Councilors Clash, Then Agree: DEI Costs Too Much While Roads and Schools Wait

I had Ward 2 Councilor Cam Cunningham and Ward 7 Councilor Kathy Moody in this morning after Tuesday night’s council meeting got jammed up.

Cam used a charter objection to stop the vote that would have renamed the city’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity. That vote is now October 13.

Kathy said the name change is about widening the net. “DEI seems very focused on people of color, women, or LGBTQIA,” she said. “When we expand that into really taking into account the economic logistics of Pittsfield, then we want to bring in how do we include people who are financially in dire straits.”

Cam’s issue is the money. “We’re up there dealing with a quarter billion dollar yearly budget,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of decisions should be made off of 'I feel'. We’re managing a lot of money, and cost of living’s getting worse and worse for our residents.”

Kathy doesn’t want the office gone. She wants it smaller. She said the national average is one DEI person for every 500 employees. Pittsfield has two people for about that many workers. “I think we’re spending too much money on it, and I would like to see that money that we spend be less,” she said. “We are cutting services to residents of the city all the time. We’re down all these people in the DPW. We can’t get our roads fixed. Our schools are a mess. And we are spending so much money on a service that does not affect the day-to-day taxpayers of Pittsfield.”

Cam already had an ordinance drafted to put it under HR at $60,000 to $80,000 and move the rest. He asked the police chief what it would cost to keep The First open 24-7 in winter. “He said $500,000,” Cam said. Six months would be about $250,000. “Do we value keeping homeless people out of the cold, or do we value an extra hundred and twenty thousand dollars to this DEI department? Or do we value that can pave an extra two or three roads a year?”

They also went at it over how Cam questioned DEI Director Michael Obasohan. Kathy said the tone felt aggressive. Cam said he asked the same questions he asks other department heads. “Can you give me numbers for the money we’re giving you? That’s what I’m asking. Our residents need accountability.”

Both said the work has value. Both said the city can’t treat it like it sits in its own world while everything else gets cut. October 13 is when the council votes.