There are signs of spring everywhere and with it comes hope for a continuation of good government and progress for the residents of our City. The Council has had full agendas over the past months and this week was no exception.
One item of interest before Council is the request for funding to pay for the acquisition and demolition of the Romani Bowling Alley building on Church Street. The total request is almost $300,000 but the issue is where will this money come from. Many on the City Council are hesitant to use our free cash funds as we have so many items that we will need to fund coming up in the future. Bonding for this project is a possibility but time constraints and qualifying for an appropriate bond are problematic. The Mayor and his staff along with Councilor Dave Flaherty are looking at taking funds from our stabilization account for these acquisition and demolition expenses. The matter resides in both the Finance and the L&O sub committees and hopefully will be resolved at our next meeting.
Joe Rouse, our Director of Public Health, addressed the Council on Thursday regarding the current position of the City regarding disposal of Polystyrene Disposable Food Containers (Styrofoam containers) and the disposal of resident’s Styrofoam. Effective September 1, 2016, establishments serving food within the City limits will be prohibited from using “food containers made from polystyrene or expanded polystyrene to provide prepared food to customers. No person shall purchase, offer, for purchase, sell, give away, or distribute any polystyrene disposable food container from a food establishment.” There are also plans to provide a container at our Twiss Street land fill for residents to drop off their used Styrofoam. The City is contracting with an outside vendor who will collect this Styrofoam for recycling purposes.
Several parking change requests have been submitted to the City Council by the Traffic Commission. Council’s Legislative and Ordinance Committee has held these requests in sub-committee until more clarification is received. Proposals do include changes in parking regulations on Arnold, Summer, and School Streets.These changes could have impact on both residents and visitors to the downtown area.
The matter of extending the terms of office for our Mayor and City Council members came out of committee with a positive recommendation to increase the terms from two years to four years. This motion generated much discussion and it was voted to return the item to sub-committee for further review and input. This subject will be discussed at the next Legislative and Ordinance meeting on Tuesday, March 29, 2016.
Recently there was an anonymous posting to the Westfield News’s Pulse line Column regarding Mr. Bob Plasse. It was a cowardly comment filed by an individual who is not brave enough to list his or her name with their comments. Bob has done so much for our City and I want to applaud him and his efforts to make Westfield a better place. We love you Bob and are happy you do what you do for all of us.
Best wishes for a great weekend, and warmth and sun for the 2016 St Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday.
Mary O’Connell
Ward Four City Councilor
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
