WEST SPRINGFIELD – After 10 years of service within the city, Carly Camossi has been named the chief of operations for West Springfield.

Camossi, who has worked as a the city’s outreach coordinator for five years, will continue to organize and oversee all community-based needs surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond.

Over the past several months, she has organized the logistics for COVID-19 testing sites, and continuously assists with setting up appointments for residents who need the vaccine.

The new role she finds herself in is very similar to what she has been performing as outreach coordinator over the past five years.

“It’s really evolved into making sure that, when residents come in, they have a happy face to see,” said Camossi.

The Town Hall has only been open for residents by appointment since the pandemic started in early 2020. Over the course of this time period, Camossi has continuously provided the public with as much information and resources as they can while technically closed.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone got sent home, there was a core group of us still in the building working, and making sure that all of our residents were getting any and every service,” said Camossi.

With vaccines and COVID-19 testing being the sole focus of the past few months, Camossi and the rest of the Town Hall is currently organizing all of the resources that have been coming in, specifically CARES Act money and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money. These resources have allowed people to receive the vaccine for free, and get tested for free.

“The team that we have built here in my 10 years of service to the Town of West Springfield is second to none,” said Camossi, who has been working in West Springfield since she was 14. “I can’t tell you a better group of people to work with.”

On top of the work she has done with West Springfield, Camossi is also currently pursuing her doctorate from American International College. She has already obtained her bachelor’s degree from Westfield State University, as well as her master’s from Elms College.

“I actually got hired, and I didn’t have a degree yet,” said Camossi, who was in her last two semesters for her bachelor’s when the city hired her.

Camossi credits Mayor William Reichelt and the rest of his department for taking the necessary chances when it came time to figure out testing and vaccination sites. She believes that everyone’s confidence has allowed West Springfield to get ahead of the curve, and establish the standard for local testing sites.

“We’re not going to get out of this if we don’t put the ball in our court,” said Camossi. “We have people who have strengths in each department, and it’s bringing them together as a team to figure it out. Because we have such good relationships with each other, it just makes it easier to work with each other.”

As someone who has been a part of one community for an entire decade, Camossi said she has experienced so much love and appreciation from the residents, particularly during the times when she has helped them receive a smooth COVID-19 test.

“Being able to provide them with a greater level of care ... they’re just not getting it anywhere else,” said Camossi. “The transition has been easy, because we want to do everything we can to help our residents. The people who are genuine are the people we want around to service.”

Planning and working out logistics for certain situations will be two of many goals for Camossi in the coming months. Aside from increasing testing sites, she would also love to schedule bigger vaccination clinics, which really depends on how many vaccines the state can distribute to the city in any given time.

There are also a number of different major events coming up for West Springfield that Camossi hopes to assist with. The city will be building a new police station in the future, and progress for the new Coburn School will continue over the course of the next couple years.

“Everyone here has so many strengths. We’re like one big family,” said Camossi. “I just love my job.”