Councilor cites lack of financial data
By DAN MORIARTY
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – Communications from the Mayor, the opening phase of every City Council meeting, tend to be routine, with items assigned to various committees, or acted upon under suspension of the rules for immediate consideration.
That was not the case Thursday night when a communication from the mayor was vigorously debated.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik’s first communication requested the City Council to accept Massachusetts General Law (MGL), Chapter 188, Section 19 and MGL Chapter 131, Section 28.
Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2010 pertains to increasing the cost of living base for retires and states:
“The board of any system that establishes a schedule pursuant to section 22D or 22F, may increase the maximum base amount on which the cost-of-living adjustment is calculated, in multiples of $1,000. Each increase in the maximum base amount shall be accepted by a majority vote of the board of such system, subject to the approval of the legislative body. For the purpose of this section, “legislative body” shall mean, in the case of a city, the city council in accordance with its charter, in the case of a town, the town meeting, in the case of a district, the district members, and, in the case of an authority, the governing body.
Chapter 131 Of the Acts of 2010 states:
“Notwithstanding the previous paragraph, a retirement system may accept a supplemental annual allowance fixed at the rate of $9,000, by a majority vote of the board of each such system, subject to the approval of the legislative body thereof. For the purposes of this section, “legislative body” shall mean, in the case of a city, the city council in accordance with its charter, in the case of a town, the town meeting, in the case of a county, the county retirement board advisory council, in the case of a region, the regional retirement board advisory council, in the case of a district, the district members and, in the case of an authority, the governing body of such authority. Acceptance shall be deemed to have occurred upon the filing of a certification of such votes with the commission. For purposes of this section, the state teachers’ and state employees’ retirement systems shall be deemed to have accepted the supplemental annual allowance provided for by this section.
Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., Chairman of the Finance Committee requested that Knapik’s communication be referred to his committee for further review.
At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty made a motion to return the communication to Knapik with a request for more detailed cost projection.
“I’d like to send this back to the mayor for more information before we discuss or vote on this,” Flaherty said. “There is no financial forecast. I’d like to know how much it will really cost.”
At-large Councilor Brian Sullivan said that the function of the committee process is to review items and request specific data needed by the entire council to make informed decisions.
Flaherty said that the information he is seeking should have been anticipated by the administration and included with the communication.
“This type of (communication) should have the information before it comes to us,” he said. “It’s a big amount of money and we should know the total cost.”
“It’s very important information that should be provided for any issue like this,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty’s motion to return the communication to Knapik for additional information was approved by a voice vote of the council.
Dan Moriarty can be reached at [email protected]
