MARY L. O’CONNELL
Councilor Ralph Figy stated in his Councilor article this past Saturday, that he was puzzled as to why some Councilors, including myself, who previously supported the votes to fund the proposed New Elementary school changed their positions regarding construction of the 600 student facility on Cross Street. He also stated that did not feel the Cross Street location was an ideal site for a 600 student school and I have heard him make that comment many times.
Councilor Figy was a member of the project’s School Building Committee. As such, he had many chances to object to the plans for the proposed school. If you review the minutes of those committee meetings you find no objections from member Ralph Figy. Councilor Figy was not on the City Council during the initial stages of the proposed project. A breadth of misinformation was given to the City Council by administration officials and I can only hope that Mr. Figy was not aware of it at the time.
It has subsequently been determined that many instances of false information were provided to Council but I will just describe a few. We were told that there was no requirement to secure replacement land. We were originally shown plans that indicted that the entire project would fit (tightly) on the Cross Street site with no need for securing neighboring parcels. We were told that we had to vote under “Immediate Consideration” to approve the taking of a neighboring property in order to receive state reimbursement. We were then told that the Pitoniak property on Northwest Road was an ideal replacement site although it was far removed from the neighborhood hosting Cross Street. We were then told that the Wielgus property was an ideal site for replacement land and later discovered that the owner was unwilling to sell it to the City and that the fact it lies in a flood plain made it unsuitable as replacement land. We are now told that the Ponders Hollow site is the perfect replacement land site despite the fact that the Little Westfield River Dike bisects it diagonally and half of it lies in a flood plain. We are now told that The Park and Recreation Department will be eligible to apply for sufficient funds to maintain this plot of land to standards. We are told this despite the lack of approval of any recreation design plans by the Park and Recreation Commission or even more importantly, any lack of approval of plans to repair and maintain the levy or any appropriations for these projects.
As City Councilors we have to make the best decisions we can based on the facts we are presented. When the facts are misrepresented and when falsehoods are later discovered we are faced with a dilemma. Do we continue to force a square peg into a round hole, or do we revisit the process to find a correct and lasting solution to the problem? What would you do under the circumstances? My position is to learn from the past and work to avoid the same problems in the future.
Ignorance of the law, cutting corners, and downright deception has resulted in several lawsuits against the City of Westfield. These suits have successfully halted the project – not because the judicial system wants to block the building of a new school but because our society will not tolerate breaking the law to simplify the process. The fact is that there are Constitutional safeguards in place to protect our democratic process and these safeguards have now kicked in. We should not be faced with a choice between supporting our democratic process or supporting a new school. We should not be required to throw the democratic process out the window to expedite the building of a new school.
I grow weary of listening to the argument that because we have so much invested in this proposed project we cannot turn back. If the process had been followed and all the “t’s” crossed and “i’s” dotted a school would have been built by now. It would have been the right sized school on the right sized lot owned by our School Department
Because our administration chose to take short cuts, ignore the law and circumvent the process, we find ourselves in a mess. Costs are increasing, time is wasting, and weeds are growing on piles of dirt on Cross Street. The longer the administration chooses to sweep the mess under the carpet, the longer the elementary school students of Westfield will wait for the school they deserve. And what is the lesson we want our educators to teach our children? If bullying is wrong at the elementary level, it is wrong at the administration level as well. There is a proverb – “no matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back”.
Let’s get the project back on track. Let’s focus on complying with governing regulations. If we can build a school that complies with regulations – let’s do it. If that means we have to re-evaluate the plan on the table – let’s do it now. If it means we have to build a smaller school or look for a larger site – let’s get started – but let’s follow the process this time.
Mary O’Connell
Westfield City Council
