WESTFIELD – More than 150 residents packed the auditorium at the upper campus of Westfield Technical Academy last night to hear Mayoral Candidates Michael Roeder and Brian Sullivan answer a number of questions related to taxes, spending priorities, education, road improvements, municipal employee contracts and how to control spending.
Roeder and Sullivan responded to those questions by mapping out their approach to serving as the city’s Chief Executive Officer, presenting two very different options to city residents next Tuesday in the Nov. 3 General Election.
Roeder said that he campaigned for the post two years ago on a platform that has changed little.
“People were angry, upset with roads, taxes and the school court case. Nothing has changed in two years,” Roeder said. “They want tax relief now. I’m promising no new tax increase in (fiscal year) 2017.”
Roeder said the Ashley Street Elementary School case has been in the court for four years and that he talks regularly with the residents who exercised their constitutional rights by initiating that litigation against the city.
“I will end that case with a compromise, it’s been going on for four years and costing a ton of money,” Roeder said, adding that if all parties could agree to an alternative location, he would have shovels in the ground within six months.
Sullivan said that he supports the school project at the Ashley Street location because of the dilapidated condition of Franklin Avenue and Abner Gibbs elementary schools.
“I’ve been for it since day one, and I’m still for it,” Sullivan said.
“It’s time to build a new school. Doing it for the right reason, for the students, that school should have been built years ago,” he said.
Sullivan said the litigation which delayed the Ashley Street school project has had a ripple effect on the science programs at Westfield High School and the Westfield Technical Academy.
“We should be shoveling the soil (groundbreaking) for those science improvements now,” Sullivan said. “The City Council votes every year on priorities and the elementary school has been number 1, while the science programs have been number two.”
“As soon as the elementary school is built, then we can start the planning, designing and engineering process for the science project,” Sullivan said.
Roeder said that parents of the children being sent to Russell “are not just angry anymore, they are furious.”
“If we don’t break ground in the next six months, I don’t know how long (those children will attend school in Russell),” Roeder said. “Even if we break ground next year, they’d have to wait another three years.”
Sullivan said the decision to send Westfield children to Russell “was wrong from the beginning and it’s wrong now. The City Council voted to approve the bond for the Ashley Street project and if that is not the location of the new elementary school, everything starts over.”
“I don’t know where (Roeder) believes he can get a shovel in the ground in six months,” Sullivan said.
Roeder said that “there will be cuts in the area of education.” The state increased aid for education by $1.8 million this year, yet 35 positions were cut and 14 jobs eliminated.
“I plan to look at that budget, at consulting fees for reading programs which have changed three times, how hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent,” Roeder said.
Sullivan said that as a council member he could only vote to cut the total school budget, but as mayor he will serve as chairman of the School Committee, “so I will have direct involvement in how that budget is developed.”
Sullivan said that he has talked with school transportation officials about combining the bus routes of the high schools and middle schools.
“Everybody sees the buses going to the high schools that are less than half filled, so combining those routes eliminates one and there would be savings to the city,” Sullivan said. “It’s not about cutting. It’s about managing.”
Sullivan said he would also manage the city budget and that traditional approaches, such as instituting a hiring freeze, will not work.
“We haven’t hired people in years, making fewer people do more with less. It’s about managing what assets we have,” Sullivan said.
Roeder said that he plans to level fund the municipal budget for fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1, 2016.
“I plan to mandate a review of every line item in the budget,” Roeder said. “We need to look at needs and programs across the line on allocation of funds if we want to avoid property tax and service fee increases. Cuts will have to happen.”
Roeder said he would focus on collecting about $1 million in delinquent property and excise taxes.
“It’s not fair that those people are not paying their fair share,” Roeder said.
Sullivan countered that the City Council looks at delinquent taxes and that the assessor and law departments pursue collections.
“Unpaid taxes are nowhere near that ($1 million) number,” Sullivan said, adding that he would “think outside the box” to consider department consolidation similar to what was done recently with the combined Public Works Department.
“There is no more fat to cut, but there are ways to manage departments better,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said that next mayor will have to negotiate contracts with 20 municipal bargaining units and that his focus would be to seek greater employee contributions for heath and other post employment benefits (OPEB) to reduce the cost of providing those services to employees.
“It’s not just about salary. I see the two major contract issues as the cost of health insurance and retirement benefits,” Sullivan said.
Roeder said that he would oppose increases for department supervisors, several of whom are making over $150,000 in salary.
“That’s an outrage. Union members will say that supervisors got theirs, we want ours,” Roeder said.
When asked where they would increase departmental funding, Roeder said that Community Development and the Planning Department would be his poriority.
“That’s where I would put money, not in the school where there is a good teacher to student ratio or in the Police Department which is up to full strength,” Roeder said.
Sullivan said he would look at increasing the funding for Barnes Regional Airport which “needs to attract new businesses, but that doesn’t mean I’m taking it from the police to give to the airport.”
“We have to do a better job at managing what we have,” Sullivan said. “I’m going to prioritize spending. If department heads want more, they’ll have to figure out where they need less.”
The two candidates also asked each other two questions. Roeder asked why Sullivan, as chairman of the Legislative & Ordinance Committee, supported the appropriation of $750,000 of Community Preservation Act funding to the East Mountain Country Club.
Sullivan said it was an opportunity to buy the development rights for 120 acres over the Barnes Aquifer and that the vote was “to protect our natural resources.”
Sullivan than asked Roeder why he has not talked with department heads since he declared himself a candidate.
“It was a strategy in my campaign,” Roeder said, “I’d rather use every minute of my time knocking on doors. I do not see the value of contacting all of those people. I will tell them what my vision is and what I want.”
Roeder asked Sullivan why he voted for tax increases over the past six years.
Sullivan said that while “on the council for the past 18 years” he voted for tax increases.
“It costs money to provide the service residents want,” Sullivan said. “We kept the taxes down as best as we could, but people want our students to have the best education, they want the best response time from public safety and all of that costs money.”
“I’ve made tough votes, didn’t always like that, but I’m doing the best I can for Westfield,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan asked Roeder why he opposed construction of the new senior center.
Roeder said that he did not oppose construction of the center, but the cost.
“I said I didn’t want to spend $7.5 million and another $700,000 in (reserve) funds for the engineering and design work,” Roeder said. “I said I could build it for $6 million. The final cost is going to be about $9 million and there is a large difference between $6 million and $9 million.”
In closing remarks Sullivan said he is passionate about Westfield and has been involved in the community as a coach and is president of the Westfield Children’s Museum.
“I like to be part of the solution,” Sullivan said. “We are doing well, but we could do better.”
Roeder said that he would like to see a turnout of 15,000 voters next Tuesday, not the 6,000 turnout typical of a General Election.
“If the turnout is 6,000, I’ll be disappointed win or lose. If it’s 15,000, that’s a mandate for whoever wins,” Roeder said.
