A joint Municipal Light Board and City Council meeting was held on Thursday to discuss filling the Ward 5 vacancy. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – A joint meeting of the Municipal Light Board and the Westfield City Council was held prior to the regular City Council meeting on Thursday, to discuss the process to fill the vacancy of the Ward 5 MLB member, following the resignation of Thomas Flaherty in August.
MLB Chairman Ray Rivera said their plan was to run an ad for the vacancy from Sept. 24 to Oct. 5, and have their personnel committee, chaired by Kevin Kelleher meet jointly with the Personnel Action Committee chaired by Cindy C. Harris to narrow the candidates down to three. Then at the next joint MLP and council meeting on Oct. 18, decide among the three candidates.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul Sr. asked whether criteria would be established when the board puts out requests for names and proposals. Rivera said the criteria is being a Ward 5 resident and registered voter. He said the personnel committees would review the resumes and letters. Paul said he didn’t think there should be a limit set to the number of candidates that come before the council.
“We might only have two people, we might have five. I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of people. As a committee, if they say they have four good candidates that would be fine,” said MLB personnel committee member Jane Wensley.
“Are you going to have some kind of a rubric set up to filter people? Ask people how much experience they have in the industry,” asked At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty of Harris, who responded that she was unfamiliar with the process.
“These are the guidelines we’re setting up, not the process. It’s an appointment,” said At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean, II. “I don’t want to rule out anyone. I’m all for some kind of guideline, but I’m not sure I like the idea of a want ad in the newspaper,” he added.
“Will there be any personnel interviews, or just paper screening,” asked Ward 2 Councilor Ralph J. Figy.
“We’re not interviewing. Not everyone knows that there’s a seat open,” said Rivera.
“Why do all the pre-screening, if you’re going to bring them all out anyway,” asked Figy.
“When we ran for office, the majority of us went door to door. With the pre-screening process, it gives us information on someone we don’t know,” Rivera responded.
“I think the publicity is to let the public know there’s a Ward 5 spot. There’s not going to be 20 people applying. I do agree with Councilor Paul; we shouldn’t set a number. That allows the (personnel committees) to make a preliminary decision. As opposed to a screening, maybe the committee could work as a gathering and organizing of information about the candidates,” said MLB commissioner Robert Sacco.
“You use the word interview, I hope that we will have that opportunity. I want to ask questions of people I don’t know. They should certainly have the interest, and some experience. It’s an important thing. The newspaper loves writing stories. If we have these candidates – I’m sure we can convince them to run candidate profiles like they do for all of us,” Flaherty said.
“This person is going to fill it for one year. The people interested in it are going to know G&E. It’s a person that wants to serve, and do their due diligence to help out the residents of Westfield. If they’re interested, it’s because they have some background knowledge,” Rivera said.
Bean asked if nominations would be accepted the night of the meeting. Wensley said the advertisement could include a deadline of Oct. 5. Bean said that is not a part of the process, and asked for a legal opinion.
“What we were told by the Law Department is that tonight we’re going to set the process of how we’re going to fill that seat. If we come up with a process that those people have ten days to apply – we come up with the process tonight,” Rivera said.
Sacco asked if there were a prohibition to nominate individuals from off the floor. “If you know anybody that’s interested, tell them to let us know. I don’t think you’re going to see any surprise candidate come out of the woodwork,” he said.
Harris suggested a front page story stating that there’s an opening, and telling people to send in an application if they’re interested. “And that’s it. Whoever’s interested, will send it in,” Harris said.
Flaherty said the charter is “pretty clear,” that the chairman’s role is to recognize a motion from someone on the floor. “He doesn’t have to do it. If we have a gentleman’s agreement that we’re not going to allow that; there’s nothing in the charter that says you have to apply.”
“We need to advertise it. We’re going to advertise it for ten days,” Rivera said. Flaherty suggested putting the opening in the next G&E bill to go out. “Posting online may narrow down the process,” Sacco added.
“Having been through this process before, the person doesn’t have to follow this process. This is definitely outside of our charter,” said Bean, adding that he did think it was smart to organize the process beforehand.
Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski then made a motion to skip the joint personnel meeting, and bring the candidates directly to the City Council, which passed by a majority.
