Pittsfield’s Conservation Agent
Posted by - Bruce Winn : Category - Conservation Commissions, Pittsfield City GovernmentIn my last posting, I suggested that perhaps the Pittsfield Conservation Commission was relying too heavily on the expertise of the applicants who come before them for advice on regulatory and technical issues. In this posting I would like to propose a solution to the problem.
Pittsfield’s Conservation Commission holds hearings every three weeks to consider applications for permits to perform work in and around wetlands. Although the commissioners are asked to familiarize themselves with the relevant regulations, primarily the Wetlands Protection Act, it is understandable that members of the commission, who are volunteers, sometimes find themselves in over their heads.
This is why the City of Pittsfield has provided the commission with a full-time (37.5 hours-per-week) technical consultant who has a background in environmental science. This salaried city employee with a degree in environmental science is supposed to be the commission’s go-to guy. So how is this working?
Caleb Mitchell is the City’s Conservation Agent. He is supposed to provide commissioners and applicants with professional advice on scientific, technical, and regulatory issues related to the Conservation Commission’s work. But anyone who has watched Pittsfield Conservation Commission hearings knows that this is not what happens, especially when an applicant is represented at the hearing by an engineer. In this case, Mr. Mitchell will invariably ask the engineer to explain why some aspect of the project’s design should be permitted, the engineer then provides an explanation, and then Mr. Mitchell will nod in wise agreement before rephrasing the engineer’s explanation for the commissioners. Mr. Mitchell’s comments seldom offer anything that was not already provided by the applicant, either at the hearing or in the application.
So what is the solution to this problem? I think the commissioners should begin asking Mr. Mitchell, not the applicant’s engineer, to explain the technical and regulatory issues. This is, after all, his job. They should ask Mr. Mitchell for the field notes from his site visits. He has told BEAT that he makes these visits, yet we have never seen any of his notes in any file, nor have we ever been given copies of field notes as part of our Freedom of Information Act requests. Commissioners should ask Mr. Mitchell for project summaries in advance of hearings so that all commissioners can participate in discussions during the hearings. This is part of a Conservation Agent’s job. Don’t forget. Hearings in Pittsfield are every three weeks (most towns in the county hold hearings more frequently) so Mr. Mitchell has 112.5 hours to prepare for each hearing. He also has no excuse for not making site visits. The commissioners recently approved the purchase of a new 4-wheel-drive vehicle for Mr. Mitchell.
Pittsfield used to have a Conservation Agent who made site visits, prepared field notes, provided conservation commissioners with project summaries, and provided expert technical advice to applicants and commissioners. The City didn’t buy her a car though. Instead former Pittsfield mayor Gerald Doyle fired her and hired the much more compliant Mr. Mitchell. I think we should at least make him earn his paycheck.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Bruce, I am trying to find your writings on Bonded Concrete, Century Acquisitions, etc., but am having no luck. Would you please let me know where I can find a chronology of the interactions of Bonded with Pittsfield in ramming through the hot mix asphalt operation? Many thanks, Elaine.