Councilors Matt Emmershy, Robert A. Paul, Sr., Dave Flaherty and Mary Ann Babinski discuss items at City Council Thursday as members of the community look on. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – On a motion to suspend the rules by At-large Councilor Dan Allie Thursday, the City Council accepted the grant of $258,689 awarded to the Westfield Police Department and Westfield Public Schools under the 2018 COPS STOP School Violence Prevention Program from the Department of Justice. Allie said the purpose of the grant is for school safety.
“I’d like to commend the police department and the school department for working together on this,” said Ward 2 Councilor Ralph J. Figy, liaison to WPS. .
Also accepted for immediate consideration was a grant for $8,000 from the Parks & Recreation Foundation for a shade structure at Sadie Knox playground. “Residents on Prospect Hill and Prospect St. deserve to have something nice happen to them,” commented Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski.
Also accepted for immediate consideration on a motion by At-large Councilor Cindy C. Harris was the reappointment of Candy Pennington as treasurer for the Westfield Cultural Council. Harris said the reappointment was needed immediately for the upcoming WCC grant period, and added that the Cultural Council lost a few members recently who had reached their six year limit.
“As (Cultural) Council liaison, I commend Candy Pennington for her role as treasurer,” said Ward 3 Councilor Andrew K. Surprise.
Referred to the Legislative & Ordinance committee and the Law Department was the Host Community agreement with Cannabis Connections.
A Zone Change for 595 Southampton Road from Business A to Industrial A was referred to Zoning, Planning and Development. A public hearing will be scheduled. Referred to L&O was the notification from the State Lottery Commission informing the city of its right to object, within 21 days, to the issuance of a Keno-to-Go license at One Stop Convenience on 1056 North Road?
The Finance Committee gave positive recommendations to five school department transfers for payments of FY2018 bills. At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty asked why the Council was approving payment, when it approves the school department as one line item.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul, Sr. said any prior year items to be paid must come before the City Council, although he said they had previously discussed giving the Mayor a fund to pay items less than $1,000, which four of the five items fell under.
Also from the Finance Committee was a recommendation to pay a prior year bill of $2,060 for the Department of Public Works Waste Collection. At-large Councilor Matthew Emmershy reported that the bill was for tires for a Waste Collection vehicle. Many of the prior year bills hadn’t come in before the end of the last fiscal year.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie, who chairs the Finance Committee, also reported a positive recommendation for $28,000 from the Community Preservation Committee to repair and restore the door of the 1755 historic building located at 171 Main St. Allie said the original door is on permanent display in the Early American wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Allie said the goal is to have the door completed by the 350th anniversary celebration in May.
“It’s quite an ornate structure. They (the owners) are committed to maintaining and preserving that building,” Allie said. Surprise added that the money from the CPC historic preservation account cannot be used for anything else.
Emmershy said that $10,000 from an accident to the front of the building earlier this year would also be used for the project, and added that he would like to see the owners contribute to the total restoration request of $275,000 that is before the CPC.
The Finance Committee also recommended an appropriation of $10,000 to DPW Solid Waste Recycling for two days of leaf pickup in the city. Surprise said Christmas trees will also be dealt with in the same way as last year. All items were approved by the Council.
The Council also approved two positive recommendations from Zoning, Planning and Development from the meeting held earlier in the evening.
On the Special Permit for a Contractor’s Yard at 415 North Road, Paul said there had been no objections during the public hearing held two weeks prior to the proposal. He said the ZPD committee went through the findings in detail, and found that the conditions and terms were adequate to move forward as written.
Paul said there was an additional condition proposed by City Planner Jay Vinskey at the meeting, that wasn’t discussed at the public hearing, which the ZPD did not include in the Special Permit. The additional condition proposed by Vinskey limited the subject use to those existing/cleared areas of the property; with no disturbance of vegetated areas to be permitted.
At ZPD, Paul said he thought that the term of vegetated areas was too broad and could be applied to grass. He also said he believed the item was covered under the regular findings of the special permit, which included compliance with the Water Resource Protection District regulations. There was also the question about whether the condition could be added after the public hearing was closed.
Council President John J. Beltrandi, III recused himself and At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean acted as pro temp for the recommendation from ZPD for a zone change from Residence A to Business A on a portion of the property at 230 Southampton Road owned by Beltrandi,
Paul said there had been no opposition at the public hearing to the zone change, only a question of whether any business would have an exit on Sunset Drive. Levesque Associates, who represented Beltrandi at the hearing, said any viable business would face Southampton Road.
Babinski said she had received emails from residents concerned with what type of business would be built if the zone change were approved. She said any business going there would require a public hearing and site plan.
Under Motions, Surprise referred nine items on the agenda proposing changes in the municipal budget process to the Charter & Rules sub-committee. He said he has spoken with the Law Department, who said they could be dealt with in sub-committee. Beltrandi had previously said he wanted the motions, first introduced by Surprise in June, to be referred or removed from the agenda.
A new motion by Harris to bring the Treasurer/Collector’s position to the whole City Council for a vote, and not to the subcommittee, engendered a lot of discussion, revealing the need to firm up the process for the new hire.
At a special City Council meeting on Oct. 25 to accept the resignation of Treasurer/Collector Meghan Kane, a special screening committee was voted on to include members of the Personnel Action, Finance and Long Range Finance sub-committees.
Babinski clarified Harris’ motion, asking whether the screening committee would make the decisions on the candidates and bring its recommendation of final candidates to the City Council, rather than the PAC.
Bean said he was still “uneasy” about why the council diverted from the prior process, during which they set up the search committee and approved the final candidate. He said the council has to be careful and mindful of the process. Paul appealed to the council to move quickly, as they are approaching the end of the calendar year. Figy also said the Collector’s position is state mandated, and that Kane had given them 30 days’ notice.
Flaherty acknowledged that it is the tax-setting time of year, but that there is an assistant collector who can fill in. “My biggest concern is that we all agree on the process,” he said.
The position of Collector/Treasurer has been posted on the city website with a closing date of November 30.
