WESTFIELD – Working for several large insurance companies for the past 20 years doing project management, Jeff Chagnon has done a lot of collaborating with a wide variety of people. Having experience running his own division at a company, Chagnon has had to give a hard look at the budget.
“You have to be fiscally responsible and talk about cause and effect,” said Chagnon.
The Westfield resident is hoping that his knowledge of fiscal responsibility can translate to city government as he is vying for a seat as an At-Large City Councilor.
Chagnon wants to see a balance between spending and taxes and he wants to make sure that residents will know what their taxpayer money is going towards.
“I really think we need to fix our spending issue,” said Chagnon.
When it comes to spending, Chagnon wants to focus on areas that he feels need to be improved upon the most. His focus centers on repairing some of the damaged roads in the city, making Westfield more business friendly, and also trying to make progress with the water contamination issue.
City Council At-Large candidate Jeff Chagnon.
While Chagnon wants to be completely transparent with the community with the water contamination problem, he would also like to see if he can find answers.
“If we don’t keep pressure on the state and the air base, who is going to pay for that?” said Chagnon.
With many small businesses in Westfield owned by people that live in the city, Chagnon wants to see more options created for small business owners.
“Those are the people that we should really be supporting,” said Chagnon.
Chagnon wants to see more stability for businesses and giving them a steady tax rate to run their business. In order to do that, Chagnon wants to see more businesses call Westfield home, that way the financial burden can shift to a greater amount of tax payers and ease the burden for all.
Chagnon has been knocking on doors throughout the city and often spending several minutes speaking with residents about the city budget and taxes and through those interactions he reminds the public why a vote for him for City Council would be a wise decision.
“A vote for me is a vote for fiscal responsibility,” said Chagnon.
Focusing on representing the residents of Westfield, Chagnon believes that the public will appreciate his transparency and honesty.
“I’m not going to tell you what you think,” said Chagnon. “What you see is what you’re going to get.”
