BRIAN P. SULLIVAN
WESTFIELD -At-large City Councilor Brian Sullivan sought his seventh term as City Council president earlier this month with a goal to improve communication with Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, the community as a whole, but especially within the ranks of the council itself.
Sullivan said yesterday that discord between council members is drawing focus away from the job of the city’s legislative branch.
“This is my seventh term on the council, so I know the history of how things used to get done, how councilors used to build consensus,” Sullivan said.
“I asked (Ward 1 Councilor) Chris (Keefe) to take the president’s chair to change things up a little. He was gracious enough to do that for me,” Sullivan said. “I want to work to change some attitudes, between the council and the mayor, between the council and the community.”
“I would also like to get back to the way we used to do things without everyone going at everyone,” Sullivan said. “The ‘old school’ way of dealing with things where people talked over issues to find the best solution, not waiting to make a televised political statement during the meetings,” Sullivan said. “I have requested one-on-one meetings with a couple of councilors to try to get back to more of that old school, collaborative, approach.”
Sullivan said that he is already implementing a process of increasing communication between the council and the executive branch, setting up weekly meetings on the off-Tuesdays following a City Council session.
“I’ve made it clear that all councilors are invited to attend,” Sullivan said. “I plan to be at every one of those meetings and to request specific councilors, depending on the issue being discussed, to attend, but the meetings will be open to every councilor who wants to be there because I want to get business done in that kind of open environment.”
Sullivan, who reorganized the Council Committees, is putting greater emphasis on being pro-active regarding the city budget process.
The budget is typically submitted to the City Council by the mayor with limited time left in the fiscal year for review and modification. The mayor, while generating a budget for municipal government, is forced to use “best practices” to estimate the revenue the city will received from the state every year in unrestricted aid, Chapter 90 road funding and Chapter 70 funds for education, a process that involves three proposed state budgets, generated by the governor, state Senate and House of Representatives, with often different political goals.
Sullivan said that he plans to task the Governmental Relations Committee, with Ward 3 Councilor Ann Callahan serving as chairwoman, to jump start the budget review process earlier.
“I’d like that committee to start working with the mayor and department heads as soon as it can on what the budget needs will be for the upcoming fiscal year,” Sullivan said. “Then report to the Finance Committee so it already has information when it gets the budget from the mayor to do its own review and make recommendations to the full council.”
Sullivan said that he is also discussing the Ward 2 City Council seat, vacant since September when James E. Brown Jr., tendered his resignation.
“I think those ward residents need representation and I did tell the mayor that I’d like to see it filled, but it’s not just putting a body in place, there are legal issues associated with different options,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said that if there is a primary associated with filling the U.S. Senate seat, if John Kerry is confirmed as Secretary of State, that it might be a good option to allow the city to piggyback and avoid the cost of conducting a stand-alone special municipal election.
“I’ve asked the mayor to give it some thought,” Sullivan said.
