WESTFIELD – In a special meeting of the City Council Monday morning at 11:30 following the inauguration, Brent B. Bean II was elected president by a near-unanimous vote in City Council chambers.
After the meeting opened, a motion was made and passed to elect Matthew van Heynigan as president pro-temp for the proceedings.
Nominations for permanent president were then taken. Bean and van Heynigan both received nominations.
A roll call vote was then taken for Bean as president. All but one councilor voted for Bean, including van Heynigan. Daniel M. Knapik then voted to make the vote for Bean unanimous, which was moved and passed.
The next item on the agenda was the drawing of the seats. Bean said he would like to try something new. He said he would like to have on either side of him Robert Paul, chair of the Finance Committee, and Ralph Figy, chair of Legislation & Ordinance. He then asked remaining councilors to choose their own seats, giving preference to senior members.
“I’m very excited to lead the council in 2016,” Bean said. He offered his assistance to the new councilors, and said he planned to keep “open lines of communication.”
Bean also praised Mayor Brian P. Sullivan’s plan to meet with the City Council members at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, and asked chairs of committees and sub-committees to schedule their meetings to leave that time frame open.
“This is a great way to put our best foot forward,” Bean said.
