Westfield City Clerk Karen M. Fanion (WNG File Photo)
WESTFIELD – The first week of signing out nomination papers for this year’s city election was an active one for the City Clerk’s office. So far, one mayoral candidate, thirteen people running for City Council, two for the School Committee, and one for the Municipal Light Board have taken out papers.
As announced last month, Sen. Donald F. Humason has signed up to run for Mayor of the City of Westfield. No one else as yet has announced their intention to run against him.
There are seven At-large seats on the City Council, for which five candidates have signed out papers. Among them is Councilor Andrew K. Surprise of Bates St., who currently serves as Councilor for Ward 3. In a Letter to the Editor this week in The Westfield News, Surprise said he had accomplished much of what he set out to do in Ward 3, and more and more of his time has been occupied in dealing with city-wide issues.
Councilors Cindy C. Harris of South Maple St. and Brent B. Bean, II, of Ridgecrest Drive have taken out papers to run again for At-large seats.
Also taking out papers for At-large seats are Jason Russell of Hillcrest Circle, who previously served one term on the Council in 2006-2007; and Rudy F. Musterait of Saint Paul St., who previously ran in 2015 but did not win a spot.
Returning Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski of Rogers Ave., Ward 4 Councilor Michael Burns, and Ward 6 Councilor William J. Onyski of Hillcrest Circle are the only ones to take out papers for their ward seats to date.
For the Ward 2 seat, Councilor Ralph J. Figy of Brookline Ave. has signed out nominations papers, as has Juan F. Navarrete of Miller St.
Bridget A. Matthew-Kane of Court St. has taken out papers to run for Ward 3.
Ward 5 also has two people who will be seeking support for their nominations. Current Ward 5 Councilor Leslie D. Lefebvre of Rambling Drive, who replaced Robert A. Paul, Sr. when he retired from the Council in January; and current At-large Councilor John J. Beltrandi, III, of Jeane Marie Drive.
Beltrandi said on Thursday that he has lived in Ward 5 for 37 years, and most of the calls he receives from constituents are from his ward. Beltrandi said when Paul told him that he would not be running again, he decided at that time he would seek the Ward 5 seat.
There are three seats on the School Committee up for re-election this year currently being held by Ramon Diaz, Jr., Diane Mayhew and Bo Sullivan. So far only two candidates for School Committee have signed out papers: Former member Jeffrey L. Gosselin of Elm Street, and returning member Ramon Diaz, Jr.
To date, Jason J. Bean of Linda Drive is the only candidate to sign up for the Municipal Light Board, running for the Ward 6 seat. No one has taken out papers for the Athenaeum Trustee Board as of yet.
Nomination papers are available to candidates until Friday, August 2 at 5 p.m. The deadline for returning papers to the Board of Registrars is Tuesday, August 6 at 5 p.m.
A preliminary election, if required, will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 24. A preliminary election will be held ONLY if the number of candidates for an office exceeds double the number to be elected plus one. In other words, a preliminary election will be held for Mayor, Ward Councilor, Municipal Light Board Commissioner, or Athenaeum Trustee if there are three or more candidates for the same office. For Councilor At Large, a preliminary election will be held if there are fifteen or more candidates and the number is seven or more for School Committee.
A preliminary election will reduce the number of candidates in the mayoral, ward council, Municipal Light Board Commission or Athenaeum Trustee race to two and in the Councilor At-large race to fourteen. In other words, the number of candidates will be reduced to twice the number to be elected.
The municipal election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
