WESTFIELD – Brent B. Bean II, elected Monday to serve as the City Council president for 2014, announced his list of committees which was complicated this year because six new members were elected to serve on the city’s legislative branch.
Typically new members are eased into council committees, an approach not available to Bean because nearly half of the sitting councilors are serving their first term.
“I’ve been on the City Council for a long time and believe that I have knowledge on how to structure committees. I’ve served on all of the committees and have been the chairman of most, so I know the scope of work done in committee,” Bean said.
“I also know the veteran councilors, and half of the new ones, what they bring to the table in terms of interests and backgrounds,” Bean said. “You want to put people in their strengths, look at how people want to move the city foreword.”
Bean said that he tried to balance the mix of veteran councilors with new members as he formed his committee assignments. An example is the Personnel Action Committee which deals with assignments to board and commissions, as well as screening and recommending appointments of full-time officials appointed by the City Council.
Ralph Figy, a retired school counselor and Cindy Harris, who has a background in the Human Resource field, were both assigned to a committee where those skills are needed. Figy will serve as PAC chairman with Harris and veteran Councilor Brian Sullivan.
Bean tapped veteran Councilors Christopher Keefe and Christopher Crean to serve on the Finance Committee, where both have served in the past. Robert Paul, who served for six years on the Municipal Light Board until elected as the Ward 5 councilor, will be the third Finance Committee member.
Bean also mixed experienced councilors with a new member on the Legislative and Ordinance Committee where Brian Sullivan will serve as chairman with James R. Adams. Matt VanHeynigen, a new council member, served for more than a decade on the Planning Board which routinely deals with zoning and ordinance issues.
Crean will serve as chairman of the License Committee with two new members, Ward 3 Councilor Brian Hoose and At-large Counselor Dan Allie.
Adams will serve as chairman of the Public Health & Safety Committee with VanHeynigen and Figy.
Veteran Councilor David A. Flaherty will serve as chairman of the Zoning, Planning & Development Committee with Harris and Allie.
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell will be the chairwoman of two committees she had chaired in the past, the Natural Resources Committee with Harris and Paul and the Charter and Rules Committee with Keefe and Bean.
Crean will be the chairman of the Business Development Committee with Flaherty and Allie.
VanHeynigen will be the Government Relations Committee chairman with Hoose and O’Connell.
Hoose will serve at the City Property Committee chairman with Sullivan and Adams.
The Long-range Finance Overview Committee will have Keefe as chairmen with Flaherty and Paul.
