WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said this morning that Interim Department of Public Works Director David Billips will continue to serve in that capacity, despite Billips’ abrupt resignation last week.
Billips resigned Friday following the City Council vote to refer the proposed ordinance consolidating public works functions the night before.
“Yesterday afternoon, I met with David Billips, acting superintendent of the Department of Public Works,” Knapik said today in a prepared statement this morning. “Dave and I discussed the concerns he raised in a letter he sent to me on Friday morning, and we agreed it was in the best interest of the department and the city that he continue to serve as acting superintendent in the coming weeks. Particularly, as we enter the construction season, I am very pleased that Dave has agreed to continue in this capacity.”
Knapik said he agreed with Billips’ concerns.
“I share the acting superintendent’s concern relative to the importance of modernizing the DPW’s organizational structure in order to better and more efficiently serve the city’s taxpayers,” Knapik said. “I am hopeful members of the city council will take the next 10 days to understand the importance of this proposal and take this matter up at their next meeting so that the department and its leadership can focus 100 percent of their efforts on deploying its resources appropriately after this brutal winter.”
Last Thursday, At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty made the motion to refer the issue back to the Legislative & Ordinance Committee, an amendment to L&O Chairman Ralph Figy’s motion to give the ordinance a second reading, typically followed by the final passage vote.
“I think it’s apparent after last night that there isn’t support to do it,” Billips said Friday morning. “It’s clear to me that they won’t support the consolidation financially. There is that saying you have to spend money to make money. In this case you have to spend money to save money.”
“There were a lot of misconceptions last night, people asking the same questions they’ve asked before and that we’ve answered,” Billips said Friday morning.
The consolidation budget would move current personnel among the Public Works, Water Resource, Sewerage Treatment and Parks & Recreation departments. It would also move four DPW employees, now being paid from the stormwater fee into a consolidated sewer/wastewater treatment division.
It has been the goal of the council to remove those salaries from the stormwater fee and use the money for their intended purpose: improving the city’s stormwater system. The salaries of the four employees have consumed the bulk of the fee revenue, leaving little money for stormwater improvements. The Council has also objected to those stormwater salaries because the employees are involved in DPW work, such as snow and ice removal, for nearly half of the year.
