I’d like to thank my family, all of those who worked hard on the campaign, and the Ward 6 voters for their support in the November election. I am honored to represent Ward 6 and the City of Westfield. I’d also like to thank Patrick Berry and the Westfield News for providing the opportunity to offer my views regarding city matters.
My first Ward 6 resident meeting will be held on Tuesday between 6-8 p.m. at the Paper Mill School Library. Please attend if you can. I am interested in hearing the concerns, issues, and ideas of Ward 6 residents. There are preliminary plans in place to finally install sewers on parts of Paper Mill Road, Joseph Avenue, Grandview Drive, and Christopher Drive. City Engineer Mark Cressotti will also be at the meeting to help explain some of those details.
Part of our responsibilities on the City Council is to be members of different Council Committees. Besides the regular City Council meetings twice a month, each City Councilor is assigned to several different Council Committees. Each committee includes three City Councilors. One of the three is the Chairperson. There are a total of twelve different committees.
The City Council President, Brent Bean, assigns the City Councilors to each committee. I was selected to be on the Legislative & Ordinance Committee (with Chairperson City Councilor Ralph Figy and City Councilor Mary O’Connell), the Personnel Action Committee (with Chairperson City Councilor Cindy Harris and City Councilor Ralph Figy), and the Public Health & Safety Committee (with Chairperson City Councilor Dan Allie and City Councilor Mary Ann Babinski). I am also the liaison with Barnes Airport.
Although many are familiar with the full 13-member City Council meetings, through TV or attending the meetings in person, you may find attending the committee meetings of interest also. After a topic is first introduced to the full City Council, it is typically sent to the appropriate committee for more detailed analysis and recommendations. The committee meetings are very interesting because of the detail that goes into each topic. For example, a recent item of the Legislative & Ordinance Committee was the contract with Southwick regarding the sewage rates that Westfield charges Southwick. The Water and Sewer, Purchasing, and Law Departments were all represented at the meeting to explain the situation, review the issues and answer questions. In other words, all of the right people were there so that the Legislative & Ordinance Committee could have the information to make an informed recommendation to the full City Council. Due to the vast number of committee meetings and their schedules (some at the same time and in different rooms), it is not practical to have them aired on TV. However, the schedules and agendas of the committee meeting are on the City of Westfield web site and those interested should attend.
Just a few short weeks ago, Hampton Ponds hosted the Penguin Plunge to support the Amelia Park Children’s Museum. By all accounts, the event was a success. The organizers, volunteers, and safety teams did a fantastic job. The plungers braved the cold water for the good of the community and I was happy to support them from the beach.
The Westfield Gas and Electric held a very informative presentation this week that was attended by the Mayor, city officials, and many of the City Councilors. Dan Howard, the G&E Commission, and G&E staff were on hand to present a history of the Westfield G&E, provide information on the rate structures, and give a synopsis of the G&E finances. The biggest news from the G&E was the continued roll out of Whip City Fiber. The fiber cable will bring extremely high speed and high capacity internet service into homes and businesses. The first pilot area (Fiberhood) was in the Ward 6 Devon Manor and Springfield Road areas and proved to be a success. The plan is to have other pilot areas this year. If all goes well, there is an opportunity to expand the service wide scale throughout the city.
I also had the opportunity to spend time with Westfield Police Officer Allen Magdycz. Officer Magdycz is a Community Police Officer at Powder Mill Village on Union Street. Although familiar with the Community Policing concept, Officer Magdycz was able to fill me in on the real life benefits. Officer Magdycz works in an office that is an apartment at Powder Mill Village. The office is set up such that the area youth can visit and do homework, research and type reports on laptops, or even watch the news. In nicer weather you might find Officer Magdycz outside riding bikes (acquired as unclaimed property and loaned out from a “bedroom” in the office) with the neighborhood kids. The type of policing that Officer Magdycz provides is a win-win for the community. The area youth have a location where they can work or safely enjoy being young. This also promotes the trust of the Police Officers and reinforces the respect that they deserve. We should all be proud to have Officer Magdycz, and others like him, working in Ward 6 and across the city. Largely through the efforts of the Community Police and Officer Magdycz himself, some furniture was donated and assembled in the office/apartment. If anyone would like to make a financial donation, so the office can be supplied with exactly what it needs to support the education efforts, please contact Sgt. Eric Hall at 413-562-5411.
Thank you for taking time to read this. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or 413-568-7747.
William Onyski
Ward 6 City Council
Westfield News
February 18, 2016
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
