WESTFIELD – In his briefing to the City Council before Monday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Brian P. Sullivan welcomed members back after a busy two months. The meeting had been postponed from Thursday, August 18 due to the last night of the Babe Ruth World Series.
“Everyone in the room should be extremely proud of the product we put together,” Sullivan said of the World Series. “It was a good as we hoped it could be.” He said the only thing that didn’t go as planned was Mother Nature. “Everyone just jumped in. Thank you for that,” he added.
Later, during the public participation portion of the Council meeting, Greater Westfield Babe Ruth League President Dan Welch added his thanks to the community and to the City Council for their initial bond approval, which he said “set the stage.”
“The city came out in droves to say, what can I do to help,” Welch said, adding that the goal was to showcase the City of Westfield and Westfield Babe Ruth. “It was a home run, grand slam opportunity. Thank you again for your support.”
At-large City Councilor Dave Flaherty, whose son played on the Westfield team, said he received extremely good feedback about the Series.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we were asked to hold this again,” Flaherty said.
Other participants in the public portion of the meeting included residents affected by the Noise Mitigation Program at Westfield Barnes Regional Airport. On the agenda at the meeting was approval for $2.2 million in grant funding for land acquisition for the Noise Mitigation Program, and $299,000 for Westfield’s matching portion to be used for drainage improvements. Mayor Sullivan had asked in his briefing for immediate consideration and approval for the grant, as the signed papers were due in Boston on Tuesday. The short turnaround was due to the postponement of the meeting from last week.
“This program is meant to be a noise mitigation program, not a land acquisition program,” said Carol Shannon of Cara Lane. She asked how homes that were not eligible for noise mitigation could be eligible for land acquisition. She added that it is a detriment to the City of Westfield to demolish homes.
Other residents who spoke asked for the program to go forward with no further delays.
During the discussion of the motion to approve the grant funding, Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell said that the Legislative & Ordinance Committee “did pretty much review the pros and cons of this.” She added that she wanted to acknowledge the people in the room who voted against it.
“Also in the L&O, we discussed that the Council is going to have to figure out what to do with the properties. We’ll be looking for those options,” said Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski.
“I was at the L&O meeting also, and heard the concerns of residents. What was clear to me was there are a lot of misunderstandings. We need to clarify what this program is all about,” added Ward 1 Councilor Mary Ann Babinski.
“This has been around for a long time. I understand the goals of this program, and I’m sympathetic to the homeowners. I grew up in that part of town,” said Flaherty.
Ward 2 Councilor and L&O Committee chair Ralph Figy reminded the group that this was a positive recommendation from the Airport Commission. The Council voted to accept the grant.
Also approved was immediate consideration for the establishment of a Special Revenue Opiate Crisis Fund, in order to create a means for the city to receive donations. The immediate consideration was due to a scheduled vigil Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. at the Park Square Pavilion to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.
Figy noted that last year there was no avenue to get Narcan into the schools. “This would help with that,” he said.
Figy also brought forward a recommendation from the L&O Committee to pursue extending the Mayor’s term to four years in a non-binding referendum for the November ballot. He said that during the discussion in recent months of extending the terms of the Mayor and Council, while there was no consensus to lengthening the terms of city councilors, there seemed to be consensus to increase the term of the mayor.
A motion was made to bring the matter to Legal Counsel, in order to move it forward towards a non-binding referendum.
