WESTFIELD – The City Council met in person in Council Chambers on June 17 for the first time since March 2020.  Council President Brent B. Bean II said going forward, all meetings will take place in City Hall.

Immediate consideration was voted for acceptance of a grant of $73,910 from the MassDOT to the Westfield Barnes Regional Airport for a stormwater pollution prevention plan and spill prevention control update. The local share of $3,890.00 is in the Airport Department FY2021 budget.

Ward 2 Councilor Ralph J. Figy said from conversations with Airport Manager Christopher j. Willenborg, this was another last-minute grant that came through from the state. “Kudos to the Airport, this allows us to have the airport come into compliance with new EPA changes,” Figy said.

Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski said, “When you hear last minute that’s a good thing. These are things the airport has shovel ready.”

Also accepted was immediate consideration of a transfer of $34,985 within the Department of Public Works (DPW) to purchase a vehicle for the stormwater division to perform daily tasks. Figy said this will allow the stormwater division to not have to borrow trucks from other divisions and avoid lag time by buying outright, as this vehicle is on the lot and ready to go and will also be available for plowing. At-large Councilor Richard K. Sullivan Jr. added that the money is available from another vehicle that was paid off early in a previous year.

Not accepted for immediate consideration was a transfer of $125,000 from Free Cash to Planning (Community Development) for a master plan study for the city of Westfield. During a discussion, several councilors expressed concerns that the process was rushed, and questioned the goals and outcomes of the plan. Immediate consideration requires unanimous consent, and the vote failed with 10 in support, two opposed, and one councilor absent.

At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty, who had recommended the transfer, said he originally had asked the mayor to increase the proposed transfer of $2 million from Free Cash in the FY22 budget to include funds for the Master Plan. “If this doesn’t pass tonight, I’m going back to ask [the mayor] to make sure it gets in next year’s budget,” he said before the vote.

A transfer within the Police Department of $14,000 to replace an administrative vehicle was unanimously approved. Ward 3 Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane said the department is looking to replace a 12-year-old Ford Taurus with a faulty transmission and rust issues, with a 2021 Ford Edge that costs $35,000. She said the transfer would be added to remaining funds in the department’s equipment and intergovernmental accounts and noted the Police Department generated $57,800 to the city budget this year from cars sold at auction.

Also approved was a transfer of $45,000 within the DPW from recycling to waste collection. Sullivan said they need the money in the solid waste hauling contract to balance them out for the year. 

Enthusiastically supported was a resolution to authorize an Inter Municipal Agreement (IMA) between Westfield and Southwick for dispatch services.  Onyski, who chairs the Legislative & Ordinance committee, said becoming a regional dispatch center “opens the door for millions of dollars of grants they wouldn’t get if they remained on their own and Southwick remained on their own.” 

He credited Public Safety Communications Director Nina Barszcz for leading the effort to get the IMA done and said there was a time crunch to get funding before the end of the year that required a vote at the meeting. 

Several councilors spoke in favor of the agreement. Ward 4 Councilor Mike Burns called it a “win-win.”

He said before the unanimous vote, “Eventually the city of Westfield is going to have to regionalize for this, it’s going to have to happen. Why not us be the lead. The city will be open to other communities joining us. Southwick was going to go with Chicopee, now they’re going to go with Westfield to regionalize. It’s a good thing, and I recommend approval of this.”

Also approved were zoning changes to extend permit validity times from two years to three years, along with enforcement allowing the city to withhold permits from properties in violatio

“Some of those special permits may come back because you can’t get something done during the two-year time frame. This is a very good thing,” said At-large Councilor Dan Allie before the vote.

Personnel Action Committee Chair Cindy C. Harris recommended the reappointment of Bryan Forrette, the city’s director of facilities management, to 2024, which passed unanimously. Reviewing the money Forrette has saved the city through LED light replacement and Green Community and other grants since his initial appointment in 2015, Harris said Forrette brings significant savings to the city.  “He brings in much more than his salary,” said Figy.

Also reappointed unanimously were Planning Board Chair William Carellas and members Raymond St. Hilaire, Philip McEwan and Jane Magarian and Council on Aging treasurer Barbara Taylor.

Under motions, Onyski made a motion on behalf of Council President Bean to send a communication to the mayor asking him to reconsider doing a firework celebration for the City of Westfield. “This is not about fireworks. I feel we should be doing something late in August, some event,” Bean said, adding that the Westfield 350 account has money in it, and “plenty of other communities are out there doing something.”

Figy and At-large Councilor James R. Adams made a motion to allow Council on Aging meetings to take place at the Senior Center, which requires a change in ordinance. The motion was referred to L&O and Legal.

A motion of Councilors Matthews-Kane, John J. Beltrandi II and Figy to add the additional umbrella name New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway to the current name of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail was referred to City Properties and Law. The request came from the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, who said it will allow them to apply for funding and be a part of a broader marketing effort of the rail trail that extends from New Haven, CT to Northampton.

Flaherty made a motion for immediate consideration of a budget amendment request (as a resolution) to the mayor, to allow ambulance funds to be used for “costs and expenses related to the operation of the municipal ambulance service as appropriated by the mayor and approved by the City Council.” Flaherty said the ambulance fund could pay for various benefits and reimbursement to public safety communications for ambulance calls, which he said would free up $1.1 million in the city budget that could be used for other things. He said there is currently $2.6 million in the fund that is unallocated.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to do all this,” said Sullivan, adding that he wouldn’t vote no on the immediate consideration, but thought it would “raid and bankrupt the ambulance account.”

He added, “I will not support almost any of this.”

The Council’s final vote on the FY22 budget is scheduled for June 28 at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.