WESTFIELD—Ward Four City Councilor hopeful Michael Burns feels he has a duty to serve his community.
Burns, a lifelong Westfield resident and veteran who raised four children with his wife here and currently lives on Kylie Lane, is one of three candidates in the preliminary election for tomorrow’s Ward Four City Councilor position. According to Burns, he is running because he wants to serve those in his community, especially in Ward Four.
“I live in Ward Four, those are my neighbors, those are my friends,” he said. “I have service in my blood, I always served no matter what I did.”
Michael Burns
According to Burns, he has served in the military, and he has family members who were also in the military or served as civil servants, including two children who were in the US Air Force.
Burns works currently as a New England sales representative for an automotive group and is a Westfield Water Commissioner going on eight years. In addition, he has served in the military for 26 years.
Burns’s military experience includes five years in the US Navy and 21 years in the US Air Force, where he eventually retired at the rank of master sergeant, and while in the military Burns said his job included being a liaison. While with the Air Force, Burns said he also received an Associate’s Degree in logistics from the Community College of the Air Force.
Burns said that his aim to serve includes listening to residents and what their concerns are.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to meet and getting know everyone’s concerns,” he said. “I don’t consider it complaints, I consider it concerns.”
Burns, who is running for the Ward Four Councilor position for his fourth time in 12 years, also said that his decision to pursue the position is based on issues within the city, which is what also drove him previously.
“I’ve been involved with infrastructure a lot with the water commission and there’s at least three issues,” he said.
The first issue he said are taxes.
“Taxes, of course the taxes, we gotta figure something out in the city with this,” he said.
Second, Burns said that he wants to focus on infrastructure, which is inspired by the promise of new sewers in the Bates Road area, as well as the contentious sidewalk expansion project along Western Avenue.
And finally, according to Burns, his third issue is related to the aesthetic of Westfield.
