SUE PHILLIPS
WESTFIELD – The Legislative and Ordinance Committee voted 3-0 last night to recommend approval by the full City Council Thursday of an ordinance reorganizing several municipal departments maintaining the infrastructure of the city into a consolidated Department of Public Works.
The City Council balked at approving the second reading and final passage of the ordinance at its March 19 meeting after approving the first reading at its Feb. 23 session because of an amendment to the Park and Recreation Ordinance submitted by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik that night.
City Solicitor Susan Phillips said last night that the Park & Recreation amendment created some confusion among councilors, but that the Park and Recreation amendment is not needed until the DPW ordinance is approved.
RALPH FIGY
“Once you pass the DPW ordinance, the code of ordinances will have some redundancy,” Phillips said. “You will clean up that at the back end of this process. There is no change to the structure of the boards and commission.”
Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy, L&O chairman, said the Park and Recreation issues “muddied the waters” and for that reason the DPW ordinance was sent back to his committee for further review and clarification.
Phillips said that the city’s charter, approved by the state Legislature in 1919, has a provision that many other city charters do not. It provides an avenue for the City Council to adjust, combine or eliminate departments, as well as boards and commissions, but in the case of the Park and Recreation Commission there is no need to change its structure under the DPW consolidation.
“The Park and Recreation Commission will still be in the structure,” Phillips said. “You will be amending the Community Services ordinance” when the Park and Recreation element is addressed following passage of the DPW ordinance amendment.”
Figy requested a motion by the L&O members to hold the Park and Recreation element in committee until the DPW ordinance is acted upon to avoid further confusion.
The DPW ordinance will revise the structure of several existing departments and the new department will include administration and four functional divisions, each headed by a deputy superintendent. The divisions are Public Works; Wastewater and Collections Systems; Parks and Recreation; and Water.
The public works division will have two subdivisions: a highway subdivision and a subdivision for refuse, recycling collections and for the transfer station operations.
The wastewater division includes the wastewater treatment plant and the collections segment of that division which is related to stormwater and sewer line maintenance.
The parks and recreation division will include the natural resources subdivision for maintenance of the city’s parks and infrastructure, as well as a tree maintenance subdivision.
The water department will remain pretty much within its current structure.
The revised department management would have a director and assistant director overseeing the four deputy superintendents. administrative functions, engineering (now in the water resource department), data administration (IT), budget analysis and a stormwater/solid waste manager would report directly to the DPW director.
