BRIAN P. SULLIVAN
WESTFIELD – City Council President Brian P. Sullivan has rescheduled the next City Council meeting because of the number of members who plan to be out of the city during the February school vacation week.
Sullivan asked for a show of hands at the end of the Feb. 5 meeting to determine how many council members have family-related plans which would conflict with the scheduled Feb. 19 council session.
“I think there were six or seven councilors who indicated they would be going on vacation that week,” Sullivan said this morning. “Enough members indicated they have family commitments to justify moving it.”
The meeting has been rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The chairmen of the council’s Personnel Action Committee and the License Committee have also rescheduled those committee meeting to that Monday.
The PAC will meet at 6 p.m., prior to the full council meeting, to discuss the reappointment of Matthew Barnes as a member of the Water Commission and the establishment of a new salary position for an assistant operations manager at the city’s animal shelter.
The License Committee will convene at 6:45 p.m. to discuss the petition of Verizon New England and the Westfield Gas & Electric Department to relocate and existing utility pole and to install a new pole on either side of Northwest Road.
The council conducted a public hearing at its Feb. 5 session on that petition. The pole relocation and new pole installation were requested by West Springfield developer Joseph Kelley in support of the proposed 11-lot Angelica Estate subdivision. Paul Davis, the Verizon contractor, said that Kelley will pay for that work.
Sullivan said the City Council has moved meeting dates which have fallen on school vacation weeks in the past.
“This has happened before,” Sullivan said. “I know I have moved them. I did it three years ago when this many members indicated they had conflicts, then if one or two members had an illness we would not have a quorum. I’ve checked with the members. It didn’t cause pain to push it to Monday.”
