyer had said her goal was to stabilize the departments with more permanent appointments. She first attempted to appoint Wynn based on the 2009 score, of which he was at the top, but that was rejected by the Civil Service Commission. 
 
The city held an assessment center on Sept. 27 of this year, during which three in-house candidates participated. Wynn scored the highest, which made the decision for Tyer easy.
 
"The leadership of that agency needed to be solidified. This is a step to make the chief of police appropriately appointed," Tyer said.
 
Wynn would like to think that the decision and his top score on the most recent assessment center validates the work he has done and said he'll continue to manage the department in the best way he can.
 
Wynn does still need to be appointed as a department head by the City Council -- a nuance in the charter language because the mayor has the approval to appoint a chief through Civil Service but to be considered a department head in Pittsfield, the council needs to approve it, Tyer said, based on the advice she was given by City Solicitor Richard Dohoney. 

Tags: Pittsfield Police,   police chief,   

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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