Hello from Ward 2. Summer is officially here. School Is almost done for another year. It will soon be vacation season as well. It is my wish that everyone has a fun filled and safe summer season.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank some special Ward 2 folks. Last week the Amelia Park Ice Arena and Garden held a Wine and Beer tasting to kick off their capital campaign. John Bonovita from The Tavern supplied great food, Jimmy Adams was one of the main sponsors along with Commercial Distributing. All great businesses from Ward 2 that stepped up to the plate to help. A job well done by all of the volunteers that made this event so successful. Please remember that Musical Moments happen in Amelia Park Gardens every Tuesday night at 6 pm in the summer for your free enjoyment.
What can be said regarding the gazebo and the new senior center. Both projects are nearing completion and will be an asset to the city. Some may not approve but the addition of these two projects signify an end of a long journey. Both will be used in the future by the citizens off Westfield.
The City Council faces a monumental decision regarding the model school within the next week or two.I have been quoted as saying that I didn’t think that the Cross Street site was the best location for the model SSchool. What I said was that if asked, I would have liked to see the new elementary school be constructed by South Middle. I was later advised that for many reasons this could not happen. Reality is that the siting of the Model School was decided before I ran for City Council. On 11/03/2011 the City Council voted 12-1 to vote for the $35,931,394.00 bond to build this school on the Ashley Street site. Both Mary O’Connell and David Flaherty voted in favor of this project. After this vote there were three pre construction public hearings for citizen input. Again this bond was brought out for the final passage on 01/05/2012 and the vote was 12-1 with Agma Sweeney voting against. There were three public meetings and no one spoke out against the location until contracts were signed and construction was put into place. Then a small group of neighbors aided by a couple of City Councilors, some who had voted for the bond and the school began their opposition of the school.
One thing that the opposition fails to mention is the costs associated with not following through with constructing the model school. I find this particularly confusing because the Councilors opposed are always claiming to be the taxpayer’s watchdog. Lets examine the financial impact in a little more detail as this is what the taxpayers should be focusing on.
There is currently a $35 million bond in place to construct the school. To date 3,772,239 of this bond has been spent. The State School Building Authority will reimburse Westfield approximately $24,000,000 upon completion of construction. The 3.772 million will need to be repaid whether we build the school or not.
This years budget is a disaster with projected layoff offs of teachers and police officers. Included in the budget are expenses that would not have to be covered if the School had been built and in operation. These expenses total $1,517,803. The reality is the this money would go a long way to help prevent potential layoffs of teachers and police officers. I base the figures on information provided by Mr. Rix and the City Solicitor.
Everyone agrees that Westfield needs a new elementary school and most everyone agrees that the Cross Street site would be a good location for a school. The disagreement is over the size of the building. If the council fails to transfer the care and custody of the Ponders Hollow land, the need for a new school will still exist and could be the responsibility of the taxpayers to finance.
The City faces other capital issues. The police station is deteriorating and there are parts that can’t be used because of this. The station also floods during heavy rainfalls and needs dehumidifiers running constantly to make the building workable. This facility needs to be replaced sooner than later. The main fire station is not built to code and needs serious upgrading. There has been discussions on building a new Public Safety Complex to replace both of these buildings. This would need to wait as there will be no funds available.
Some are suggesting that the city should just remodel existing buildings to accommodate our elementary students. As part of the process to determine whether to remodel or build new, a study was conducted by Reinhardt Associates in 2014. The following are their estimates for remodeling three schools. It is unknown if the SBA would even fund this.
Highland School $5,272,707
Franklin Avenue $9,142,600
Abner Gibbs $6,537,600
Total $ 20,952,900
Total city share of the model school is approximately $11,498,046 vs $20,952,900 remodeling old buildings. This also does not take into consideration the needs of the High School and Westfield Voke for new science labs.
When one considers all the economic factors described above, I do not know how any taxpayer would want to go down this road. In my opinion that would be fiscally irresponsible. The decision to locate the model school was done and in my opinion it is too late to reverse course now. That is why I am supporting the land transfer when it comes to a vote. Do you wonder why some Counselors are opposed to the model school after looking at the economics? I do!
Ralph J. Figy
Ward 2 City Counselor
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
