MAUREEN BELLIVEAU
WESTFIELD – The Executive Director of the city of Westfield’s Business Improvement District has resigned from her post.
Maureen “Mo” Belliveau, who held the position with the organization since 2012, has resigned, a month before the BID’s planned dissolution on September 12.
The Westfield City Council voted to terminate the organization on July 6, voting 9-2 with one abstention, citing changes in the 1994 state law enabling property owners within a city’s business improvement district to opt out of the organization.
A 2012 revision of the law made membership for property owners within a BID district compulsory, and mandated retroactive membership fees be paid.
A small group of downtown property owners spoke out against the revision in the law, which led to the circulation of a petition that garnered the support of over half of the property owners within the BID district.
This petition was then placed before the city council, leading to the dissolution of the organization, which sought to provide programs and services for city businesses that would create a “clean, attractive, safe, well programmed and aggressively promoted location in which to live, conduct business, shop and visit,” according to the BID website.
Belliveau, the co-founder and former co-owner of Optimum Health Therapeutic Message on Elm Street, grew up in the greater Westfield area, and took over for former Executive Director Lisa McMahon, the first director of the organization.
Kevin O’Connor, chairman of the BID’s board of directors, spoke with the media Friday morning, and said that while the board “fully understood” Belliveau’s “necessity and desire to leave”, the board was sad to see her go.
Belliveau remained active within the organization this summer, organizing several events throughout the last few months, including the July MusicFest concert and assisting a local marketing company in broadcasting the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s round of 16 match against Belgium during the World Cup on the downtown green in early July, which drew a crowd of several hundred people.
The organization’s beautification services for the district ended this weekend, and the BID will continue a weekly farmer’s market until the end of the summer.
Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik stated that working with Belliveau during her tenure as executive director was “a pleasure.”
“We all wish her well in her future endeavors,” he said.
