Berkshire Business Journal December 2022

Hope for blighted GE parcel

A $3 million state grant could help redevelop the massive Site 9. Page 3

Fresh paint, same great view Renovated Blue Vista Motor Lodge opens at Whitcomb Summit in Florida. Page 9

Berkshire Business Journal

One-stop shopping, with festive flair

BY JOHN TOWNES

PITTSFIELD — Major retailers usually get all the attention during the holiday season because they offer most of the merchandise that people are looking for at this time of the year.

But in the Berkshires, big box stores aren’t the only go-to gift option. For over a decade, there’s been an event in Pittsfield that allows the region’s smaller merchants, particularly those that offer unique, handmade items, a place to mingle, form relationships with customers and offer their wares in a single setting.

It’s called the Holiday Shindy, and the 15th annual version of that event is scheduled to take place Dec 10 at the Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield.

As of mid-November, 39 vendors from around the Berkshire region

Above: Craft makers and artisans show o their wares at the annual Holiday Shindy in Pittsfield in 2019 at the former Notre Dame Church.

Left: Liz Gennari and Lauren Barenski, co-producers of the Shindy, are shown in front of the Zion Lutheran Church on First Street, which will host the event for the second year.

FILE PHOTO

had signed up to participate. They included woodworkers, toymakers, printers, jewelers, ceramicists, apothecaries, clothing designers, upcyclers, farmers and other artisans who sell handmade art, clothing, jewelry, household goods, foods, and health and wellness products.

New owner for long-vacant city property

By Tony DoBrowolski

PITTSFIELD — Out back, a motorboat lay submerged in weeds. Inside, visitors found heaps of car parts and old restaurant gear.

The vacant building at 1685 W. Housatonic St. once housed dif ferent businesses, but not for a decade. The city filed for foreclosure 2011, took possession of it three years ago -- and last month, sold it at auction.

Richard Wojtkowski, owner of Pitts field Lawn & Tractor, located about a mile east on West Housatonic Street, pur chased the property at a city-held auction for $450,000. A 7 percent fee was added as a buyer’s premium by the auctioneer, Ze kos Group of Shrewsbury.

It was the first time the city had tried to sell the 10-acre parcel since it legally took possession of the lot for non-payment of taxes in July 2019.

Wojtkowski was one of 15 people who registered to bid. “It’s pretty close to my company,” said Wojtkowski, who lives in Richmond. “I drive by it every day.”

Under the terms of the auction, Wojt lowski has 30 days to close on the sale. He plans to keep the 30,000-square-foot build ing, which has been both a car dealership and a restaurant.

What’s he plan to do with it?

“Not sure yet,” Wojtkowski said. “But I have a son here who has some young friends who can clean the place up and we’re going to work on some ideas from there.”

Wojtkowski believes it will take about $2 million to restore the building. The en tire property is assessed at $770,400 by the city.

Bidding started at $500,000, then dropped as low as $100,000. It was coming back up when Wojtkowski submitted his winning bid.

“That was about my cap,” Wotjkowski said, referring to his winning bid. “I ex pected it to go a lot cheaper.”

The property, formerly owned by Arace Realty Trust, has not housed a business since November 2005, when Vineyard Macaroni & Grill closed. In January 2006, the Licensing Board revoked prop erty owner James Arace’s all-alcoholic restaurant license because he owed the city $31,000 in back taxes. The state Al cohol Beverage Control Commission up held the city’s decision in 2007.

City Treasurer Matthew M. Kerwood said the city filed to take the property for nonpayment of taxes in state Land Court in June 2011. But it took eight years for the court to process the case. Under terms of the judgment, Arace Realty Trust re ceived an additional year to try to reclaim the property, which delayed the city from taking action.

“Land Court takes a long time,” Ker wood said. “We had to wait a year for that redemption period to pass before we could do anything with it.”

At the time of the judgment three years

ago, the city was owed $549,500 in back taxes and interest on the property, ac cording to Kerwood.

According to the Land Court’s decision, the new owner is not responsible for any of the funds owed by the previous owner.

“It’s free and clear of all taxes and en cumbrances,” auctioneer Paul T. Zekos said shortly before the auction began.

Kerwood said he was pleased the par cel, located at the western gateway to the city, will remain under local ownership.

“We weren’t quite sure what we want ed to do with this parcel,” he said. “I’m pleased that we had a local buyer and that the property will go back on the tax rolls.”

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o o k y o u r n e x t m e e t i n g o r e v e n t

c h e d u l e a t o u r

E R K S H I R E I N N O V A T I O N C E N T E R

p a r k i n g i n n o v a t i o n a n d s u s t a i n a b l e g r o w t h f o r t e c h n o l o g y f o c u s e d b u s i n e s s e s i n o u r r e g i o n .

Future uncertain for former car dealership along western gateway

PHOTOS BY BEN GARVER

The former Nissan and Mazda dealership at 1685 W. Housatonic St. in Pittsfield was sold at auction last month for $450,000. The city took possession of the building and 10-acre parcel for nonpayment of taxes in July 2019.

Prospective bidders inspect the former car dealership before last month’s auction.

New hope for blighted GE parcel

By Tony DoBrowolski

PITTSFIELD — The William Stanley Busi ness Park’s largest building lot remains empty, but a new state grant has renewed hopes it will some day have a tenant.

The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, which is responsible for the 52-acre business park’s development, has received a $3 million grant — via the city — toward the redevelopment and rehabil itation of the 16.5 acre parcel known as Site 9.

The grant, through the Communi ty One Stop for Growth program, was among several that were announced during a recent ceremony at the Berk shire Innovation Center that featured re marks from Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, and Daniel Rivera, the CEO of MassDevelopment, which administers the program.

“This is key to the redevelopment of Site 9,” said Pittsfield business develop ment manager Michael Coakley, who is PEDA’s interim executive director. “We needed this no matter where the other funds were coming from. If we didn’t get this one we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Without elaborating, Coakley said without this contribution from the state it would be difficult for PEDA and the city of Pittsfield to receive additional funding from other sources.

“This is part of the financial stack of this project,” Coakley said, referring to the $3 million grant. “It will allow us to get started early next year.”

The city and PEDA completed a mas ter plan for the site’s redevelopment two years ago. The entire reclamation project is expected to cost more than $10 million.

In March 2021, the city of Pittsfield had received a combined $1.1 million in state money from two separate programs to begin developing Site 9, which borders on Tyler Street and Woodlawn Avenue at the park’s north end.

An initial $6 million funding request was rejected in 2021, the first year of the OneStop program, but PEDA reapplied in February.

The award was one of five OneStop awards received by the city of Pittsfield this year, and one of several received by other Berkshire municipalities. The larg est amount received by any Berkshire municipality was the $3.2 million award ed to the town of Great Barrington for the Housatonic Homeownership Project. The combined total of Pittsfield’s four other grants was $610,000.

MassWorks’ Community One Stop for Growth program provides a single appli cation portal and a streamlined review process for different grant programs that support local economic development programs across the state. Before the Baker-Polito Administration established the program last year, local economic de velopment proposals often involved the filing of multiple applications with dif ferent grant programs, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

The development of Site 9, once part of

General Electric Co.’s power transform er division, has been hampered by the presence of a jumble of concrete founda tions left behind by GE. When GE turned that parcel over to PEDA in 2012, it was thought that leaving the foundations in place would make it easier to build on, but that proved not to be the case.

Three previous proposals by a Need ham-based development company to turn Site 9 into a retail complex, includ

ing one involving a Walmart Supercenter, have fallen through over the last decade, leaving the jagged concrete foundations in place.

Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer once said the leftover concrete slabs made the site look, “like the surface of the moon.”

“Site 9 has been a wound in our com munity for a long time,” Tyer said.

Baker, whose administration was in strumental in the construction of the

BIC, which is also located in the Stanley Business Park, said he had never seen Site 9 until the ceremony.

“I drove by it on my way here,” he said.

Instead of removing the concrete slabs entirely, which was proposed during the retail complex discussions, plans now call for them to either be cracked or crushed, and covered with a barrier layer topped with up to four feet of fill, Coakley said.

Among Pittsfield’s four other One Stop grants, $525,000 was awarded to the Alle grone Construction Co. to redevelop the Wright Building on North Street into housing.

Blackshares Community Empower ment Foundation Corp. received $55,122 for a cohort-based leadership program for Black community members in Pitts field. The BIC and the Berkshire Black Economic Council each received $15,000 from the program’s collaborative work space program.

The Berkshire Black Economic Coun cil will use its funding to create a col laborative workspace for underserved Black-owned small businesses and entre preneurs in Berkshire County.

The BIC’s funding will be used to explore the possibility of either ex panding the existing footprint of the two-story, 23,000-square-foot workforce development facility that opened in 2018, or building an adjacent structure, said Ben Sosne, the BIC’s executive director.

PHOTOS BY BEN GARVER

Above: Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer celebrates during the recent announcement of five state grants for Pittsfield, including a $3 million award that will help redevelop Site 9 in the William Stanley Business Park. “Site 9 has been a wound in our community for a long time,” Tyer told attendees. Below: Gov. Charlie Baker listens to a presentation at the Berkshire Innovation Center in Pittsfield.

This view of Site 9 in the William Stanley Business Park shows Woodlawn Avenue in the foreground and Building 100 in the background. The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority has received $3 million in state money to remediate and redevelop the site.

Tax relief seals Interprint expansion

By M eg Britton-M ehlisch

PITTSFIELD — Interprint will get a break on an estimated $482,841 in property taxes over the next 10 years thanks to a tax in crement finance agreement approved re cently by the City Council.

The company is embarking on a near ly $28 million expansion of its Pittsfield plant, increasing its facilities space on Route 41 by 57,000 square feet and adding 20 new jobs over the next three years.

It’s an undertaking that’s been sup ported by the city’s Red Carpet econom ic development team as well as state offi cials, who awarded the company $300,000 in state tax credits as part of the state’s Economic Development Incentive Pro gram in September.

Over the next three years the compa ny will purchase three new printing ma chines — presses capable of printing on paper and vinyl film — and expand its facilities to house the new machines and create additional warehouse space.

The expansion is intended to give In terprint a competitive edge in the luxury vinyl tile market — tile that is used to create the vinyl flooring that’s often used in kitchens, bathrooms and basements.

The company currently supplies about 2.7 percent of the United States market for luxury vinyl tile, but hopes to become the leading domestic supplier of the product.

Bill Hines Jr., the co-managing direc tor of Interprint, told the council’s fi nance subcommittee earlier this month that Interprint had been considering building a new facility in Georgia. Hines said Georgia is the “flooring capital of the country” for the luxury vinyl busi ness and that the state had offered the company “incredible incentives from a tax standpoint and property stand point.”

Hines said ultimately the city’s eco nomic development team “did a really good job also committing to us that we’re part of Pittsfield and they’re part of In terprint and we’ll go through this togeth er.”

“We’re looking to stay in Pittsfield for a long time,” Hines added. “There’s no getting us out of here once we do this, that’s for sure.” It’s a commitment the City Council reaffirmed last month with the quick decision to enter into a tax agreement with the company.

“I’m just amazed at what you’ve done in this community and how you’ve helped us with jobs and maintain growth within our community for all these years,” Councilor Athony Maffuccio said before he and nine other councilors approved the tax agreement. Councilor Patrick Kavey abstained from the vote.

The terms of the tax agreement allow Interprint to continue paying property taxes at the current assessed property

value — about $5.58 million — over the next two years as the construction phase of the project kicks off. Over the next eight years of the agreement, Interprint would slowly increase the percentage of property taxes it pays on the value increase brought to the facility through the expansion.

The facility’s property taxes for fis cal year 2024 would be about $229,000. During the course of the agreement, Interprint is expected to pay nearly $2.8 million in property taxes.

Hines has said the expansion has a ten tative finish date of October of next year. The first of the new machines is set to arrive at the plant in February.

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TIF agreement worth nearly $500K over 10 years; up to 20 new jobs to result

Top: Kevin McLear mixes colors at Interprint in Pittsfield in 2016. An expansion at the company is expected to create up to 20 new jobs. Above, left: Interprint has secured $22 million in funding to expand its Pittsfield plant.

FILE PHOTO

Trial ahead on Becket cannabis farm

Judge denies opponents’ bid to toss permit; Land Court to hear

By L arry Parnass

BECKET — Eight months ago, a Connecti cut company won a special permit to grow cannabis indoors in Becket, after a year of stop-and-start review.

But the weed farm remains sidelined, pending an appeal in state Land Court that’s now headed for trial next year. A judge recently denied an effort by the farm’s opponents to score a quick win, through what’s known as a summary judgment. They seek to overturn last spring’s Planning Board approval.

That means more litigation lies ahead, with a trial likely to start a full year af ter the board voted 4-1 in March to allow TetraHydra AgTek LLC to create a largescale marijuana cultivation facility on Quarry Road.

Michael Goodenough, a TetraHydra partner, told the Planning Board after the vote he was humbled to win its approval, then promised opponents he would ad dress their concerns.

“I look forward to providing you with the first tours of the building to kibosh any of the concerns,” he said at the time.

Instead of giving those tours, Tetra Hydra has been in court defending the appeal neighbors brought in early June, their objections detailed in an eight-page complaint.

The project isn’t right for this rural neighborhood, the plaintiffs say.

TetraHydra stands ready to create local jobs and be a good corporate citizen, its lawyer counters.

The farm plans to build a 31,310-squarefoot greenhouse off Bonny Rigg Hill Road, roughly a half mile above the Massachu setts Turnpike.

TetraHydra’s attorney, Joshua Segal of Lawson & Weitzen LLP of Boston, said the company is eager to get to work in Becket.

“The judge decided that the board act ed at least procedurally properly,” he said. “My client did everything the board asked and is looking to get this project off the ground as soon as possible.”

Segal said he expects the Land Court will resolve the dispute in 2023. A confer ence call among lawyers is set for Feb. 13. The discovery process is due to close at the end of January.

“This is a small business trying to reju venate this farm,” he said. “It is trying to be a good local citizen in Becket and hop ing to be a strong partner with the town, going forward. They’d like to get moving as soon as they can.”

The complaint names all members of the Planning Board, including Robert T. Ronzio, James. P. Levy, Alvin Blake, How ard Lerner and Ann Krawet. Joel B. Bard, of KP Law, is representing the town. By agreement, Segal, the TetraHydra attor ney, is defending the complaint in court.

Mitchell I. Greenwald, the Pittsfield at torney representing neighbors, said the recent ruling means the challenge goes next to a full review by a Land Court judge.

“We’re proceeding with discovery and we’re fully prepared to go forward with a complete trial with all the facts,” he said. “We think we’re right on the facts.”

Greenwald said that his clients believe the board did not fulfill its duty to balance gains and losses when considering the ap plicant’s special permit request.

The trial, he said, will likely zero in on the question of “whether the Planning Board adequately considered the needs of the neighborhood, as well as the town as a whole. The bylaw requires consider ation of both.”

“The board took a remarkably narrow view of what constituted a neighbor hood,” he said. “Defining a neighborhood by one word doesn’t really do the job.”

JUDGE’S DECISION

In his decision, Judge Michael D. Vhay denied a bid by three dozen plaintiffs to overturn the Planning Board’s special permit, on the grounds that it was “proce durally defective” in two ways.

One of those ways, attorneys involved in the case say, related to how the panel

handled concerns about the impact of the farm on the neighborhood.

Segal, for the plaintiffs, argued in a filing that the board considered how the business would affect the area. “That the Board did not specifically use the word ‘neighborhood’ in the manner requested by the Plaintiffs does not invalidate its reasons or its decision,” he wrote.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs claim that Ronzio, the board chairman, ques tioned during the proceeding whether opponents even lived in the same neigh borhood as the proposed farm — and that he showed bias when, in a long personal anecdote, he recalled his upbringing in the Boston area and referred to Brook line as a neighborhood home to “rabbis and doctors.”

“Suggesting that the neighborhood where this [cannabis] project was located was not Jewish but the neighborhoods that he chose to exclude [in Becket] were,” the complaint says. “In fact ... the general area of the project includes both Jews and Gentiles, albeit of unknown proportions.”

In his finding, Vhay noted that the

The trial, he said, will likely zero in on the question of “whether the Planning Board adequately considered the needs of the neighborhood, as well as the town as a whole.

town’s bylaws compel the board to de termine, in writing, that any “adverse effects” of a new use, like the cannabis farm, “not outweigh its beneficial impacts to the town or the neighborhood ….”

Vhay found that while the board as a whole did not provide that written find ing, individual members addressed the issue.

“While Plaintiffs correctly note that the Board majority failed to make a ‘written determination’ specifically addressing the facility’s benefits and/or detriments to the town and neighborhood,” the judge wrote, “the permit’s conditions evince the majority’s intent to prevent the adverse effects of the proposed facility from out weighing its beneficial impacts on both the town and the neighborhood.”

The board produced a set of conditions, Vhay said, that show an effort to consider the farm’s neighborhood impact.

“The Board’s decision therefore is not defective on account of not including re quired findings,” Vhay wrote.

The court also declined to accept the plaintiffs’ argument that TetraHydra failed to file all elements of an applica tion. The complaint alleges that the com pany was remiss in filing site plans that did not show the look of a completed fa cility. It also faulted TetraHydra for not demonstrating that it held a Cannabis Control Commission license or was eligi ble to receive one.

The judge said his reading of the law does not require the kinds of renderings the plaintiffs believe were missing.

On a third issue, related to the con ditions the board placed on the project, Vhay declined to rule, saying the ques tion will be taken up later.

case in March

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Share your news with the Berkshire Business Journal. If you have a company promotion, a new business or a new venture, let the Berkshires know about it. Remember the 5 W’s and that briefer is better. Email text and photos to BBJ@newenglandnewspapers.com.

Provide your expertise in the Berkshire Business Journal. Do you have the answer to a persistent question about business and the Berkshires? Do you have ideas and suggestions on how our business community can grow?

If you have a comment to make about doing business in the Berkshires or if you’re looking to raise an issue with the business community, this is the venue for that. We welcome letters up to 300 words and commentary up to 600 words. Send these to Tony Dobrowolski at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com.

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FILE PHOTO

A proposed cannabis farm’s location just north of the Becket Quarry is cited by opponents as a problem, saying the area draws children. The project counters that its presence on the rural road could help discourage rowdy behavior at the quarry.

Business updates

Berkshire United Way has launched its 2022-23 fundraising campaign to sup port 40 programs and more than 10,000 neighbors in need.

The United Way team works with nearly 140 workplace campaigns to offer simple, efficient and enjoyable ways for employees to make a difference in the community.

Anyone who pledges through their United Way workforce campaign this year will be entered for a chance to win a Berkshire Experience at Gateways Inn in Lenox.

To learn how to establish a workplace campaign, contact Pamela Knisley at pknisley@berkshireunitedway.org or 413-442-6948, ext. 15. Information: berk shireunitedway.org.

MountainOne Insurance has been named a “Top Insurance Employer” by Insurance Business America.

IBA’s annual Top Insurance Employer program ranks leading U.S. insurance organizations based on a series of employee satisfaction metrics, including benefits, compensation, culture, employ ee development, and diversity.

It is the third time that MountainOne Insurance has been recognized, having also achieved this distinction in 2019 and 2021.

MountainOne Insurance was one of the 26 organizations recognized in the 26to-100 employees category for 2022.

Lenco Armored Vehicles of Pittsfield has been named 2022 Manufacturing Employer of the Year by the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board.

The firm was selected for its active engagement with MassHire workforce efforts, including providing company tours, work-based learning experiences for local students, and for providing opportunities to get people across Massa chusetts back to work. It was lauded for its pipeline, recruitment and retention efforts.

“We are so honored to be named employer of the year by the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board,” said Lenny Light, the company’s vice president.

“This recognition reflects Lenco’s deep commitment to its employees and belief that our people are the key to our suc cess. As we continue to grow the Lenco family, we look forward to building our team of dedicated and talented pro fessionals who share our pride in and passion for the products we produce.”

Elder Services of Berkshire County is one of 13 community–based organiza tions that recently received a combined $150,000 from Fallon Health of Worces ter’s 2022 Community Impact Grant program.

Elder Services received its funding for the organization’s senior wellness nu trition and safety program. The funding was distributed for projects for targeting food insecurity and health initiatives impacting older citizens.

The exact amount of money Elder Services received was unavailable.

AAA Northeast in collaboration with Innovation Studio, is launching an accelerator program to support local startup founders within AAA North east’s territory who are developing and scaling new automotive solutions.

Driving 2043 is the inaugural pro gram for this collaboration, which seeks to identify solutions that support the transition to electric vehicles. It will offer intensive training for up to 10 entrepre neurs interested in developing mobil ity-based solutions that will shape the next 20 years.

The application process closes on Dec. 7. Successful applicants will be notified in December, and training will begin on Jan. 17. The training program will culminate with a public “Pitch Night” on March 23 , when the startups will pitch their solutions for an opportunity to be

named the most viable technology.

AAA Northeast operates 71 offices in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecti cut, New Jersey, New Hampshire and New York. Information: AAAnortheast. com.

Berkshire Bank provided over $660,000 in philanthropic investments from its foundation to nonprofit organi zations during the third quarter of 2022, which ended Sept. 30.

The awards cover a wide range of projects that help foster community pro grams with a focus on diversity, equity and includsion, support education and youth, and enhance opportunities for individual success in the communities the bank serves. These investments also support the company’s BEST Communi ty Comeback, which includes a planned $15 million in community contributions by the end of 2024.

The Berkshire County recipients include Berkshire County Arc, Berk shire County Education Task Force, Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires and Chabad of the Berkshires

After receiving a record number of applications for its 2022 Career Advance ment Scholarship Program, Berkshire Business and Professional Women recently awarded a total of $13,000 in scholarships to 24 women.

This year’s scholarship recipients in clude, Marcia Bailey, Monica Bliss, Beth Conkey, Katherine Cortes Ambrosio, Catherine Davis, Mariangel Dus, Jenny Gitlitz, Kathleen Grandchamp, Julia Haagenson, Alecia Herrick, Emilie Holst Grubbe and America Lopez.

Also receiving scholarships were, Rania Markham, Alyssa McCluskey, Stacie Morris, Stephanie Muller, So pheap Nhim, Melanie Rancourt, Brigid Reed, Mary Stucklen, Breanna Sumy, Nicole Troop, Debra Vall and Kelley Wilson-Wood.

Over the last four years, Berkshire

Business and Professional Women’s Scholarship program has awarded over $65,000 in scholarship funds to local women pursuing education to advance their careers. All donations to the BBPW Career Advancement Scholarship Fund directly support women who live and work in Berkshire County.

The Adams Theater has received an $800,000 grant from the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic De velopment’s Community One Stop for Growth program to fund infrastructure improvements.

The funding will allow the theater to develop a programmatic vision for 2023 It will provide funding for electric and HVAC upgrades, a new roof with solar panels and an accessible new floor to welcome all members of the community. This funding bridges a critical gap need ed in order for the building to receive its certificate of occupancy as a four-season venue.

The theater was scheduled to hold a benefit concert on Nov. 11 with Two Piano Journey, a mother and son concert pianist team who are on a tour to raise money for charitable causes.

To provide direction and insight, the theater has also established an artistic advisory boards. Its members include Carolyn Brooks; Reggie Carter; Stacy Co chran; George LeMaitre and Pat Fietta; Jodi Joseph; Susan Killam; Matti Kovler; Chris Kuo; Melissa Silverstein; Nana Simopoulous and Caryn Heilman; David Tochterman; and Joe Wheaton.

The Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, which has offices in Holyoke and Worcester, has received a $10,000 grant from the TD Charitable Foundation in support of a new program, “On Your Own: Financial Literacy for Girls.”

The grant will provide a free badge

Natural Gas Safety: Things you should know...

Natural gas is one of the safest and cleanest burning energy sources available. That’s why it is America’s number one fuel choice. Delivering safe, reliable natural gas service to our customers is our top priority.

Using your senses

Despite an excellent safety record, natural gas may pose a hazard and has the potential to ignite. A natural gas leak is usually recognized by smell, sight or sound.

SMELL A distinctive, pungent, “rotten eggs” odor.

SIGHT A white cloud, mist, fog, bubbles, blowing dust or dead vegetation.

SOUND An unusual noise like roaring, hissing or whistling.

What you should do if you suspect a leak

MOVE to a safe environment.

CALL us immediately. We are available to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

DO NOT strike a match, use telephones, or switch on/off appliances, lights, or even a flashlight in the area where you smell natural gas.

Pipeline safety

The natural gas pipeline system is the safest method of transporting energy, and pipelines underneath streets play a vital role. While rare, pipeline failures can occur due to corrosion, material defects, events of nature, excavation damage and more. We ensure pipeline safety through the planning, design, operation, maintenance, inspection and testing of pipelines. And we work closely with emergency responders to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Call Before You Dig

(www.digsafe.com)

The greatest risk to underground pipelines is accidental damage during excavation on public and private property. To protect natural gas pipelines, the law requires that all contractors even homeowners planning to build a deck, patio or addition notify Dig Safe at 811 at least two full working days before excavating. We will mark our facilities in the area of work, and at no cost.

For additional safety information, please visit our Web site • www.berkshiregas.com

IN AN EMERGENCY, CALL BERKSHIRE GAS 1-800-292-5012

City properties sold for $5.2 million

Properties that sold 656-658 North St.

By Tony DoBrowolski

PITTSFIELD — A Pittsfield firm associated with high-end real estate has spent $5.2 million to acquire multifamily proper ties within walking distance of down town Pittsfield.

Cole Ungar and William Giolelli, of Skytop Properties of Pittsfield, pur chased 12 properties, most of them small multistory brick apartment buildings, that are located on North, Orchard and Summer streets and Kent Avenue.

One of the properties, 3 Orchard St., is the side entrance to another building the two men acquired, 656-658 North St., on the corner of North and Orchard streets.

Skytop sold three large commercial/ residential structures in downtown Pittsfield earlier this year: the Greystone Building on the corner of North Street and Maplewood Avenue, the Lloyd Build ing on North Street and a five-story build ing on Wendell Avenue Extension that once housed the Wendell Hotel. They sold the Greystone Building for $4.75 million, the former Wendell Hotel for $3.3 million and the Lloyd Building for $1.5 million.

Skytop invested more than $1 million in the Greystone Building after purchas ing the structure for $2.27 million in De cember 2018, doubling the structure’s net operating income through improvement during the time they owned it, Ungar told

FROM

program to all Girl Scouts designed to empower them to control their financial futures.

All participants will complete age-ap propriate activities to gain real-world money management skills.

The program is available to all Girl Scout members from kindergarten through 12th grade. Information/regis tration: www.gscwm.org.

The Eagle at the time of that sale.

Pittsfield has long faced a dearth of af fordable housing for city residents, but Ungar and Giolelli’s acquisitions, which they will run under Pittsfield Residences LLC, have not changed the company’s fo

Pittsfield Community Television and WTBR-FM recently presented several programming and community service awards at PCTV’s 35th annual meeting and celebration.

The Community Service Through Community Media award went to Berkshire Community College, and was accepted by BCC Director of Marketing and Communications Jonah Sykes. The award recognizes an organization that has positively impacted our community using com munity media.

cus, according to Ungar. He said the com pany will address deferred maintenance issues at the new properties, but intends to operate them as quality, affordable housing units for city residents. Only the North Street property has room for

The Outstanding Member Service Award was given to Pat Gormalley Gormalley has been involved with PCTV as a producer, volunteer and board mem ber, and currently hosts the program “FYI.”

The award for Programming Excel lence in a TV Series went to Taconic High School for the program “Taconic TV News,” which is produced by stu dents at the school.

The award for Programming Ex cellence in a TV Special went to the Eagles Band. Diane Chicoine

3, 9, 11-13, 15-19, & 21 Orchard St. 14-18 Kent Ave.

154, 156-162, 164, 172 & 174 Summer Street.

commercial spaces.

“We’ve invested in Pittsfield for eight years,” Ungar said. “Pittsfield needs quality housing. There are a handful of groups that are filling that and we are one of them. They’re occupied, existing build ings with people living in them. We have no plans to replace anybody.”

The 12 properties were previously owned by Bellco Realty Inc., which is owned by Richard Stanley of South Egre mont, who owns the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, and formerly owned the Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield. Stanley formed Bellco in 1992, according to docu ments filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.

“We’re investors and look for a quality level of housing,” Ungar said. “We tra ditionally invest in apartment buildings. This happened to be an opportunity that we were happy to explore.”

Ungar, who is originally from the Berk shires, and Giolelli, who is from New Jersey, originally worked for a New York City-based real estate firm before form ing Skytop Properties.

accepted the award as the producer of the concerts.

On the radio side, the award for Pro gramming Excellence in a Radio Series was given to two different programs: Mike Pezzo’s “Mike’s Amazing Music” and Hannah Provencher for “Deep Cuts with Hannah.”

Community Programming Accom plishment certificates were also awarded to several member producers. The cer tificates recognize five-, 10-, and 15-year milestones in producing community programming.

BEN GARVER

The building at the corner of North and Orchard streets in Pittsfield is among a number of multistory brick apartment buildings purchased by Skytop Properties of Pittsfield. The company has pledged to maintain the buildings as “quality” affordable housing.

Mahaiwe Block sold to developer for $3.5M

By Tony DoBrowolski

GREAT BARRINGTON — A South County de veloper now owns the historic Mahaiwe Block in downtown Great Barrington, af ter paying $3.5 million for the 117-yearold structure on the corner of Main and Castle streets.

Ian Rasch bought the three-story building through 322 Main LLC. He ob tained a $5 million mortgage on the Ma haiwe Block with Salisbury Bank and Trust Co. of Lakeville, Conn., according to documents filed at the Southern Berk shire Registry of Deeds.

Rasch did not return a telephone call seeking comment, but in September told The Eagle he planned to add 22 apart ments to the 12 that the building con tains. Seven of those 12 apartments are occupied. The existing retail spaces are expected to remain the same. The project is expected to be completed in the late fall of 2024.

Built in 1905, the Mahaiwe Block was designed by noted architect Joseph McArthur Vance, who designed the exte rior of the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and Bascom Lodge on the top of Mount Greylock.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but needs a lot of work. It has no elevator, handicap accessibility or sprinkler system.

Rasch redeveloped the top of Railroad Street five years ago. He is now trans forming the former Berkshire Commu nity College satellite campus on Main Street into 13 apartments and two retail spaces. That project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024. Aland er Construction Co., Rasch’s construc tion firm, purchased the 22,000-squarefoot structure for $1.45 million from the BCC Foundation in December 2021.

Seed company’s roots are in the Berkshires

Chef’s devotion to new vegetables started with weekend farm visits

By A inA De l A ppA ren T A lvA rez

PITTSFIELD — When Michelin-starred Chef Dan Barber looks back for inspiration, he sees the Berkshires.

The summers and many weekends he spent at his grandmother’s Blue Hill farm in Great Barrington led him to de vote his life to food. “I feel indebted to the Berkshires. The beauty of the place, its open space, the many farms dotting the landscape. It’s what inspired me to be come a chef,” he said.

His personal experience with farms is also what’s inspiring his current ven ture: Row 7 Seed Co. Barber brings to gether farmers, chefs and seed breeders to find and refine new vegetables that will not only be shelf-stable, but also fla vorful and nutritious.

Now he wants to add a fourth partner: grocery shoppers.

After spreading the new seeds among chefs and farmers, as well as several tests at Wegmans and Sweetgreens, four of these vegetables are coming to Whole Foods in the greater Boston area. Of the many plants tested, The Badger Flame Beet, Honeypatch Squash, Robin’s Koginut Squash and Upstate Abundance Potato were chosen for this first rollout.

If it works, the plan is to sell the vege tables nationally. For now, he hopes peo ple in the Berkshires will buy his seeds for the next growing season.

THE ORIGIN STORY

Barber thinks that a major obstacle to people eating more vegetables is be cause they’re made to be a dish’s sup portive character.

“We don’t breed vegetables to be the main actors on our dinner plate; we breed them to be sideshows to the pro teins,” he said.

Twelve years ago, he invited plant breeder Michael Mazourek and con fronted him.

“Why do we need to add maple syr up or brown sugar or something else to make squash taste good? You’re a squash breeder. Why don’t you create a butternut squash that tastes good?” said Barber.

Mazourek was stunned.

“I’ve never been asked to breed any thing for flavor,” he replied.

Barber remembers that exchange as “an extraordinary comment.”

He was shocked to learn that flavor, a quintessential quest in his fine-dining restaurants, was not a criteria.

Through more research, Barber came to understand how big the obstacle was.

“The people who determine seeds are selected from our big agribusiness companies and food processors and dis tributors,” he said. “It doesn’t lead to a tasty vegetable. Vegetables are selected for shelf life for long distance travel; all these other things that are not what a chef is looking for.”

Since that conversation in 2010, seed monopolies have strengthened. In 2008, six companies controlled more than half of the world’s seed sales. In 2018, Michi gan University professor Philip H. How ard, published an updated chart. It was now only four companies (Bayer, Chem china, BASF and Corteva) that dominat ed the market.

Barber says that in this system most organic produce is at a disadvantage. “Organic farmers are growing conven tional seeds. Seeds that were developed conventionally with chemicals,” he said. “That’s also the reason it’s more expen sive.”

Out of this stark reality Mazourek and Barber founded Row 7.

To create better crops Row 7 asks for feedback from chefs and farmers. In the process, some seeds have been discarded.

Barber thinks the breeds Row 7 has created prove that

don’t have to give up on flavor to get shelf life and yield.

The vegetables Row 7 currently offers through Whole Foods are more expen sive than regular and organic produce. For example, the Badger Flame Beets 1.5

pound bag costs $4.49, the Upstate Abun dance Potatoes are priced at $5.49 also for a 1.5 pound bag.

Barber hopes to make it more afford able with time. “Conventional food has an r&d [research and development] ad vantage on organic. There’s so much money pouring into conventional seed production, that it’s much more effi cient and much cheaper,” he said. “But what if we invest it in organic seed production? We’d have stronger organ ic plants and we have cheap organic food.”

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON

Developer Ian Rasch told The Eagle in September he plans to add 22 apartments to the 12 existing units in the Mahaiwe Block building. The retail spaces are expected to remain the same.

FILE PHOTO

Developer Ian Rasch recently completed the purchase of the historic three-story Mahaiwe Block in downtown Great Barrington for $3.5 million.

“If the yield, the disease resistance or the agronomic characteristics are not strong, we don’t bring the vegetable for ward into our seed catalog,” said Barber. “We’re not just looking for flavor, it has to be something scalable to a large num ber of people.”

you

PHOTOS PROVIDED Michelin-starred Chef Dan Barber produces seeds through Row 7 Seed Co. in part to enhance the flavor of vegetables.

Above left: Badger Flame beet slaw, made from beets from the Row 7 Seed Co. Above right: Honeypatch Miso Crumble is a recipe that can be made from vegetables grown with seeds from the Row 7 Seed Co. Below: Koignut squash is another variety offered by the Row 7 Seed Co.

Fresh paint, same great view

Blue Vista Motor Lodge opens at Whitcomb Summit in Florida

By Scott Stafford

FLORIDA — A mountaintop motor lodge with views of the Northern Berkshire hills is open with a new name and a new lease on life.

The Blue Vista Motor Lodge, at the Whitcomb Summit of Florida Mountain, was purchased last December by entre preneur Stella Downie and has since been extensively renovated, including new fur nishings and fixtures, new flooring and fresh paint, and a new orientation of the amenities to accentuate the surrounding tree-covered hills from one of the highest spots in Berkshire County.

The final touch, framed abstract art by Downie’s friend, Isabel Riley of Jamaica Plains, was recently hung in the rooms. As were photographs by her step-father, Sandy Renna, of Warwick.

The 17 renovated rooms feel brand new, with relaxing decor and every window featuring breathtaking views to the east.

“I was going for simple calm, and some thing that wouldn’t distract from the view,” Downie said. “We’ve been getting good feedback. And the sunrise is partic ularly beautiful. Guests get up early just to watch the sun come up.”

Downie has been booking a few rooms during her soft-opening phase, and the guests have been impressed.

One woman, Downie recalled, had the impression that the photos of the views on the website were stock images from the internet. When she arrived, Downie said she was thrilled to find out the view was actually as advertised.

Exterior work, such as the installation of outdoor saunas and fire pits, as well as concrete walkways and paving the circular driveway and parking area, are underway. Downie was hoping to have

it all completed before the deep freeze arrives. The Whitcomb Summit of Flor ida Mountain has been turning heads since the early 1920s. The current build ing was constructed around 1960.

The property was bought in late De cember for $464,000 by Chapter Three Enterprise LLC of Somerville, whose manager is Downie. The seller was Duilio Realty Inc. of Granby, Conn.

Since taking over the property, Downie has had the dilapidated on-site cabin and restaurant removed. Her intent is to build a cafe and an events venue once the busi ness is in full operation.

“That’s the long-term vision,” she said. “I think both of these will be meaningful additions.” Staff will serve as concierges and ambassadors to the area, referring guests to outdoor and indoor activities such as whitewater rafting, hiking, visits to The Clark or Mass MoCA, or any of the other dozens of local attractions.

Downie comes from a background in marketing fun. She operated five Sky Zone Trampoline Parks in Eastern Mas sachusetts and Rhode Island. She left that business just before the pandemic hit. Before that, she operated a toy store in Cambridge.

The new business will expand the town’s tax base and increase tax revenue, and later on, provide a new eatery that lo cal residents can patronize.

T O O R P E E D , S E H C N A R B G N O R T S | M O C . K N A B E E L

L E I F S T T I P T, E E R T S H T U O S T A

Left: Stella Downie, new owner of the Blue Vista Motor Lodge, plans to build a cafe and an events venue. “I think both of these will be meaningful additions,” she said. Below left: The Blue Vista Motor Lodge has been renovated under its new owner and is open for business. The lodge has a long history of doing business at the Whitcomb Summit of Florida Mountain.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT STAFFORD

Shindy

FROM

The Shindy’s underlying goal is to strengthen the connections between makers and the public, promote values like sustainability and showcase the qual ity of handmade products, according to the event’s co-managers, Lauren Barens ki and Liza Gennari.

One of the definitions of the word shin dy is a “large, lively party,” according to Oxford Languages. The Berkshires’ Shin dy is a community project that covers its expenses through admission and vendor fees, and is organized as a collaboration with the participating vendors.

“We believe the Holiday Shindy is im portant as a community-building activ ity,” Gennari said. “It’s very vendor-fo cused. Many of our vendors have been with it from the beginning or joined later and come every year. It’s like a family.”

“There’s a core group of customers who hold off on their holiday shopping until the Shindy, and buy their gifts there,” Barenski said.

Grant House Press in East Chatham, N.Y. has participated in the Holiday Shin dy for 10 years Owned and operated by Jerry Grant and Sharon Koomler, Grant House Press produces cards, notepads, posters and other printed items. Grant and Koomler’s products feature tradition al letterpress techniques with original presses and raised type and use graphics from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“We first visited the Shindy as custom ers and appreciated the spirit and how well it was curated,” Koomler said. “We also love the Pittsfield community and thought it would be a good fit for us. So we applied and were accepted as vendors.”

The Shindy has helped Grant House Press establish relationships with many buyers.

MARK A

TAYLOR , II , MD GENERAL SURGEON

SHINDY, Page 11

GILLIAN JONES

Liz Gennari and Lauren Barenski are the co-producers of Holiday Shindy, which will be held Dec. 10 in the common room at the Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield.

“There are customers we see year after year there,” Koomler said. “Gen erally we display our more recent prod ucts, but we also bring a selection of specific older items that we know cer tain people want from previous years.”

While the Shindy has remained pop ular with both merchants and cus tomers since its inception, it has gone through several transitions the past few years that include changes in man agement and location.

For most of its existence, the Holi day Shindy had been held at the former Notre Dame Church on Melville Street, which is now the Al-Khalil Islamic Center. The Holiday Shindy’s original organizer, noted Berkshire textile art ist Crispina ffrench, and her husband, Christopher Swindlehurst, bought the former Catholic church, believed to be the oldest French parish in Massachu setts, from the Diocese of Springfield in 2006, and operated it as Shire City Sanctuary, a multi-use community hub for artists.

The Swindlehursts sold the former church property in early 2019 (they still own the old Notre Dame rectory building), and ffrench moved her busi ness from Pittsfield to Becket, where the couple reside. The 2019 Shindy took place at the former church under new ownership, but it was canceled the fol lowing year due to the COVID-19 pan demic.

This is the second year it will take place in the common room at Zion Lu theran Church, whose location at 74 First St. is within walking distance of the event’s original site.

ffrench designs and makes clothing and home goods with recycled textiles. She is a longtime advocate and activist for the upcycling of textiles and use of other materials and techniques that are environmentally sustainable. She also serves as a consultant and pro vides support services to other entre preneurs working with upcycled tex tiles.

The Holiday Shindy began as an an nual clearance sale at ffrench’s origi nal studio in Housatonic.

“When I operated a wholesale busi ness in Housatonic, we started doing a holiday sale of excess inventory,” she said. “We made it like a little festival, with refreshments, music and jug glers.”

When ffrench moved her business from Housatonic to Pittsfield one of her goals was to contribute to the revi talization of its city center.

“I decided to expand the sale to cre ate an event with a positive vibe down town,” ffrench said. “I invited several friends who made sustainable products to participate in the first year. After that we said, ‘Let’s do a real craft fair,’ and opened it up to other vendors. The building was so big and beautiful and that contributed to the holiday feel ing.”

The Shindy soon became a prominent highlight of the holidays that attracted vendors and visitors from throughout the region. At its peak, it had approx imately 75 vendors and drew about 3,000 visitors when it was held over a two-day period, normally the second weekend in December.

Ffrench said she wanted the Shindy to continue after she moved her busi ness to Becket, but given her new cir cumstances it wasn’t practical for her to personally oversee it anymore.

“We discussed the options,” ffrench said. “Liza and Lauren had already basically been running it for a couple of years. I called them the ‘Shindy Nin jas.’ So I suggested that they take it over. They were willing, and I passed the baton to them.”

Barenski and Gennari basically run the Shindy as volunteers. They receive a small stipend for their work.

Barenski, who lives in Williamstown, is the manager of presidential events at Williams College and a student at Berkshire Community College. Her ex perience with the Shindy started when she worked at the door in 2010, and her role expanded in subsequent years with additional management duties.

Gennari, who lives in Housatonic, is a clinical social worker with Clinical and Support Options, and also serves as a residential rental manager. She began assisting the Shindy with social media and marketing in 2015 and took on more responsibilities over time.

“We agreed to take it over because we believe in its mission and values and we knew that we could draw on the support of the vendors and others who are involved with it,” Gennari said.

Nevertheless, they soon faced a cou ple of daunting challenges.

After holding the 2019 Shindy at its traditional location on Melville Street, they recognized that they would need to find another location because the former church’s new owners were planning to change the layout to use the facility as a worship center.

“We wanted to respect their sacred space and knew that it would be best to find another location for the Shindy,” Gennari said.

The COVID pandemic hit the fol lowing year. Even though the initial restrictions on social gatherings that had been instituted when the pandem ic first hit the Berkshires in March 2020 had been eased by that December, the two women still decided to cancel the event.

“We looked at options such as a small er pop-up event,” Gennari said. “How ever after weighing it all we decided that doing a live event would be putting too much at risk for the customers and vendors. We also didn’t want to try to do an online market. Instead we can celed the Shindy that year although we did put together an online showcase to keep the vendors in the public eye.”

The search for a new location led Ba renski and Gennari to the Zion Luther an Church. The congregation, which has placed an emphasis on community engagement, had recently renovated the church’s 4,400-square-foot common room as a space for concerts, classes, meetings and other events. Although the pandemic was still a factor last De cember, Barenski and Gennari decided to hold the 2021 Shindy there.

“We knew it would be difficult be cause of the changing status of COVID, but we were committed to doing it,” Barenski said. “We planned everything carefully, and had contingencies built in based on the status of COVID when it came time for the event.”

They instituted a mask require ment for last year’s event and planned the traffic flow and layout to reduce the possibility of infections. One rea son Barenski and Gennari decided to proceed there was the church had in stalled a new HVAC system, which pro vided improved ventilation to reduce the risks of COVID to customers and vendors.

The new venue is well suited to the two women’s goals for the Shindy. They believe the common room provides the right atmosphere for the event, along with other suitable physical character istics.

Although Zion’s common room is smaller than the space where the Shindy took place at the former Notre Dame Church, it’s more flexible, which allows for more creative layouts, Ba renski said. Zion is also accessible for people who have physical disabilities; Notre Dame was not.

The more flexible space also allowed Barenski and Gennari to pursue their goal of scaling down the event. The number of vendors has been trimmed from around 75 to 40, and the Shindy is now held on one day instead of two.

“The Shindy had gotten very large and busy at its peak, and in 2021, we re thought the size,” Barenski said. “One of the best aspects of the Shindy origi nally was the ability for customers and vendors to interact closely. We wanted to get back to that more intimate expe rience. We also wanted to curate the of ferings more carefully. So we reduced the number of vendors and duplica tion.”

This year they have taken a similar approach.

“One advantage is that we gained experience in this space last year, and we’ve applied that to our planning for this year’s event,” Barenski said. Happy shopping.

GILLIAN JONES

Lauren Barenski works on signage for the upcoming Holiday Shindy, which for the second year will be held in the Zion Lutheran Church on First Street in Pittsfield. Looking on is festival co-producer Liza Gennari.

FILE PHOTOS

Above: Shoppers bustle through the aisles of handmade jewelry, food, clothes and crafts of all kinds at the annual Holiday Shindy in 2019. This year’s event will be held Dec. 10 in the Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield. Below: WindRose Keating-Morris traverses the aisles with a display of natural home products from Talus Wood Farm

Chest out, chin up; you’re a Robinson

BECKET — When he was 8 years old, David Rob inson would walk the boundary of his fami ly’s Becket farm once a week.

Sometimes accom panied by his grand mother Marian, he was taught the importance of self-sufficiency in relation to the land, which is something that feels all too natural to him now. Today, David continues his family tra dition of cultivating Robinson Farm — a productive, working farm that stretches across 160 acres in Becket.

Kamea Quetti-Hall

road from Robinson Farm.

Franklin used his 97-acre property to build two homes and a saw mill. A great teacher, Franklin showed his grandson the necessity of being a well-rounded farmer, which includes being a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic, a mason worker, a carpenter and more, all in the name of self-sufficiency.

Breaking barriers and build ing belonging was not uncom mon amongst members of the Robinson family. For genera tions, Robinson Farm, at 2299 Main St., was the only Blackowned farm within Berkshire County.

Recalling summers spent in the Berkshires as a young boy from New Haven, Conn., Rob inson always knew he wanted to move to Becket permanently and continue the farm in a way that would allow the land to sustain itself and his family.

Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were farm ers. His grandfather, Franklin Robinson, was well-known and well-liked throughout Becket. He owned and operated one of the largest properties on Center Pond, Just two miles down the

And still, physical trades were not the only skills David acquired from his grandfather. Franklin instilled a sense of pride in David, one that allows him to walk into every room with his chest out and his chin up. He possesses this pride in the hard work that is being a farmer, a Black man, and a Robinson.

With the farm as a lasting family legacy, David aims to live by the standards his grandparents set. Though he has dealt with his fair share of adversity as a Black farmer in the Berkshires, David believes the open-door policy that has al ways existed at the farm should remain. He welcomes communi ty members to stop by.

Another role model in David’s life, his mother, Catherine Dixon Robinson, showed him the value in community and family. An influential Demo cratic figure and well-respected

David Robinson used to walk the boundaries of Robinson Farm in Becket, once the only Blackowned farm in the Berkshires, once a week when he was 8 years old.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BERKSHIRE BLACK ECONOMIC COUNCIL

David furthered that legacy when he became not only the first Black student to go to agricultural high school in Con necticut, but also the chapter president of Future Farmers of America, a leadership group that all agricultural school students were expected to be in good standing with.

As chapter president, David invited the New Haven commis sioner — who did not plan on going until Catherine gave him an encouraging call — to the FFA banquet rather than the usual speaker. This led to the development of a New Haven agricultural school.

The Robinson legacy is one that continuously points back to family, community and support. As a Berkshire community, it is our job to reciprocate those values. We can take a page from Franklin’s book, maintaining a quiet pride in who we are — chest out, chin up, we are the Berkshires — and utilize that to aid the county’s self-sufficiency.

Whether you choose to support Robinson Farm by purchasing firewood and meat, or you support by spreading the word of who the Robinson’s are and what they mean to the Berkshires, every effort counts toward preserving this incredi ble piece of local history.

Both

and David’s father, William Foster Robinson,

Kamea Quetti-Hall is the communications coordinator of the

Black woman in New Haven, Catherine modeled the type of person David hoped to become and someone he continues to draw inspiration from.

Catherine

worked to help others — wheth er it was Catherine serving as deputy commissioner of education in Connecticut or William tutoring children in the neighborhood at the community police center.

Berkshire Black Economic Council.

Time to re-examine workforce training is now

LEE — The view from the employer side of all those help wanted signs through out Berkshire County remains pretty bleak these days.

Patricia Begrowicz The View from AIM

Employers have for years struggled with labor shortages and lack of talent that, exacerbated by the im pact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have dealt a major blow to dayto-day operations.

Companies across all industries, from health care to retail, from manufacturing to higher education, are unable to fill positions with qualified candidates as the commonwealth loses workers to lower-cost states.

Even with our blue collar manufac turing jobs, which are traditionally less impacted by worker migration, we are seeing an increase in employees resigning to head south to lower cost states.

Employers in the Berkshires have grown accustomed to holding job fairs at which one or two people show up. It has become a zero-sum game in which companies take workers from other companies in a persistent tugof-war with a limited pool of employ ees.

According to the most recent figures, Massachusetts has approximately 150,000 more job openings than unem ployed workers (278,000 openings versus 129,200 unemployed workers).

But all that is merely a harbinger of things to come.

The commonwealth and the county are sailing into a perfect storm of generational demographic shift com bined with a fundamental change in the way people approach work. The result is a maelstrom that could leave employers gasping for workers at the very time that the commonwealth seeks to solidify its role as a global center of innovation, commerce and technology.

There are two key statistics you need to know.

First, the Massachusetts Department of Economic Research projects that the number of jobs in the commonwealth will grow by 21 percent by 2030. Second, a new study for the state Department of Transportation finds that the Mas sachusetts workforce will grow by a glacial 1.5 percent by 2030.

The structural shortage of workers is complex. It grows out of a multitude of factors ranging from a slowly growing overall population to the prevalence of remote work to pressures on the partic ipation of Massachusetts residents in the workforce.

We all know that the civilian labor

force in the Berkshires has been declin ing for more than a decade. There were 59,034 county residents in the workforce in September 2022, down from 62,114 in September 2021 and from 65,657 a decade ago.

Not only that but the rate at which people participate in the labor force has never fully recovered from the cataclys mic drop at the onset of the pandemic. The workforce participation rate for Massachusetts — the percentage of the population that is either working or ac tively looking for work — has declined steadily from 68.8 in 2001 to 65.8 today.

The labor force participation rate among women, which had risen to 64 percent before COVID, plummeted to 60.9 afterward as school shutdowns and a lack of child care forced caregivers off the job.

But demographics do not tell the whole story.

Workers in the post-COVID world are making different choices, many based on improving their quality of life. Quality of life is enormously important for a strong workforce. We have some advantages for quality of life in the Berkshires — an abundance of outdoor activities, cultural offerings, extraordi nary natural beauty and lower cost of living than the eastern part of the state.

However, we also have the same prob lems that exist throughout the state, in cluding the lack of affordable housing, skyrocketing energy and health care costs, insufficient public transportation, and lack of child care and elder support services.

Solving the workforce crisis will require a sustained and comprehensive effort to address issues on multiple fronts.

• We must moderate costs for both

employers and workers who might otherwise move elsewhere.

• We must ensure that our education system provides all students — especial ly those in underserved communities — with the skills needed to share in the commonwealth’s economic prosperity.

• We must find ways to integrate more qualified immigrants and their dreams into Massachusetts’ world-renowned educational institutions and entrepre neurial companies.

• We need to be creative in reaching unemployed or underemployed popu lations by working collaboratively with social services agencies and educational institutions to connect those wanting a better life path for themselves and their families with good paying jobs that don’t require college degrees.

• We must re-imagine the entire struc ture of work and the new ways that our employees interact with our companies.

There are regional initiatives already underway. One example is the one launched by the Berkshire Innovation Center and MassHire Berkshire Work force Board, which together created a multi-platform regional marketing campaign aimed at building aware ness about career paths in key growth sectors available in Berkshire County. They include advanced manufacturing, life sciences, CleanTech, aerospace and defense, software and engineering and healthcare.

Projects like this come not a moment too soon. The numbers tell us there is no time to lose.

How to uncomplicate mystery of Instagram reels

PITTSFIELD — If you’re dedicating your time and businesses’ resources to Ins tagram, you should absolutely be reg ularly creating Insta gram reels.

Don’t let the comedy and trending audios intimidate you or make you feel like it doesn’t make sense for your business.

Here are the three types of reels you can easily adapt and create for your audience on Instagram to get you started this week.

First, create reels that establish authority. Think how-tos, tips, tutorials and mistakes to avoid in your industry or niche. Try setting up a tripod and your phone and record short videos as you work on things you normally would. This will create footage to pull from when you need to create tutorials or to share tips.

The second type of reel to create is one that creates connection. This might be short personal stories, opinions and thoughts, or facts about you. In a world where people can get goods and services from anywhere in the world, it’s often the simple things like a shared favorite food that connect people to you or your brand.

It’s also OK to be promotional and you can do it in more than one way. It might be testimonials in text form set over a video. Or it could be video testimonials that highlight the benefits of working with you and using your products, or touting upcoming sales, VIP days and anything else you know your audience won’t want to miss.

Remember, just posting reels is not a social media strategy, but it should be a part of it. If you don’t have any social media strategy in place you can start by outlining two to three goals you have when you show up on social media.

This doesn’t just have to be related to your bottom line. It can be what I like to call “social impact goals.”

What change or impact are you hoping to make with your content? This will help keep you or your team inspired to create the content each week. Then make a plan for when you can regularly commit to creating content and when you will schedule content, write cap tions, and other tasks to actually get it out to your followers.

Whether you are a one-person team or a growing business with employees, you can create a strategy that works with your resources and reels that feel right for your business.

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Kaitlyn Pierce is the founder and chief strategist of PierceSocial, a digital marketing company.

Kaitlyn Pierce

Patricia Begrowicz, the president and co-owner of Onyx Specialty Papers in Lee, is chair of the board of directors of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

FILE PHOTO

Job seekers wander through a career fair in 2019. According to the most recent figures, Massachusetts has approximately 150,000 more job openings than unemployed workers — and the future is not looking any more promising.

Why the MLS can be a very useful tool

buyers affiliated with the listing firm. There can be no public marketing of this type of listing, as the intent is to protect the seller’s privacy.

Sanda J. Carroll Real estate

In Berkshire County, the Multiple Listing Ser vice assists Realtors in sharing homes, condos, multifamily buildings, land and commercial properties for sale with other real estate profes sionals and their clients. Each property type has a long list of required data that the Realtors must share about the property so that buyers can compare and contrast to develop an understanding of value.

Participating Realtors also use this service to share the listings information with their own buyer clients, and online to social media, portals, web searches or websites. Buyers and sellers use the tools of the MLS through their Realtors, or an arm’s length away using website search es of MLS property data.

The great majority of real estate sales are offered in the MLS and generate successful closings. When a property is listed in the Berkshire MLS, other participants know that the seller has given one broker the exclusive right to sell their property. They also know that, as part of the contract, the seller under stands all of the options and obligations that go along with listing their home in the MLS and the uniform process for buyers to search, access and bid on properties.

PROPERTY LISTING OPTIONS

A seller can decide to list a proper ty as new to the market as soon as an exclusive listing agreement is signed. The Realtor works with the seller to go through the property’s characteristics, takes photographs and/or videos and

prepares the disclosures and marketing for the property.

The contract spells out many of the details that the seller and Realtor will discuss — how the listing will be han dled, how the listing will be entered in the MLS within two business days unless otherwise agreed, and how the seller’s agent will cooperate with other Realtors. The seller will be informed about how much of the compensation their Real tor’s firm will offer to pay any buyer’s firm who brings the successful sale.

In some cases, a seller isn’t ready to hit the ground running two days after they hire a Realtor. So there are a few options to keep the agent in compliance with the MLS rules yet allow the seller to have flexibility.

• Coming soon listing: If the property details and photos are ready to go, but the seller will not show the property right away, a Realtor can list the house as “coming soon.” A coming soon listing must start showing within seven days of entry. This gives the property exposure and appointments for showings can be arranged in advance, while the seller and

Realtor have a few extra days to build excitement or get the property ready for viewing.

• Delayed listing: If the seller is ready to hire their Realtor but the property is not ready for the market, the seller can sign a delayed listing form. This status requires a Realtor to wait on any marketing until the property is ready to be accessed by interested buyers. No one knows about this listing until the seller and Realtor agree to enter it in the MLS and make it available to all prospective buyers. This extra time can be used to al low the seller to finish necessary repairs or for the Realtor to obtain specialized marketing, for example.

• Office exclusive: If the seller under stands the value of sharing the property to the greatest number of buyers, but does not want their property exposed in that manner, the seller can discuss keeping the property off MLS entirely. By signing an office exclusive arrange ment, the seller directs their Realtor to withhold the property from the MLS to help preserve the seller’s privacy. The property can then be shared solely with

Agents should never suggest this option to sellers as a way to advantage their buyer clients, but only if it’s in the seller’s best interest and desire for privacy or to finalize a transaction with a friend or neighbor. Unsuspecting sellers who don’t place their home on the open market will never know how much they could have gotten for their property.

The agent should always explain the risks of an office exclusive listing, and to be mindful that when buyers are exclud ed from access to a property, the Realtor and seller have to be very careful to avoid any violations of the Fair Housing Act.

Finally, a seller can offer their prop erty for sale without the services of a Realtor. These sellers, also known as “For Sale by Owners / FSBOs” should be well versed in real estate transaction requirements, contracts, state forms, negotiations, marketing and real estate regulations so they can ensure they don’t make a costly mistake.

The seller won’t have access to the MLS or standardized contracts or the websites that use MLS data feeds for their searches. The 2020 National Associ ation of Realtors’ “Profile of Home Buy ers and Sellers” reported that FSBO’s accounted for 8 percent of home sales, with data revealing the typical FSBO home went for $217,900 compared with $295,000 for agent-assisted sales.

Sellers should compare and contrast the services of different real estate brokerages and research the options for promotion of their property that works best for their selling needs.

Sandra J. Carroll is the chief executive officer of the Berkshire County Board of Realtors and the Berkshire County Multiple Listing Service.

PITTSFIELD — How do property sellers and buyers participate in the Multiple List ing Service?

GRAPHIC PROVIDED BY BERKSHIRE COUNTY BOARD OF REALTORS

Financial markets face year of unknowns

PITTSFIELD — Midterm election years his torically are notorious for periods of un derperformance in the stock market. But the post-election year is a different story altogether. Will 2023 be one of those years?

The average return for the stock market in the 12 months after elections has been 16.3 percent.

Bill Schmick

This year, 2022, will qualify in history as one of those underperform ing midterm election years. To date, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, has lost roughly 20 percent thus far and may end the year even lower.

Going back to 1932, S&P 500 returns have averaged 14 percent in a split Congress and 13 percent in a Republi can-held Congress under a Democratic president. The facts are that stock mar kets do well when there is gridlock in Congress. Neither new spending initia tives nor tax increases are likely to pass a divided Congress. In the aftermath of this election, with the House flipping to GOP control, the best that can be said is that additional business regulation will be limited and may even be rolled back somewhat in areas such as energy, phar maceuticals, biotech, and the financial sectors.

But a rebound in the markets next year is far from a sure thing given the global economic background. We are wrestling with the highest inflation rate in a generation, skyrocketing interest rates, the Ukrainian war, and a world wide economic slowdown. The Interna tional Monetary Fund has cut its forecast for global growth from 3.2 percent in 2022 to 2.7 percent next year. That is the weakest growth rate since 2001.

As the global economic pie shrinks, I expect to see a rise in worldwide trading blocs as the world fights for a bigger piece of the shrinking pie. A NorthSouth economic and political axis has been forming for more than a decade with China in the lead in expanding trade and investment in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Russia has joined this bloc in response to Western economic sanctions, while nations such as India, Brazil, some of Eastern Europe as well as certain energy producers in the Middle East are strengthening economic ties with both Russia and China. Together, these countries represent more than one-third of the world’s economic output and twothirds of its population. As global growth slows, expect trade wars to accelerate between this bloc and a U.S.-led trading bloc. That trade group includes most of Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, and a host of other pro-democratic nations.

A recession seems to be all but guar anteed in 2023 here in the U.S. In a recent CNBC CFO Council survey, more than 68 percent of chief financial officers are convinced that a recession will unfold during the first half of 2023. No CFO sur veyed believed the country will escape a recession. It is just a question of how severe the recession will be. I believe that will depend on how high the Fed must raise interest rates to bring inflation down.

Inflation was identified as the biggest risk facing the economy and business es by the Federal Reserve Bank. Most Americans would agree with that position. Unfortunately, inflation, over 8 percent as of mid-November, has been much stickier than most experts expect ed. As a result, the ongoing central bank tightening of monetary policy that began this year will continue into 2023.

The longer inflation remains elevated, the longer and higher interest rates must climb. The main debt instrument the Fed uses in raising interest rates is the Fed funds rate. All other debt instruments key off that rate. Bond investors expect the Fed will ultimately target a Fed Funds rate above 5 percent. The Fed’s announced target rate is now between 3.75 percent and 4 percent. Bond

investors expect the Fed will ultimately target a rate above 5 percent before all is said and done. That means we still have a sizable amount of tightening yet to come.

The Fed is counting on higher interest rates to slow demand by reducing economic growth while increasing the unemployment rate. That would hopefully reduce the rate of inflation. Some economists could see inflation fall to 5 percent or 6 percent under this scenario.

I expect that rising interest rates will result in a slowing economy in the first half of 2023, resulting in a mild recession, and a decline in the headline inflation rate. The financial markets, I expect, will remain volatile as these economic developments unfold. Traders, witnessing a gradual decline in inflation, will jump the gun, bid markets higher, and expect the Fed to ease, only to be disappointed.

The Fed will remain steadfast for months, in my opinion, until they are sure their policies are working. This di vergent behavior will whipsaw investors. It will likely create a series of vicious bear market rallies only to see chasers caught in nasty bull traps. I expect to see lower highs and lower lows as January and February progress.

At some point in the first quarter, fears that the Fed will “over tighten” and force the economy into an even deeper reces sion will make the rounds on Wall Street as well as in Washington. That will add fuel to the fires of uncertainty and likely make a life for Fed officials difficult, especially if the labor market weakens. We could also see increased stress in financial markets here and abroad, as credit markets grow tighter.

U.S. corporate earnings for the bench mark S&P 500 Index currently at $225 will probably take it on the chin. I expect at best, earnings will be flat versus 2022 and may decline to roughly $200 in a worst-case kind of scenario. If you slap a 15 times earnings ratio onto that num ber, you come up with a 3,000-price level on the Index, compared to the 3,900 level today.

As such, I see a rather nasty first-quar ter decline in the stock markets to fresh lows that could take the S&P 500 Index down another 10 percent or 20 percent or so from here. I am forecasting a final capitulation in the stock market around the end of March 2023 with a tentative bottom of 3,200.

When do I see the Fed pivot or at least pause in tightening? That depends on inflation, but I do believe it will take several months before the Fed will be willing to relax its policies once inflation begins to fall. That hasn’t happened yet. But let’s say it does happen over the

next six to nine months, sometime in the second quarter of 2023.

If so, I expect the markets will antic ipate this change. The U.S. dollar will begin to retreat, interest rates start to decline, and we should see stocks and bonds bounce in the spring and through out the summer. For the year, my guess timate, which will change for sure as the year progresses, is a target of 4,500 on the S&P 500 index.

I would expect to see assets that are negatively correlated to a declining

dollar such as materials, commodities, energy, and maybe cryptocurrencies do well. Emerging markets would also ben efit as would U.S. and foreign stocks in general. As interest rates decline, there would also be an upside in bond prices across the board as well as bond funds. High-yielding dividend stocks and value stocks would also do well.

Bill Schmick is registered as an investment adviser representative of Onota Partners Inc. in the Berkshires.

The Berkshires.

From one season to the next, this is more than a destination. It’s a set of experiences, qualities and values that fulfill. Your financial advisors should embody these same attributes.

It’s why we’re here. We’re here with you. And for you. Come learn more. Let’s star t a conversation.

AP FILE PHOTO

A rebound in the financial markets in 2023 is not a sure thing, as a recession is “all but guaranteed,” according to columnist Bill Schmick.

’Tis the season to be grateful

PITTSFIELD — For many, the holi day season provides us with an opportunity to show our appre ciation and thankfulness for our friends, family members and loved ones.

For some, however, gratitude can be challenging to find when there are so many people to help, so many meetings to attend, so many deadlines, so many obliga tions, so much daily stress, and just not enough time in the day. One of my goals for this hectic time of year is to take time each day to count my blessings, identify what I am thankful for and to pay it forward.

Boulger Inside the Job Market

The Berkshire County unemploy ment rate is 3.6 percent, which shows 59,034 people in the labor force, with 56,890 employed. This is better news than a year ago, when the rate was 5.6 percent.

It is our goal at MassHire to help the remaining 2,144 unemployed county residents and those looking for career changes connect to the myriad work force programs to find their perfect employment opportunity here in the Berkshires. Last week, there were 3,047 job postings in the Berkshires on the JobQuest website, and hundreds more posted on other venues. For an overview of local workforce services and employ ment opportunities, visit MassHire Berkshire.com.

• Remember our veterans: Pay it forward this November by thanking a veteran. We are able to celebrate our blessings and freedoms because of their sacrifices. There are 7,908 military veterans living in the Berkshires. The labor force participation rate for veter ans in the Berkshires is 72 percent, and their unemployment rate is 9.8 percent. Twenty-eight percent of local veterans

have a disability. There are 1,424 veteran-owned firms in the Berk shires as well.

The MassHire Berkshire Ca reer Center provides priority of service to veterans, and can help access employment and training opportunities. Massachusetts employers that hire a veteran may be eligible for a federal tax credit. Let’s show our veterans that we appreciate their sacrific es each and every day.

• Think small: Support our small busi nesses all year long, too. There are 3,728 commercial establishments in Berk shire County, and 88 percent are consid ered to be small businesses. These firms employ more than 51,000 people. When we support small businesses, jobs are created and local communities preserve or develop a unique culture. The money spent at small businesses also stays local because it goes back into the local economy.

Retailers will be spending the next few weeks preparing for Small Business Saturday, which takes place on Nov. 26, the day after Black Friday. It’s shaping up to be a holly, jolly holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual holiday spending forecast.

Holiday spending is expected to be healthy even with recent inflationary challenges. According to the NRF, hol iday retail sales during November and December will grow between 6 and 8 percent over 2021. Ninety-one percent of consumers plan to celebrate the winter holidays, which include events like Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwan zaa.

Lower and middle income households are feeling the most pressure from higher prices. Households earning over

Berkshire County knows firsthand the importance of the holiday season for our local retailers, so, please shop local this holiday season. Thanksgiving falls at an opportune time on the calendar. We are heading into the holiday season, when we are reminded of what is most important to us. We will soon be approaching the end of the year, when we take stock of the past year and set goals for the coming one.

$150,000 will spend 21 percent more more than last year at $1,304. Those earning under $75,000 will spend an additional $606. The average person is expected to spend $832.84 on gifts and celebrations this year.

The NRF expects retailers will hire between 450,000 and 600,000 seasonal workers.

The majority of retailers are small businesses. Seventy one percent of retail stores in the United States have fewer than 10 employees. The industry, as a whole, supports one of every four jobs in the United States.

That’s good news for Berkshire Coun ty, because retail is the second-largest job sector in the Berkshires, employing 7,582 people, which is 11 percent of the

county’s total workforce. Retail is one of the country’s most technically advanced and innovative sectors, offering varied and rewarding career possibilities.

Although sales jobs are mostly closely associated with the retail sector, 44 per cent of its employees do not work in sales positions. There are accountants, artists, computer programmers, merchandise displayers, architects and engineers, protective workers and more. So, if you want an engaging, competitive career, consider a job in the retail industry.

Half of all employed teenagers work in the retail sector. More than one-third of retail employees work part time, and 60 percent are women. Retail stores account for 70 percent of the country’s gross national product. And despite the rise in online shopping opportunities, industry research indicates that 90 percent of U.S. retail sales still take place in bricks-andmortar locations.

Berkshire County knows firsthand the importance of the holiday season for our local retailers, so, please shop local this holiday season. Thanksgiving falls at an opportune time on the calendar. We are heading into the holiday season, when we are reminded of what is most import ant to us. We will soon be approaching the end of the year, when we take stock of the past year and set goals for the coming one.

We can all find more room for grat itude in both our personal and profes sional lives. This is a perfect time of year to translate our feelings of thankfulness into daily practice, and to thank our vet erans and support our small businesses, not just during the holidays but all year long.

Nonprofit rating sites helpful, but they require homework

GREAT BARRINGTON — There are at least a half-dozen websites de signed to supply the public with detailed information on nonprof its, should one be in the market for this kind of research and in formation.

You might be a funder do ing your due diligence, or an individual donor ensuring the organization you’re considering is “approved” as worthy of your money or time when you choose to use one of these sites. But if you’re a nonprofit, maintaining a profile on some of these sites is quite a bit of homework.

Liana Toscanini Nonprofit Notes

Consider GuideStar.org the most popular research tool. It has four levels, bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Each successive level requires more in-depth information and thought.

From basic organizational and program information to details about finance, demographics, goals and impact, the platinum level isn’t something you can reach in an hour at your comput er. That said, everyone — and I mean everyone — uses GuideStar to research nonprofits and private foundations that also enjoy nonprofit status.

I appreciate the exercise of gathering data for donors on GuideStar; it’s helpful on a number of levels. For example, if a nonprofit answers all the “gold” questions on GuideStar, it will effective ly have a “case statement,” or written document that can be used to tell the organization’s story and make a case for support of its mission and organization.

The downside is a very small nonprof it may not be in a position to complete the information requested. Either it hasn’t gathered enough data yet, or it doesn’t have the time to devote to such an endeavor. That doesn’t mean they’re not doing great work in the community. It simply means they haven’t matured

The downside is a very small nonprofit may not be in a position to complete the information requested. Either it hasn’t gathered enough data yet, or it doesn’t have the time to devote to such an endeavor. That doesn’t mean they’re not doing great work in the community. It simply means they haven’t matured enough to articulate their impact in such a thoughtful and metric-heavy fashion.

enough to articulate their impact in such a thoughtful and metric-heavy fashion.

I did not consider Charity Navigator a “must” for nonprofits to upkeep, but a recent conversation with Philanthropy MA convinced me that more and more donors are using it to research non profits particularly ones that they are unfamiliar with. Charity Navigator says its objective is to help donors and cele brate nonprofits, but it’s also just more homework for nonprofit leaders as they wade through its four “beacons” — ac countability & finance, impact & results, leadership & adaptability, and culture & community — especially if they’ve already entered all this information into GuideStar.

There are lots of documents to upload, too. Eligible charities receive a zero to four-star star rating determined by the weighted sum of the organization’s individual beacon scores. According to its website, “With nearly 200,000 charities rated, our comprehensive ratings shine a light on the cost-effectiveness and overall health of a charity’s programs, including measures of stability, efficiency, and sus tainability. The metrics inform donors of not just where their dollars are going but what their dollars are doing.”

I personally like GreatNonprofits. org, which collects testimonials from nonprofit stakeholders and asks them to

rate the nonprofit based on their person al experience. Stakeholders can be the clients you serve, your volunteers, staff, board or donors. A nonprofit must get 10 of these stories each year in order to receive the GreatNonprofits badge.

It’s a bit of work finding 10 people will ing to take the time to tell their stories online, but it’s a great testimonial/col lection tool and I like the entire practice of letting stakeholders articulate your impact rather than tooting your own horn.

The newest and coolest platform on the market is Impala. Through a unique partnership with Philanthropy MA, sup ported by the Barr and Boston founda tions, Impala is available to all Massa chusetts nonprofits for free for the next two years. The wcompany’s full name is Impala Impact Intelligence.

According to Impala, its service “unlocks ecosystems-level analytics that previously were only available to the most well-resourced organizations. On issues as specific as performing arts in Somerville or as broad as statewide ear ly childhood education, the sector will now be able to see insights, including where funding is going (and where it’s not), how different funders and nonprof its compare, and where these funders are currently overlapping (which are giving to the same organizations and causes).”

It’s a game-changer in terms of level ing the field of access to data and trans parency. Impala also pre-populates your nonprofit profile with publicly available information so all you have to do it refine it, thereby saving a few hours of precious time. More information about this new network can be found at impala.digital/.

Other places your potential donors and funders may be searching for infor mation on your organization include the state Attorney General’s Office (which oversees the public charities division, supporting transparency through pub lication of filed reports and forms); the Secretary of State’s Office (Where non profits are incorporated and file annual reports); and plain, old “google-sleuth ing,” which may bring up articles writ ten about your nonprofit, among other information.

Locally, many people find information in the Nonprofit Center of the Berk shires’ Giving Back guide. The seventh edition of the guide is now available online at npcberkshires.org.

On one hand, having a profile in any of these resources feels legitimizing, and the process of creating those pro files is useful for collecting information all in one place that tells the story of your organization. On the other, many good organizations doing great work may be years away from having the manpower and data to complete their profiles.

These small organizations should, at very least, take a look at what informa tion is being collected and start now the process of gathering such data. From my experience, and in flagrant disregard for self-care, the quiet time at the end of December is the perfect time to look into these rating sites.

Liana Toscanini is the executive director of the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires in Great Barrington.

Heather Boulger is the executive director of the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board in Pittsfield.

Heather

Actions, not words, benefit community best

PITTSFIELD — Every December there al ways seems to be a fuss over how to greet someone during the holidays.

The commotion usually centers around having the right to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone you greet in stead of the more gener ic “Happy Holidays.”

I don’t have a prob lem with using Merry Christmas as a greeting as long as you know that the person you’re speaking with cele brates that holiday. If that person doesn’t, or you don’t know that he or she does, then saying it just to say it doesn’t make any sense. It’s actually kind of rude. What’s wrong with “Happy Holidays” or even “Sea son’s Greetings”? It’s not the politically correct thing to do. It’s the logical thing, or may be we should say, the appropri ate thing to do.

Dobrowolski Commentary

This always seems to come up in De cember because we celebrate so many holidays at this time of year. Besides the staples, Christmas and New Year’s, there’s Hannukah, Kwanzaa — and even Boxing Day if you live in Cana da. Just about everyone has their own holiday to celebrate this month, which truly makes it the most wonderful time of the year. In this case, diversity means inclusion and that’s always something to celebrate.

We need to remember that even though we have different holidays and different beliefs we are still one com munity. One Berkshire business that gets this concept and actually pays it forward is Otto’s Kitchen & Comfort in Pittsfield.

In mid-November, Otto’s hosted the first in a series of free monthly “com munity dinners” that are open to all. According to a post on Otto’s Facebook page, the event features a “ free, plated dinner for anyone who wants or needs it!”.

“We are not members of the

community,” the post states. “We ARE the community.”

This isn’t the first time that Otto’s has done something like this.

In 2017, Otto’s owners Luke and Lindsey Marion held a spaghetti dinner at the restaurant on Christmas night for people who had nowhere to celebrate the holiday. The fee for that dinner what pay as you can. “If you can’t afford anything, that’s OK,” Luke Marion said at the time.

“It’s easy to say it’s for homeless people or people who don’t have food, but the people I would like to see come are the ones who don’t have a community here in Pittsfield,” Marion told me then. “That’s important, to look out for those people.”

The dinner received 217 likes on Facebook in the three days after it was announced, and about 75 people attended the event, which ran from 5 to 7 p.m. It was a nice gesture by the Marions, who

generally care about the people who live Pittsfield. It’s nice to see that they’ve decided to try something like this again.

Speaking of community, Richard Wojtkowski deserves kudos for recent ly purchasing at auction the 10-acre property on West Housatonic Street near Pittsfield’s western gateway that has been vacant and slowly deteriorating for over a decade.

The property, which includes a 30,000-square-foot building that has served as both an auto dealership and a restaurant, was becoming an eyesore because it had been abandoned for so long. The old motor boat parked in the overgrown weeds behind what used to be the auto dealership’s garage was a prime example of what happens when a site like that is neglected.

This isn’t the first time Wojtkowski has bought an unused city property at auction. In 2010, Wojtkowski purchased the former Pittsfield Rye Bakery building

on the corner of East and Elm streets, which has since been torn down. Pitts field Lawn & Tractor was actually the second highest bidder for that property, but after the highest bidder defaulted on the sale, Wojtkowski purchased it when he worked out a deal with bakery owners Rick and Renee Robbins.

When asked what he planned to do with that site then, Wojtkowski’s answer was very similar to what he said after buying the West Housatonic Street site. He wasn’t sure but he would clean it up. The former bakery building had been vacant for three years before the auction took place.

The the former bakery building’s place now is a small commercial structure that houses Berkshire Bike and Board, a Subway restaurant and an ATM. It was a good re-use of a space that if it been allowed to deteriorate might have ended up like the West Housatonic Street property, albeit with out the old motor boat.

Here’s hoping Wojtkowski can do the same thing on West Housatonic Street that he did on the corner of East and Elm streets. That would really benefit the community.

Tony

Dobrowolski

is

the editor of the Berkshire Business Journal and has been The Berkshire Eagle’s main business writer since 2008.

FILE PHOTO

Luke Marion, who co-owns Otto’s Kitchen & Comfort with his wife, Lindsey, has shown his commitment to the community by scheduling a series of monthly community dinners at his restaurant on East Street.

Tony

“It’s easy to say it’s for homeless people or people who don’t have food, but the people I would like to see come are the ones who don’t have a community here in Pittsfield. That’s important, to look out for those people.”

Luke Marion, Otto’s Kitchen & Comfort co-owner

FILE PHOTO

Richard Wojtkowski, center, purchased the former car dealership at 1685 W. Housatonic St. at auction. He said he’s not sure what he’ll do with it.

Growing an idea, one step at a time

PITTSFIELD — In September 2019, I stood in front of a lectern across the street from the Berkshire Innovation Cen ter, which was then in the final stages of construction, to intro duce Electro Magnetic Applications to Pitts field.

I announced that EMA was “not just here to create a few jobs,” but that we were going to do something signif icant here in Berkshire County.

First, a little about my background. I had a challenging child hood. I grew up in Springfield which was not the easiest place to be, as an only child with a single parent. I’ve never met my dad and my mom has been unable to walk or work due to the multiple sclero sis she contracted in the early 2000s.

I graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a bach elor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering because I was gritty and determined. My childhood forced me to become confident in who I was and truly believe that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

I came to Pittsfield shortly after grad uation to take a job at General Dynamics and fell in love with the city and the Berkshires. I moved from General Dy namics to NTS Lightning Technologies, which is also in Pittsfield, in 2014. This is really where my career took off. I looked at jobs elsewhere before making this move, but my roots were already planted here in the Berkshires.

In April 2019, I was approached by Electro Magnetic Applications, a com pany based in Lakewood, Colo. with an offer to join the firm. I liked the EMA team and organizational structure — I had known several of EMA’s staff from the industry for a few years. I agreed to join on the condition that I could remain in Pittsfield. The firm agreed and I start ed working remotely out of my house. Soon after, I moved into an inexpensive office space on Wendell Avenue, where I started to really flesh out the vision of growing a team in Pittsfield.

Shortly after this, EMA brought on Greg Wilson. I had to convince him to move his wife and two kids across the country — from Utah to Pittsfield — to work on the project that was percolating in my mind. Greg and I shared a com mon dream of solving a major hole in the industry related to the test and simula tion of space environment effects. We believed so strongly in this dream that we just had to figure out a way to make it happen. As a small business, es pecially one just finding its footing in the area, the costs associated with building a test chamber to simulate the space envi ronment were difficult to make work. It was daunting. Never deterred, I wrote a proposal to the National Science Foun dation, which funded an SBIR Phase I contract for us to design the chamber and develop the framework for our com mercial simulation suite, Ansys EMA3D Charge. Today, most people simply call this our “space chamber.”

As the design matured, we knew we were onto something special, and the momentum started to gather. I knew we could do it and was pushing the pedal hard. That said, the question of “where” we could do it remained a significant hurdle. We needed a space that was suitable for the needs of the chamber project, but also one that could add legit imacy to our Pittsfield operation. After all, we were pitching major clients. We needed a “wow” fact.

We found some small affordable space to do our work, but it lacked amenities and the “storefront” we needed. During this time we were introduced to the lead ership team at the Berkshire Innovation Center, and soon after, to officials from the city of Pittsfield, including Mayor Linda M. Tyer, Business Development Manager Michael Coakley, and former Community Development Director Dean na Ruffer.

We believed so strongly in this dream that we just had to figure out a way to make it happen. As a small business, especially one just finding its footing in the area, the costs associated with building a test chamber to simulate the space environment were difficult to make work. It was daunting.

The mayor and her team decided to make a major bet on EMA. They urged the City Council to support us with a $140,000 grant to help us launch the space simulation lab. The city had been burned in the past by companies with big dreams. With the mayor locked in a highly contested reelection bid, getting this economic incentive package through City Council was no easy political lift. It was surely no slam dunk.

To help build support for the project, momentum for EMA and the BIC, the mayor hosted the press conference across from the BIC. It was at the press conference that I announced our inten tion to build an “empire.” Looking back, boy, that was quite the statement. There were certainly a few eye rolls.

The press ran with the comment and quite a few folks had a field day on social media, but as I quickly made clear online, my “empire” comment wasn’t intended to promise hundreds of jobs. The quantity of jobs would be limited, but the quality would be very high and the talent we were going to attract would make the city a national leader in this important area of space. That’s what I meant by empire.

When the Facebook and blog com ments died down, the City Council approved the grant request which, along with funding from the National Science Foundation, really set the wheels in mo tion for all that we do out here.

In a large city, like Denver, small businesses easily fall through the cracks. Here, we have learned time and time again, that Pittsfield and Berkshire County are different from other places. Our community continues to selflessly

invest with time, with money, and with other resources when people or compa nies show potential and ask for help. We are living proof.

With funding in hand, we moved in as the Berkshire Innovation Center’s first tenants at the end of 2019. We moved in before the floors were even polished. Imagine that?

The BIC is every small-business own er’s dream, and the ideal setting to incu bate EMA’s Pittsfield division. The fact that we could work out of the BIC was also key to getting support from EMA’s leadership back in Colorado.

We approached them with a good idea and received great support from the city. EMA’s president, Tim McDonald, was sold on the BIC as the first true home for EMA Pittsfield when he was able to walk around the brand new 23,000-square-foot innovation center.

As a growing business, we needed access to things like meeting rooms, lab areas and office space. Frankly, these were not available in Pittsfield and certainly not under one roof. Without the BIC, I doubt we would have ever gotten the “nod” from our colleagues to start this major project in Pittsfield, nor would we have grown at the rate we have.

One random morning I received an email from the mayor. She recom mended someone to us, Casey Peira no, thinking that he might be a fit for EMA. Peirano received his doctorate in atmospheric science which is not really an area EMA was active in. But once we met Casey, we knew he was part of the family. Casey now plays a major important role in all that EMA does software wise, serving as an application engineer and developing the majority of the documentation EMA’s customers use worldwide.

Not long after that, we met Brian Wood. Brian was working in the lab at Utah State University doing research and testing on materials in the space environ ment. Ha, how convenient! We brought Brian out and he became our fourth em ployee and he has become indispensable. Brian has nearly single-handily been the force to physically put together our test facility.

All this time we were watching the BIC get its legs under itself. This new facility, which officially opened in 2020, had peo ple walking the halls, tours going on, and new meetings happening daily.

During all of this activity, I was intro duced to the folks from MassTech during

a tour one day and showed them some of our fledgling test facility. Six months later EMA received a $429,000 grant from the M2I2 program run by Mass Tech. That connection happened solely because EMA was in the BIC at the same time MassTech was. Our technology is constantly on full-display and we rou tinely have multiple folks popping by to see what we are doing, meeting govern ment folks, and more.

As of today, EMA has eight full-time employees in Pittsfield. We have major plans to continue growing. We are in the process of starting a major research and development project that should come to fruition in early 2023. It will add another chapter to this local story for sure.

Even as a perpetually big dreamer — one that goes so far as to announce plans to build an “empire” — I never saw EMA becoming what it currently is. I especial ly did not see what our Pittsfield location has become. I think if anyone would have asked me about the “when” we’d be likely to move to a bigger office footprint, I may have eagerly replied in “under 10 years for sure.”

We already recently graduated from our 800-square-foot office space at the BIC to a 6,000-square-foot office on 66 West St. in Pittsfield. Our lab remains at the BIC and we have big plans to continue expanding our footprint where this story started. We were fortunate to land at the intersection of a good idea, driven by grit and being surrounded by supporting people from the BIC, the city and other commonwealth organizations designed to be catalysts for economic development and growth.

As for my “empire” comment, I think now people hear me as a determined innovator versus a bold scientist. It is funny to look back on that moment. I think now that people see both myself personally and EMA as a company as a prime example of how something new and novel can really turn into something incredible.

As for the next tenant of the BIC, well, I can hardly wait to see who and what fills our former office space at the BIC I am willing to bet that whoever fills that space another story of good work being created right here in the Berkshires is bound to happen.

Justin McKennon is a principal scientist with Electro Magnetic Applications and a member of the Berkshire Innovation Center’s board of directors.

Justin McKennon

BEN GARVER

Justin McKennon, left, and Brian Wood of Electro Magnetic Applications stand with the company’s $60,000 aerospace testing chamber at the Berkshire Innovation Center.

Real estate transactions

Berkshire County real estate transactions from Oct. 3-28

ADAMS

Carol A. Daignault sold property at 19 Leonard St., Adams, to Donald E. and Sally Reese, John C. Pitroff and Jessica Bouras sa-Pitroff, $271,500.

John F. and Barbara A. Bordeau and Constance A. Thompson sold property at 13 Murray St., Adams, to Daniel E. and Jill M. Nye, $129,900.

Adelle E. Michaud-Doerring sold property at 5 Dubis St., Adams, to Michael J. and Helene L. Sommer, $210,000.

Kelsey N. Ouimet sold property at East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Sean M. Cota, $33,000.

James J. and Barbara S. McKenna, trustees of the James J. McKenna and Barbara S. McKenna NT, sold property at 14 East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Stephen J. and Leslie A. Bransfield, $320,000. Jereme C. and Jacqueline M. Vinette sold property at 105 Alger St., Adams, to Nicholas R. Sorrell, $236,000.

Ruth E. Lennon and Dwane Rougeau sold property at 27 East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Patricia E. Far nam, $282,500.

Trevor D. West sold prop erty at 84-90 Summer St., Adams, to Summer NA Street LLC, $455,000. Robert and Laurie Crouse sold property at 3-5 Or chard St., Adams, to Mark S. Avery and Jessilyn R. Dearborn, $315,000.

David A., Thomas M. and Bonnie A. Zabek, Susan M. McShane, Nancy J. Herlihy, and Mary E. Daigneault sold property at 1 Com monwealth Ave., Adams, to Joseph R. Varieur, $129,900.

Annamaria L. Sebastino, personal rep. of the Estate of Gene P. Sebastino Sr., sold property at 100 and 0 Bucklin Road, Adams, to Emanuel Santiago, $30,000.

Louis J. and Elizabeth M. Celentano sold property at 12-14 West St., Adams, to Madison E. Kremer and Daniel W. Celentano, $150,000.

Matthew K. and Nicole W. Williams sold property at 111 Friend St., Adams, to James Michael Learish II, $235,000.

Michael P. and Catherine F. O’Brien sold property at 8-10 Gavin Ave., Adams, to Sherri L. and Mitchell W. Gordon Jr., $150,500.

Ronald A., Mark E. and Wil liam E. Burdick, and Linda A. Miller sold property at 42-46 Bellevue St., Adams, to Lee and Molly B. Guest, $175,000.

Keith A. Czubryt and Carly Hardell, co-personal reps.

of John S. Czubryt, sold property at 41 Morningside Ave., Adams, to Wayne G. Arnold, $63,500.

Heidi E. Moulton and Melissa F. Hoellerich sold property at 190-192 and 0 Henry Woods Road, Adams, to Jamie J. Rogge and Kimberly L. Bragg, $575,000.

Linda Troy and Kristine Megaro sold property at 84 North Summer St., Adams, to Robert W. and Sandra Racette, $215,000.

ALFORD

Gail C. Strauss, trustee of Barbara R. Strauss Revo cable Trust, sold property at 61 North Egremont Road, Alford, to Jacob J. Kuhn and Erin C. Kuhn, $475,000.

Joshua Fisher and Holly Henderson Fisher sold property at 275 East Road, Alford, to Cloud Kingdom 2020 LLC, $820,000.

BECKET

Dorothy Svoren, personal rep. of the Estate of David J. Allard Jr. aka David A. Al lard Jr., sold property at 52 Blue Boar Lane, Becket, to Keith, Cynthia and Dennis J. Manley, $108,000.

Francisco Miranda Jr. and Molly Miranda sold prop erty at 116 Partridge Lane, Becket, to Gloria Shahin and David M. Dziena, $549,000.

Thomas and Kimberly L. Therrien sold property at Quarry Road, Becket, to Jason D. Housh, $30,000.

Harriet C. Glassman sold property at 293 Old Pond Road, Becket, to Seth Fowl er, trustee of the Robert L. and Lorraine A. Fowler Family Trust, $551,000.

Albert R. and Kate M. Griffith sold property at Fred Snow Road, Becket, to Hughey Capital LLC, $23,768.32.

Charles A., Marilyn N., Rob ert F., and Jay B. Stillman, and Nina S. Mandel sold property at 56 Fox Hollow Drive, Becket, to Brad S. Feldman and Elizabeth A. Graham, $550,000.

USA HUD sold property at 52 Lyman St., Becket, to DNC Real Estate LLC, $112,000.

Pietra I. Thomas and Meng Jia sold property at 186 Prince John Drive, Becket, to Brad Lehmann, $205,000.

Kathleen R. Wiater sold property at Pill Drive, Becket, to 219WMR LLC, $22,500.

Douglas D. Bessone and Jane E. Markham sold property at 136 Carter Road, Becket, to Amy L. Bessone, trustee of the Amy L. Bessone Living Trust, $337,000.

Jonathon J. and Andrea T.H. Nix sold property at 190 Carter Road, Becket, to Monks Monks Monks LLC, $795,000.

CHESHIRE

Jacob F. and Mollie R. Scace sold property at 19 Fisk St., Cheshire, to Mi chael P. Taber, $240,000.

Ellies Holdings LLC sold property at 199 School St., Cheshire, to Matthew and Nicole Williams, $319,500.

Patricia E. Farnam sold property at 205 Wells Road, Cheshire, to Robert A. and Linda M. Huskins, $400,000.

Richard Salvi sold property at 144 Shadowland Cove, Cheshire, to Sheri A. Biasin, $27,000.

CLARKSBURG

Chali Nondo and Helen Mbewe sold property at 72 Gleason St., Clarksburg, to Jereme C. and Jacqueline M. Vinette, $325,000.

DALTON

Mindy Perrault, formerly known as Mindy Block, sold property at 77 Freder ick Drive, Dalton, to Kather ine Lockridge, $550,000.

Daniel F. and Patricia A. Farrell sold property at 37 Raymond Drive, Dalton, to Vayola Nicolas, $350,000.

Charles H. and Frieda A. Maces sold property at 60 North St., Unit 7, Dalton, to Kim Tinney, Geri Hart and Robert Hart Jr., $179,960.

Danielle M. Sanders sold property at 49 Jarvis St., Dalton, to Bret K. Grady, $256,500.

Charles F. Mongue Jr. and Michael C. Mongue sold property at 201 Curtis Ave., Dalton, to John R. Dela hanty and Jaclyn Farrell, $270,000.

U.S. Bank N.A., Tammy L., Michael J. and Edward H. Szklasz sold property at 28 Franklin St., Dalton, to U.S. Bank N.A., $175,059.73.

M. Boino Properties LLC sold property at 88-90 Flansburg Ave., Dalton, to Berkshire Home Pros Inc., $210,000.

EGREMONT

Rhett W. Proctor sold prop erty at 100 Baldwin Hill Road West, Egremont, to Matthew E. Berg and Sarah E. Bishop, $545,000.

Gail L. Rivers sold property at 303 Egremont Plain Road, Egremont, to Caro lyn Jacoby, $425,000.

Michael H. McKenna and Carol J. McKenna sold property at 117 Cream ery Road, Egremont, to Kurt Schwartz and Lori Schwartz, $950,000.

Richard Rose and Grace Rose sold property at 38 Rowe Road, Egremont, to Julie Somers Blaustein and Maurice Craig Blaustein, $1,025,000.

Beatrice Holdings LLC sold property off Blunt Road, Egremont, to Guillaume Touton, $125,000.

TMR Realty LLC sold property at 64 Creamery Road, Egremont, to Adam

J. Zieminski, $395,000.

38 Main Street LLC sold property at 0 Main St., Egremont, to Egremont Fire Co. Inc., $25,000.

Delmore Kinney and Georgette Ashe-Kinney sold property at Millard Road, Egremont, to Andrew Freedberg and Leslie Rob erts, $337,500.

Katharine D. Race sold property at 116 Hillsdale Road, Egremont, to Mark Abell, $525,000.

FLORIDA

Deborah L. Pierce sold property at 137 Church Road, Florida, to Kaitlin E. and Robert Barrett, $412,000.

Donna M. and John J. Estes sold property at 31 Phelps Road, Florida, to Andrea Marie and Robert Michael Ferriter Jr., $225,000.

GREAT BARRINGTON

Alan J. Righi, commission er for Bernice Washington and Carla Smith, sold prop erty at 28 Rosseter St., Great Barrington, to Shelly Szabo and Sandor Szabo, $344,000.

Rhett H. Mundy sold prop erty at 420 Stockbridge Road, Unit 11, Jenifer House Commons Condo minium, Great Barrington, to Skwirl Shack LLC, $100,000.

Robert J. Ostellino and Catherine K. Ostellino sold property at 3 Hillside Ave., Great Barrington, to Samuel Harris Crawford, $347,500.

Jacob J. Kuhn sold proper ty at 296 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, to Amy Townsend, $390,000.

Barbara A. Artinian, trust ee, Artinian Family Trust, sold property at 75 Brush Hill Road, Great Barrington, to Jhon Ferlain Torres marin, $14,500.

Richard Ridell Dacosta and Kimberly Ann Dacosta sold property at 22 Pine St., Great Barrington, to Jeffrey Bradley and Elizabeth Norton, $715,000.

Peter E. Drucker and Kris tin R. Drucker sold proper ty at 32 Kalliste Hill Road, Great Barrington, to Marc A. Schwartz and Margot Schwartz, $1,895,000.

Jesse M. Giummo, individ ually and as personal rep. of the Estate of Joan I. Gi ummo, sold property at 176 East St., Great Barrington, to Brian Foster and Amy L. Foster, $440,000.

Barrington Realty LLC sold property at 322 Main St., Great Barrington, to 322 Main LLC, $3,500,000.

Sue Z. Rudd, individually and as trustee of Sue Z. Rudd Massachusetts Residence Trust & Sue Z. Rudd Massachusetts 2010 Residence Trust Agree ment, sold property at 36 West St., Great Barrington, to NLTN LLC, $1,718,000.

Eastview Club Corporation sold property at 32 Lake Mansfield Road, Great Barrington, to Carolyn Hsu and Jacquelyn N. Moorad,

trustees of Moorad-Hsu Family Trust, $340,000.

Catherine A. Rueger, trust ee of Denis Robert O’Con nor Sr. 2017 Irrevocable Trust, aka Denis Robert O’Connor Sr. Irrevocable Trust, sold property at 200 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, to Jane Iredale, $1,200,000.

HANCOCK

Charles S. and Jane S. Cumming sold property at 37 Corey Road, Hancock, to Paul J. and Lena M. DeSantis, $337,500.

Michael and Janine Grazi osi sold property at Corey Road, Unit 835, Hancock, to Mark J. Hernandez, $385,000.

Donald W. and Carol A. Stellwagen sold property at Corey Road, Hancock, to Alan S. Brown and Linda E. LaVine-Brown, $585,000.

HINSDALE

Leonard E. Day III sold property at 316 Ashmere Road, Hinsdale, to Carol L. LeBlanc, $207,500.

Meghan Driscoll sold property at 866 East Wash ington Road, Hinsdale, to Frank W. Avalle Jr. and Melissa Avalle, $300,000.

Michael J. and Julia Leedham Rindfuss sold property at 345 Ashmere Road, Hinsdale, to Timo thy and Bethany Nichols, $595,000.

LANESBOROUGH

Timothy J. and Ann Flanagan sold property at 209 Narragansett Ave., Lanesborough, to Dennis J. and Paula Mlynarski and William Pulasky, $405,000.

Victor J. and Christy L. Cappadona sold property at 39 North Mountain Road, Lanesborough, to Nicholas and Mindy Per rault, $650,000.

Richard T. and Angelina M. Rische sold property at Ocean Street, Lanesbor ough, to Shelli L. Witek, $75,000.

Sean R. Hayes sold property at 3 Ann Drive, Lanesborough, to Patrick S. Connor, $210,000.

John Baker sold property at 1029 North Main St., Lanesborough, to Jack and Lauren Amick, $125,000.

Mark J. and Stephanie Abrams sold property at 4 B St., Lanesborough, to Yoonji M. Choe and Jeffrey P. Morgan, $860,000.

Trevor E. and Justin D. Clement sold property at Silver Street, Lanesbor ough, to Douglas N. Smith Jr., $18,000.

LEE

Daniel A. Zaccardo sold property at 300 Moose Drive, Lee, to Sara Joseph, $750,000.

John and Daniela Guido sold property at 880 East St., Unit 500A, Lee, to Vic toria Budson, $410,000.

Fox Real Estate Inc. sold property at 50 Fox Run, Lee, to Anthony John Ferretti and Alexandra Jane

Young, $150,000.

Jamie M. Gray formerly known as Jamie Marie Naughton sold property at 208 High St., Lee, to Fran ces G. Aquino, $230,000.

HLP Realty Holdings LLC sold property at 345 East St., Lee, to Christopher and Tiffany Greendale, $310,000.

LENOX

Johanna D. Weymore sold property at 234 Lee Road, Lenox, to Cynthia Birn baum, $435,000.

Esther Z. Rosenthal, trustee of the Rosenthal Family Winden Hill Trust, sold property at 200 Old Stockbridge Road, Lenox & Stockbridge, to Deborah Sagner, $595,000.

Dolores A. Wallin sold prop erty at 260 Pittsfield Road, Unit A18, Lenox, to Rebec ca Stedman, $180,000.

Marybeth Mitts, Olga Weiss, Julie DiGrigoli, Donald Weber, William Pignatelli, and Christopher Fenton, trustees of the Town of Lenox Affordable Housing Trust, sold prop erty at 10 Hynes St., Lenox, to Cheri Elizabeth Guachi one, $254,000.

Julie Ann Motes, trustee of the Julie Ann Motes Revo cable Trust, sold property at 260 Pittsfield Road, Unit A05, Lenox, to Ilana M. Barker, $159,000.

Jill A. Wollins, trustee of the Jill A. Wollins RVT, sold property at 16 Spruce Trail, Unit 16, Lenox, to David R. Cianflone, trustee of the Two Bears NT, $484,500.

Mildred Devos, trustee of the Mildred Devos RVT, sold property at 350 New Lenox Road, Lenox, to LND Investments LLC, $190,000.

Marjorie T. Lieberman sold property at 13A Muirfield Drive, Unit 13A, Lenox, to Peter and Joan Cohn, $700,000.

Iris Krieger sold property at 5 Wexford Court, Unit 25, Lenox, to Richard F. and Sandra L. Bisesi, $530,000.

David A. Yakum Sr. and Cathie L. Yakum sold prop erty at 14 Elm St., Lenox, to Sheward Hagerty and Re becca J. Evans, $395,000.

John J. Dubois, trustee of the John J. DuBois RVT, sold property at 6 Morgan Manor, Unit 14, Lenox, to Steven J. Connor and Nuk Thann, $208,000.

MONTEREY

Audrey Smith sold prop erty at 18 Point Road, Monterey, to 18 Point Road LLC, $1,325,000.

Deborah Hirschklau sold property at 23 Seven Arts Road, Monterey, to 23 Sev en Arts LLC, $360,000.

NEW MARLBOROUGH

Lawrence A. Agoglia and Susan R. Agoglia sold property at 732 Brewer Hill Road, New Marlbor ough, to William Cassidy and Kathryn Ann Cassidy,

Real estate

$1,490,000.

Seven Arts Properties LLC sold property at Lake Buel Road, New Marlborough, to Ronnie L. Pence Jr. and Joseph T. Karasek, $9,147.

Mary N. Fleming sold prop erty at 162 Hadsell St., New Marlborough, to Benjamin Trachtenberg and Dannah Laguitan, $273,174.

Patricia Fulco and Anthony Fulco sold property at 857 & 0 Cross to Canaan Valley Road, New Marlborough, to Dorota Mani, $650,000.

Nancy E. King sold prop erty at 26 Shunpike Road, New Marlborough, to Kirk R. Sprague, $225,000.

NORTH ADAMS

Richview Properties LLC sold property at 59 How land Ave., North Adams, to FSCL Homes LLC, $29,000.

James J. Borowski and Ann M. Shartrand sold property at 32-34 Meadow St., North Adams, to Obilio Rodriguez Jr., $150,000.

Isabel J. Pellegrini, personal rep. of Maarten Nicholas Pellegrini, sold property at 56 Liberty St., North Adams, to Jennifer Fey, $72,500.

Diane B. Schwarzer sold property at 343 West Main St., North Adams, to Keith D. Kurman and Vicki M. Campbell, $155,000.

Carriage Barn Wellness LLC sold property at 184 East Main St., Unit 2, North Adams, to A.P. Benson LLC, $340,000.

Jeremy and Dawn M. Broadwell sold property at 23 Arnold Place, North Adams, to Four Directions LLC, $10,000.

Richard and Jayne M. Lavariere sold property at 53-55 Brooklyn St., North Adams, to Robin R. Sears, $220,000.

Valmore Richards, personal rep. of Lois M. Harvey, sold property at 60 Brooklyn St., North Adams, to Mari ka Eva Kobel, $190,000.

Perry K. and Kimberly J. Burdick sold property at 60 Meade Ave., North Adams, to Timothy M. and Yennifer C. Maffei, $215,000.

Nancy L. and David T. Chicoine Jr. sold property at 47 Myers Ave., North Adams, to Henry D. Kunkel and Carolyn Porras, $200,000.

Brittney L. Flynn sold prop erty at 76 Tyler St., North Adams, to Natasha Nash, $30,000.

Kimberley A. Thomann sold property at 53-55 Dover St., North Adams, to Nuadams Restoration Inc., $120,000.

Phoenix Haynes and Sky Esquivel sold property at 88-90 Liberty St., North Adams, to William S. Swearingen Jr. and Susan E. Schorn, $234,000.

Daniel E. and Carole Fern Turker sold property at 70 Mohawk Trail, North

Adams, to Duanduam Ma, $100,000.

Susan Daugherty sold property at 47 Veazie St., North Adams, to Cora Ellen Holt and Alley Stoughton, $75,000.

Daniel J. and Gayle M. Gliwski sold property at 542 Pattison Road, North Adams, to Michael F. and Doreen L. Fraietta, $420,000.

Mary E. Abbey sold prop erty at 79 East Quincy St., North Adams, to Galo, Leticia and Sofia Lopez, $75,000.

Michael P. and Lois M. Daunis sold property at 56-58 North Holden St., North Adams, to William T. Costello, $160,000.

Faisal Isa Ali sold property at 142 American Legion Drive, North Adams, to Omar Ameen, $500,000.

Kyle J. Maselli and Nicole L. Sage sold property at 397 Eagle St., North Adams, to Thomas Kennedy, $190,000.

Kimberly A. Bissaillon sold property at 191-193 Prospect St., North Adams, to Thomas N. Heller, $40,000.

OTIS

Betty Ann Fillio sold prop erty at 1479 North Main Road, Otis, to Brandon Otto Smith, $400,000.

Kathleen M., Matthew, David, and Janice Wheeler sold property at 19 Pine Grove Ridge, Otis, to Amy B. Humphrey, $685,000.

Betty Ann Fillio sold property at Stebbins Road, Otis, to Nicholas A. Fillio, $35,000.

Michael J. Ellenbogen and Deborah Torres-Ellenbo gen sold property at 26 Autumn Court, Otis & Sandisfield, to Jessica A. Jaskot and Kevin Mancuso, $435,000.

Michael H. and Marjorie S. Smith sold property at 71 Benton Drive, Lot 89, Otis Wood Lands, Otis & Sandisfield, to Ellen C. Mishkin and Julie P. Hoff man, $579,000.

Lynn Bledsoe sold property at 139 High Rise Road, Otis, to Rafael Bones, $170,000.

Grace Bellotti sold prop erty at West Center Road, Otis, to Martin E. War shawsky and Rose E. Gole, $55,000.

Jesse Brady Hiller sold property at 2012 East Otis Road, Otis, to Sue Walling ton Quinlan and Maria J. Wallington, $700,000. 223 Sullivan Street Associ ates LLC sold property at Route 8, Otis, to Ellen Koe nig and Barbara Stewart, $99,000.

PERU

Travis and Nicole Drosehn sold property at 4 North Road, Peru, to Garnet Mountain Property Man agement LLC, $6,300.

PITTSFIELD

Rita E. Welch, personal rep. of the Estate of Catherine A. Higgins, sold property

at 413 West St., Pittsfield, to Theodore B. Hiser, $85,000.

David Barile Jr. sold property at 81 Longview Terrace, Pittsfield, to Paul Saldana, $125,000.

Vincent F. Monitto III sold property at 39 Circular Ave., Pittsfield, to Tim J. Allen, $105,000.

John J. Giardina sold prop erty at 160 Wahconah St., Pittsfield, to William Bravo and Lia Saldana, $145,000.

Greylock Federal Credit Union sold property at 744 William St., Pittsfield, to Schmidt Dental Real Estate LLC, $280,000.

Greylock Federal Cred it Union sold property at 224-226 Linden St., Pittsfield, to K.O.W. LLC, $82,500.

Lillian M. Kennedy sold property at 27 Adelaide Ave., Pittsfield, to Andrea M. Kennedy, $76,600.

Bruce D. and Christine G. Eaton sold property at 577 West Housatonic St., Pitts field, to Jose Luis Rivers II and Kahlye Jitsu Albez, $275,000.

Heather A. and John J. McLean sold property at 3 Northbrook Lane, Pitts field, to Rinku Jakhar and Deepak Nainal, $790,000.

Alfred G. and Amy R. Geli nas, trustees of the Alfred & Amy Gelinas Living Trust, sold property at 161-163 Stoddard Ave., Pittsfield, to Marcos Washington Reino so Contreras, $230,000.

Bryan R. Nutting sold property at 50 Vinal Ave., Pittsfield, to Ashok Kumar Palakurthi and Sandyarani Palakurhi, $316,000.

Brandon Andrew Rochelo sold property at 17 Crane Ave., Pittsfield, to Sean and Alana Iman Harte, $250,000.

DNC Real Estate LLC sold property at 46 Lenox Ave., Pittsfield, to Jessica L. Thorne, $252,500.

Melissa A. Keefner, for merly known as Melissa A. Maxfield, and James E. Keefner Jr. sold property at 65 Brooks Ave., Pittsfield, to James E. Keefner Jr., $107,750.

Merton C. Hathaway Jr. and Erika S. Hathaway sold property at 80 Emerson Ave., Pittsfield, to Sara Hamilton, $190,000.

Timothy M. Colbert and Barbara R. Smith sold property at 431 Peck’s Road, Pittsfield, to Presi dent & Trustees of Williams College, $350,000.

Edward J. Ottone sold property at Barker Road, Pittsfield, to Marshall White, trustee of the Laura A. White RVT, $6,000.

Joseph M. and Eileen M. Greenleaf sold property at 275 Williams St., Pittsfield, to Stanley and Colleen Pudlo, $36,000.

Alan R. Guinen II and Melis sa E. Guinen sold property at 692 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, to Katelynn M. Ruusukkallio, $210,000. 202 Dewey LLC sold prop

erty at 202 Dewey Ave., Pittsfield, to 202 Dewey St. LLC, $370,000.

Michael T. Eagan and Kristin M. Brogan, for merly known as Kristin M. Eagan, sold property at 109 Gamwell Ave., Pittsfield, to Monique McCleery Hamel rath, $316,000.

Susan J. Labbe, person al rep. of the Estate of Richard John Belford, sold property at 67 Howe Road, Pittsfield, to Paul Peter Bivens, $275,000.

Sean P. and John J. Keenan sold property at 94 Newell St., Pittsfield, to Jorge Mar tinez and Carey Jacobs, $205,000.

Keith R. and Diana K. Smith sold property at 11 Cardinal St., Pittsfield, to Rhianna Marie Graham, $245,000.

Peter L. Frieri, Martin T. Frieri and Raffaele Frieri Jr. sold property at 66-68 Livingston Ave., Pitts field, to Green Olive LLC, $202,000.

Andrew Martin and Roshni Bhambhwani Martin sold property at 8 Kathy Way, Pittsfield, to David J. and Alicia M. Pravia, $420,000.

First Boston Construction Holdings LLC sold prop erty at Northbrook and Eastbrook Lane and West brook Terrace, Pittsfield, to Nathan G. and Migdeliz Girard, trustees of the Nathan & Migdeliz Girard Living Trust, $175,000.

Charles Cianfarini sold property at 79-81 Weller Ave., Pittsfield, to Lake Rentals LLC, $145,000.

James Soldo sold property at Burke Avenue, Pittsfield, to Nicholas J. Garzone Sr. and Marjorie Garzone, $1,500.

Lori J. Johnson sold property at 69 Berkley St., Pittsfield, to Alana and Matthew Bernstein, $206,000.

Pamela Rapkowicz sold property at 27 Huron St., Pittsfield, to Andrew P. Rapowicz, $150,000.

Stephen G. Daoust and Terri D. Campbell-Daoust sold property at 91 Com monwealth Ave., Pittsfield, to Michael D. Hillman and Kate E. Skivington, $395,000.

Patricia A. Carchedi sold property at 61-63 Stoddard Ave., Pittsfield, to Luke P. Fitzgerald, $224,000.

Joseph Clancy Jr. sold property at 135 Chapel St., Pittsfield, to Francis co M. Pablo and Claudia Marcela Ocampo Villamil, $300,000.

Michael Giardina sold property at 63 Gale Ave., Pittsfield, to Emmanuel K. Yankey, $188,000.

Ronald R. Mazzeo Jr. and Rose L. Mazzeo sold property at 21 Pacific St., Pittsfield, to Mohammed Rashed, $140,000.

Ashley Morrison, trustee of the My Girls NT, sold property at 674 North St., Pittsfield, to Daryian Rhys ing, $339,900.

C&M Miller Family LLC sold

property at 1136 Barker Road, Unit 56, Pittsfield, to Barry Davis and Ann Pelo vitz Davis, $545,000.

James J. Nelson and Julie M. Belli-Nelson sold prop erty at 123-125 Stratford Ave., Pittsfield, to Stuart Mayerson, $340,000.

Pittsfield Properties Group LLC sold property at 21-23 Hillside St., Pittsfield, to William Bravo and Lia Saldana, $115,000.

John F. and Mary J. Down ing sold property at 221 Barker Road, Pittsfield, to John W. and Jane P. Bres nahan, $410,000.

Louis K. Chamberlain and Catherine V. Kennedy sold property at 11 Arch St., Pittsfield, to Rebecca Roy-O’Gorman, $322,000.

James E. and Erin Marie Dowling sold property at 19 Exeter Ave., Pittsfield, to Alan V. Seagrave III, $258,000.

Thomas W. Rumbolt, trust ee of the Pleasant Prop erties NT, sold property at 138 Lincoln St., Pitts field, to Mary T. Stalker, $147,000.

Michael T. and Ashleigh G. Doyle sold property at 35 Melbourne Road, Pittsfield, to Sherri L. and Jamie N. Nurnberg, $254,900.

First Boston Construction Holdings LLC sold property at Alpine Drive, Pittsfield, to First Boston Construction Holdings LLC, $634,500.

Chantell R. Mcfarland-Ro driguez sold property at 31 Lexington Parkway, Pitts field, to Paul A. and Fioa Ostermayer, $407,500.

James P. Virgilio sold property at 171 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, to Thomas E. and Carol B. Robertson, $455,000.

MAMV Investments LLC sold property at 102 Dewey Ave., Pittsfield, to Alexan der Kinstle, $170,000.

Kendra Lee Macleod sold property at 198 Bartlett Ave., Pittsfield, to Jeffrey S. Dudziak and Wendy Zunitch, $380,000.

John J. and Robert E. Ma honey sold property at 184 Doreen St., Pittsfield, to Robert Pereira, $260,000.

Jeffrey L. and Meghan A. St. John sold property at 125 Dawes Ave., Pittsfield, to Brian and Elise Man deville, $790,000.

Christopher Robillard sold property at 26 Elizabeth St., Pittsfield, to Sean Beg ley, $230,000.

Thomas J. Donohue Jr., personal rep. of the Estate of Marguerite Barcher, sold property at 345 Elm St., Pittsfield, to Nathan D. Spangler, $169,900.

Jason A. and Rebecca J. Meaney sold property at 585 Benedict Road, Pittsfield, to Zachery E. and Cynthia R. Robinette, $425,000.

Roland and Thomas P. Hernandez sold property at 338 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, to Thom as James McLouth Jr., $262,000.

Matthew W. Powers sold property at 93-95 Stod dard Ave., Pittsfield, to Tim Allen, $201,000.

Kowalczyk Development Corp. sold property at 4 Fawn Lane, Pittsfield, to Jack B. and Nancy Cook, $720,000.

256 Wahconah Street LLC sold property at 256 Wahconah St., Pittsfield, to Pollen & Epstein Properties LLC, $100,000.

SANDISFIELD

Tasim Klenja sold prop erty at 88 South Main St., Sandisfield, to 88 South Main Street LLC, $250,000.

Francis Palma sold prop erty at 8 Bosworth Road, Sandisfield, to Jeffrey Mallgrave and Anne M. Mallgrave, $109,000.

Anne Shatas sold property at 4 Jamie Lane, Sandis field, to William Carlson, $270,000.

SAVOY

John C. and Barbara A. Sherman sold property at Route 116, Savoy, to Julie Pavia, $249,900.

Doris A. Andersen, person al rep. of Raymond Ashton Louison, sold property at 167 Loop Road, Savoy, to Alexandria O. Henderson and Corey J. Blanchette, $256,000.

Nancy A. Noel sold prop erty at 70 Tilton Road, Savoy, to John Degge Hays, $460,000.

Nancy A. Noel sold property at Tilton Road, Savoy, to John Degge Hays, $60,000.

SHEFFIELD

Charles R. Pierce, trustee of Charles R. Pierce Trust, and John E. Farrell, trustee of John E. Farrell Trust, sold property at 0 County Road, Sheffield, to Mitchell Finn & Abigail Finn, $145,000.

Ana Olivieri, trustee of Berkshire Holdings Nomi nee Trust, sold property at 139 South Main St., Shef field, to 139 South Main Properties LLC, $650,000.

STOCKBRIDGE

Ellen C. Marshall sold prop erty at 5 Cherry Hill Road, Stockbridge, to H. David Stein, $570,000.

Jeffrey P. and Theodore Labonte sold property at 31 Glendale Road, Stock bridge, to Jed and Jessica Drake, $545,000.

Kimberly A. Parent, aka Kymberly A. Parent, per sonal rep. of the Estate of George E. Shippey II, sold property at 12 Maple Lane, Stockbridge, to Laura G. Ciabarra, $2,500,000.

Roger, Dory and Lisa Ula noff and Amy Christie sold property at 6 Lake Drive, Stockbridge, to Donald M. Chabon and Dawn Ann Rabinowitz, $742,000.

Irving and Thelma Bialer, trustees of the Thelma Bialer Real Estate Revo cable Living Trust, sold property at 14 Mahkeenac

Real estate

Terrace, Stockbridge, to Olivia L. Van Gundy, trustee of the Olivia L. Van Gundy Trust Dated 12/8/2020, $1,005,000.

Kathryn Whitney, formerly known as Kathryn Whitney Mansfield, sold property at 17 Willard Hill Road, Stockbridge, to Jeffrey L. and Meghan A. St. John, $1,475,000.

Stockbridge 45 Main LLC sold property at 45 Main St., Stockbridge, to 45 Main Berkshire LLC, $600,000.

TYRINGHAM

Kathryn T. Greenthal sold property at 129B and 129 Main Road, Tyringham, to Ashley and Robin Wright, $485,000.

Anthony Giannelli sold property at Banes Road, Tyringham, to Joseph

Cappucci and Timothy Shea, $20,000.

WASHINGTON

Benjamin D. Grillon, personal rep. of the Estate of Richard J. Grillon, sold property at Washington Mountain Road, Washing ton, to Benjamin D. Grillon and Jeremy P. LaCrosse, $142,000.

WEST STOCKBRIDGE

Brenda M. Elling, trust ee of Landmark Trust, sold property at 273 Great Barrington Road, West Stockbridge, to Madeleine A. Elling and Abraham S. Hunrichs, $165,000.

Kelly A. Clady-Giramma sold property at 52 Lenox Road, West Stockbridge, to Blake McDonald & Keith Asher, co-trustees of Blake McDonald Trust, $490,000.

Matthew J. Merritt sold property at 17 Cross Road,

West Stockbridge, to Alan Yung and Ruth Yung, $490,000.

John J. Masiero Jr. and Ada L. Masiero sold property at 3 Shaw Road, West Stock bridge, to Jessica D. Grant, $435,000.

Gennari’s Mill Pond Trailer Park Inc. sold property at 40 Albany Road, West Stockbridge, to Resi dences On Mill Pond LLC, $900,000.

WILLIAMSTOWN

David E. and Bernadette A. Archibald sold property at 1026 North Hoosac Road, Williamstown, to Peter L. and Elisabeth S. Beck, $871,165.

Patrick A. and Harold J. Weyers Jr., Roberta A. Treece and Sally Ann Briley sold property at 803 Simonds Road, William stown, to Colleen P. Taylor, $210,000.

Kara A. Mears sold property at 475 Water St.,

People in the Berkshires

Caryn Pack ard has been ap pointed director of development for the South western Vermont Health Care Foundation.

In this new role, she will support the SVHC Foundation in its mission to raise funds for SVHC.

A resident of Manchester Center, Packard has worked in health care since 2010. She earned a bachelor’s degree in community health education and a master’s in health administration, both from The University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. She has spent the majori ty of her career in patient access, patient financial services, and internal revenue cycle improvement initiatives at New York-Presbyterian Medical Groups.

Eunice Uhm, Mariah Hep worth, Omotara Adeeko, Carter J. Carter, Dar ren Johnson, Amy Shapiro, and Kara Corlew have joined the faculty at Massa chusetts College of Liberal Arts for the current academic year.

Uhm joins the college’s fine and performing arts department as an assistant professor of art history and museum studies. She specializes in modern and contemporary art, with a transna tional focus on the United States and East Asia. She re ceived a doctorate in the history of art from the Ohio State University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and Kalamazoo College.

Hepworth joins the history and political science

department. She graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors from Seattle University, and earned a mas ter’s degree and doctorate from Northwestern University.

Adeeko joins the mathematics department as an assistant profes sor of economics. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in economics from Redeemers University in Ni geria in 2011, her master’s degree in economics at Eastern Illinois University in 2014 and her doctorate in economics from Southern Illinois Univer sity, Carbondale, in 2021.

Carter joins the psychology depart ment as an assistant professor of clinical psychology. He holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University; a master’s degree in social work from Simmons University School of Social Work; a cer tificate in psychoanalytic psychotherapy from Massachusetts Institute for Psy choanalysis; and a doctorate from Smith College School for Social Work.

Johnson joins the English/commu nications department as a professor of journalism and supervisor of the Beacon newspaper and WJJW, MCLA’s radio station. He has taught journalism courses most recently for the University at Albany, has managed student news papers in the State University of New York system, and started an independent student newspaper in the New York Metro region called Campus News. A former New York Press Association Writ er of the Year, Johnson holds a master’s degree in writing and literature from Southampton College of Long Island University.

Shapiro joins the business department after teaching as a visiting assistant professor of marketing for the last four years contributing to entrepreneur ship studies. After receiving a master’s degree in business administration from Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,

Williamstown, to Paul J. and Amanda J. Lindstrand, $338,000.

David Lawrence Jowett sold property at 81 Strat ton Road, Williamstown, to Sarah Marie Dunham, $69,000.

Howard E. and Sandra L. Brookner sold property at 71 Elliott Drive, William stown, to Viet Namtran Pham and Kim Thi Do, $495,000.

Ronald F. and Nancy N. Hayden sold prop erty at 436 Henderson Road, Williamstown, to Tracy Deebs-Elkenaney, $1,350,000.

Gerard Smith sold property at 19 Danforth St., William stown, to Susanna Ron alds-Hannon, $370,000.

William W. Abendroth, trustee of 231 Sloan Nom inee RET, sold property at 231 Sloan Road, William stown, to James C. and Mayhill A. Fowler, co-trust ees of the James C. Fowler

and Mayhill A. Fowler RVT, $2,823,509.

Berkshire Properties Inc. sold property at Sweet Farm Road, Williamstown, to Peter S. and Jane Denitz Smith, $85,000.

Ughetta Hirsch, trustee of the Ughetta Hirsch Trust –2007, sold property at 87 White Oaks Road, William stown, to Nilaykumar C. and Jankibahen R. Patel, $392,500.

Steinerfilm Inc. sold property at Simonds Road, Williamstown, to Legend Interests Inc., $100,000.

A. Lynn Karlan sold prop erty at 0 Bee Hill Road, Williamstown, to Benjamin Svenson, $500,000.

WINDSOR

Wayne Poirier sold prop erty at 35 Savoy Road, Windsor, to Steven A. and Steven Matthew Poirier, $156,000.

Warren M. Mayer sold

she developed and grew a business assis tance program that supported hundreds of business owners as the business development director with the Franklin County Community Development Corp.

Corlew joins the biology department as an assistant professor of health sciences. A radiologic technician, she holds a bachelor’s degree in radiologic science from MCLA and has served more than 12 years with the Army Reserves. Recently, she worked for Carlos Otis Clinic-Stratton Mountain Urgent Care as a full-time radiologic technologist as well as per-diem at Rutland Regional Medical Center in diagnostic imaging.

The Berkshire Museum’s board of trustees recently elected Judith Book binder, James Greenfield and Charles Walker to serve full terms on the board. It was the board’s first fully in-person meeting since early 2020.

The board also elected officers. Ethan Klepetar will continue as president for one more year. Jeffrey Belair, Rachel Melendez Mabee and Brian Trem blay will each serve two-year terms as vice president, secretary and treasurer, respectively.

Bookbinder joins the board after serving as vice president of creative communications at The Hearst Corp. for 27 years before retiring in Decem ber 2021. She and her husband, Larry Fischer, have lived in both New York City and the Berkshires since 1988, but now spend most of their time in Lenox. Bookbinder also serves on the boards of the ANA Education Foundation in New York City, and the Pine Cobble School in Williamstown.

Greenfield has served on the invest ment subcommittee of the Berkshire Museum for the past two years. He brings with him 36 years of investment experience in serving wealthy families and endowments as an investment port folio manager. Greenfield and his wife, Marla, have a connection to the Berk shires of over 40 years.

Walker recently retired from Disney/ ABC News based in New York City, where he served in multiple senior man agement roles. After retiring last year he decided to make Pittsfield and the Berk shires his permanent year-round home.

property at 516 North St., Windsor, to Terri M. and Angelo J. Garzone Jr., $29,900.

Catherine A. and Wesley G. Nichols Jr. sold property at 110 Windigo Road, Wind sor, to Shannon D. Spence and Kevin M. Green Jr., $420,000.

Richard A. Spiller sold property at 1387 East Windsor Road, Windsor, to Gary Capone and Nicole Stetzer, $520,000.

FT — Family Trust

LLC — Limited Partnership

LT — Life Trust

NT — Nominee Trust

RET — Real Estate Trust

RT — Realty Trust

RVT — Revocable Trust

The real estate transactions are provided by the Middle Berkshire, North Berkshire and South Berkshire Registry of Deeds offices.

vice president, commercial lending officer; Higgins, assistant vice president, trust operations supervisor; Jor dan, vice presi dent, information technology secu rity and service solutions manag er; and Stapf, vice president, wealth manager and trust administra tive coordinator.

Launched in 2019, the program provides an opportunity for bank personnel to develop lead ership skills de signed to enhance their perfor mance, potential and provide them with an opportu nity to apply lead ership skills in a practical working environment.

Based in Lakeville, Conn., Salisbury Bank operates Berk shire branches in Great Barrington, Sheffield and South Egremont.

Audrey Hartley and Constance Scott were elected to three-year terms on Pittsfield Community Tele vision’s board of directors during PCTV’s recent annual meeting.

An insurance professional, Hartley is a lifelong Pittsfield resident who has also served on the boards of Berk shire Business & Professional Women and Herberg Middle School.

Diamond is the bank’s vice president,

Scott is the executive director of the Pittsfield Housing Authority. She also hosted the “Heart2Heart Morning Praise” radio program on WTBR-FM when it operated at Taconic High School.

Ryan Dia mond, Aidan Gilligan, Kier sten Higgins, Michael Jordan and Jean Stapf are the 2022 grad uates of Salisbury Bank’s leadership development program.

commercial credit manager; Gilligan,

Packard

Uhm

Hepworth

Adeeko

Carter

Johnson

Shapiro

Corlew

Diamond

Gilligan

Stapf

Hartley

Scott

Higgins

Jordan

Four incumbent board members also were reelected to three-year terms: Su setta Doucette, Cindy Shogry-Raim er, Patrick Gormalley and William Sturgeon. Doucette and Shogry-Raimer serve as the board’s vice president and treasurer, respectively.

The PCTV board of directors consists of 13 volunteers who live, work, or are retired from working in Pittsfield.

Amy Hall has been named presi dent and CEO of Child Care of the Berkshires by the organization’s board of direc tors.

Currently the program manager of the organization’s family support pro gram, Hall succeeds Anne Nemetz-Carl son, who served as president and CEO for 39 years before retiring at the end of September.

Hall has over 24 years of experience working at Child Care of the Berkshires, having led and grown the Northern Berkshire Family Center and Paren tChild+ programs and managed several other family support programs.

She holds a master’s degree in social work, a bachelor of arts degree from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and a certificate in nonprofit manage ment. She also has provided mental health services for children and families and worked for a college development and external relations department.

Mike Zippel was appointed chair of the board of directors of Berkshire Art Center, formerly IS183 Art School, at the organi zation’s annual meeting. He replaces outgoing board member Ann Gallo.

Elissa Haskins-Vaughan, Michael Ibrahim, and Marie Rudden were all appointed to the board, which now has five members.

Zippel first joined the board in 2018 and served as board clerk for two years. A native of Alzey, Germany, he moved to the Berkshires after meeting his husband, Oskar Hallig, in 2002. He completed his bachelor of arts degree in interdisciplinary studies at Massachu setts College of Liberal Arts in 2010 and gained his citizenship in 2019. Zippel and Halig own The Shop in South Egremont.

Haskins-Vaughan has been elected the board’s new clerk. For the last four years, she has been the director of devel opment and communications at Berk shire South Regional Community Center in Great Barrington. She holds a bache lor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in museum stud ies from The University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.

Ibrahim is the chief program and impact officer at TSNE, a $70 million nonprofit management and capacity building organization. Prior to joining TSNE, he was the cultural investment portfolio manager at the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Rudden, is the founder and past board president of the Berkshire Community Diaper Project, which works with com munity agencies and food pantries to dis tribute diapers to those in the Berkshires who cannot afford them. She recently retired from her clinical practice as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in West Stockbridge.

Michelle Hecht has been appointed head of corporate affairs for Citi zens Financial Group, the Rhode Island-based parent company of Citizens Bank, which has an office in Pittsfield.

Hecht will oversee public affairs,

corporate philanthropy, community engagement and volunteerism initia tives that support the company’s growth strategy. She succeeds Barbara Cottam, who is leaving Citizens to take on a new role at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington.

Hecht most recently served as the head of communications at Citizens.

She is a member of Citizens’ Executive Leadership Group and of the Citizens Foundation and Citizens Charitable Giving boards.

She also has served on the board of the Greater Boston YMCA, and has been actively involved in the Girl Scouts and youth soccer.

David Moresi and Ana Suffish have been elected to three-year terms on Berk shire Health Systems’ board of trustees.

Moresi, a native of North Adams, studied at Union College, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1997. He soon returned to the Berkshires where he em barked on an entrepreneurial career.

In 2000, Moresi established the firm of Moresi & Associates, a diverse real estate management, investment, and develop ment company in North Adams that has redeveloped the NORAD Mill. Moresi has developed numerous small business es for more than a decade, including the NORAD Toy & Candy Co. and NORAD Café, as well as being a partner in Moresi Real Estate Partners and co-owner of Grazie Italian Ristorante.

Suffish has been the director of the Berkshire Community College Adult English for Speakers of Other Languag es Program since January 2018. Prior to her position at BCC, she worked in the Pittsfield Public School system as an English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) tutor for seven years.

A native of the Berkshires and the daughter of two Guatemalan immi grants, Suffish is a graduate of Pittsfield High School and the College of the Holy Cross.

Wes Buckley has been appoint ed music special ist and faculty artist, and Beth Liebowitz dance faculty and per formance projects manager, at Com munity Access to the Arts.

They will support CATA program direc tors Jeff Gagnon, Kelly Galvin and Kara Smith in working to grow programs and performance op portunities for artists with disabilities.

Buckley is a musician, songwriter, instrument builder, and educator. Since joining CATA as a faculty artist in 2018, Buckley has taught music and songwrit ing workshops in every area of CATA’s programming. In his new role, He will explore creative new approaches to music making and create opportunities for artists with disabilities to collaborate across artforms.

Liebowitz is a dancer, choreographer and movement therapist who has newly relocated to the Berkshires after seven years as the program director at The Greens at Greenwich, Conn. In addition to bringing this work to schools and day programs throughout CATA’s service area, she will also help produce CATA performances and sharings.

Jessica Russo has been named director of family support and advocacy at Berkshire County Arc, while Nancy Willey has been promoted to family support manager.

Russo will over see BCArc’s fami ly support center, and the adult family (foster) care program, which helps fam ilies navigate the commonwealth’s referral services, advocate for students for their education, and create network ing and social opportunities for families.

She most recently served as director of admissions and business office manager for BaneCare, after serving as director of admissions, marketing and business office for North Adams Commons. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Willey, who previously served as a family support advocate, will oversee family support events, support the out reach staff, manage intake of the Respite House, and serve as overall point person for families. A lifelong Berkshire County resident, Willey started with BCArc in 2010 as a community advocate, and has also served as a community health work er and a human rights officer.

Berkshire Community College has added 10 new staff members and promoted an existing employ ee.

Sarah Bur dick has been named an aca demic/success/ career coach for BCC’s Suc cess Program. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Massachusetts College of Lib eral Arts in 2018 and had most recently served as a success coach at MCLA to support firstyear students’ transition to college life. Dana Buxton has joined the Success team and Disability Resource Center as an academic success coach. Originally from Texas, Buxton has more than 15 years of experi ence supporting diverse popu lations, most recently as part of the clinical team at Gould Farm in Monte rey. She received an undergrad uate degree in psychology from Stanford Univer sity.

Liza Dister has been named a student suc cess assessment and research analyst. She re cently moved to the Berkshires from St. Louis, where she was the assistant director of the faculty develop ment center at Webster Univer sity.

Laira Leta has joined the

marketing team as web designer. Originally from central Virginia, Leta became a professional web developer in 2010 after learning how to code at James Madison Uni versity. A James Madison grad uate, Leta most recently spent almost seven years as a web developer and webmaster at a North Caroli na community college.

Anthony Mazzeo has joined BCC’s fa cilities in the ad ministration and finance division as a maintainer I. The Richmond resident was previously em ployed as a park and off highway vehicle labor er by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, where his focus was on main taining the grounds within the Pitts field State Forest.

Tiffany Moreno has been named instructional program manager: health care. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Moreno has been a phle botomy instructor at BCC since 2020 and has served as a medical transla tor in New York.

Aaron Oster has been named as instructor program manager: food, culture and local economy. A resident of Williamstown, Oster worked in the restaurant industry in New York, Martha’s Vineyard and Las Vegas before he moved to the Berkshires in 2016 and opened A-OK Berkshire BBQ. He is board vice president of the North Adams Chamber of Commerce.

Noelle Pandell has been named assistant to the vice president of administration and finance/division al manager. The Cheshire resident most recently served as the execu tive assistant for Elder Services of Berkshire County and has served in similar roles at Northern Berkshire Healthcare, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the town of Adams.

Caterina “Kathie” Penna has been named director of alumni rela tions and events. A former educator who holds a bachelor’s degree in English and education from Sacred Heart University, Penna spent the last four years as operations manager at Mill Town Capital and Framework Co-working.

Savannah Stanley has been named financial aid counselor in the student financial services office. A native of southern Arizona who recently relocated to Pittsfield, Stanley most recently worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an accountable property special ist, performing functions related to deployment operations. She holds a bachelor degree in business adminis tration commerce from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree in logistics and supply chain from Em bry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide.

Nicholas Kline has been promoted from maintenance equipment oper ator to building maintenance super visor I in the Facilities Department, Administration and Finance Division. An employee of BCC since 2017, the Hinsdale residents holds a bachelor’s degree in natural resource conser vation from the University of Massa chusetts Amherst and an associate degree in landscape contracting from UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture.

Pandell

Zippel

Moresi

Suffish

Hecht

Hall

A