Sunday, May 11
PITTSFIELD — A City Council subcommittee has recommended — for the second time — allocating $250,000 to the Berkshire Museum from the city-managed GE Economic Development Fund.

Mayor James M. Ruberto has asked the City Council to OK the money so the museum can qualify for a $500,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation last October.

Ruberto originally sought a $500,000 allocation from the GE fund, but halved that request, thinking the council wouldn't approve that much.

The full City Council will consider the mayor's request on Tuesday, the last day the museum can tell the Kresge Foundation it qualified for the challenge grant.

Last month, at the museum's request, the Kresge Foundation extended the deadline from May 1 to May 13 after the full council sent the mayor's request back to its subcommittee for further review.

The 11-member council is required to approve allocations from the GE Economic Development Fund by a supermajority of eight "yes" votes.

To receive the Kresge grant, the 105-year-old museum is required to complete its $9.5 million "Windows on the World" capital campaign by Tuesday. Including cash receipts and

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signed pledges, the museum had raised close to $9.2 million as of Friday, and has several verbal commitments, according to Marketing Director Sherrill Ingalls.

"We're chipping away," she said.

Unlike the first time the community and economic development subcommittee forwarded a favorable recommendation to the full council for approval, this referral includes certain conditions that have been attached to the funding.

The $250,000 allocation will now be structured as a deferred payment loan with certain amounts forgiven provided the museum achieves certain criteria, Director of Community Development Deanna L. Ruffer told the subcommittee on Thursday night.

The city will either forgive the entire $250,000 allocation if the Berkshire Museum is awarded the $500,000 challenge grant, or will forgive $25,000 for the equivalent of each full-time job that the museum creates between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2013, Ruffer said.

Pittsfield will also forgive $25,000 for each year the Berkshire Museum, in collaboration with school administration officials, conducts an educational outreach program at Morningside Community School.

The outstanding balance as of July 1, 2013, will be converted to an interest-free loan payable to the City of Pittsfield in equal installments over a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2014.

The subcommittee on Thursday night approved the $250,000 allocation by a 3-2 vote, the same margin of approval that it reached when it first approved the request last month. At large councilors Matthew M. Kerwood, Peter M. Marchetti and Kevin J. Sherman voted in favor of the allocation, while Ward 5 Councilor Jonathan N. Lothrop and Ward 6 Councilor Daniel L. Bianchi opposed it.