Former Westfield Mayor Michael O’Connell spoke on behalf of homeowners during a discussion of the tax shift at a special city council meeting in 2012. (WNG File Photo)
WESTFIELD – Former Westfield Mayor and long-time attorney Michael E. O’Connell died following an extended illness on Wednesday morning.
O’Connell, 73, served as Mayor of Westfield from January 1982 to June 1985. He is being remembered for his love of Westfield, his colorful stretch as a basketball coach at St. Mary’s, and a turbulent second term as Mayor that ended with his resignation six months early.
His son John O’Connell, who lives in Worcester, said his father still enjoyed telling stories of the players he had coached and their families. Starting as an assistant basketball coach at Westfield State, he became head coach at St. Mary’s, where he said many people came to the games just to watch his exuberant coaching style. “He broke more than one clipboard, I can vouch for that,” John O’Connell said.
Current Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said he first met Michael O’Connell when he participated in the summer basketball program during high school which O’Connell coached. He recalled him as “quite an athlete.” Years later, during the four years Sullivan spent in the Hampden County District Attorney’s office (2010 to 2014), he would see him once or twice a week when O’Connell served as an attorney for the public defender’s office at the Springfield District Court. He said O’Connell always had a story about the athletes they both knew from the summer basketball league.
O’Connell became Mayor in January of 1982, after serving as City Assessor. At the time, he was still coaching at St. Mary’s. John O’Connell said there would often be front page stories in the then Westfield Evening News about Mayor O’Connell, and back page stories about Coach O’Connell.
Retired Judge Phil Beattie, a close friend, first got to know O’Connell during the fifteen year period at City Hall (1974 to 1989) when he served on the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Board of Assessors.
“He was very helpful to me in my career,” he said. “I’d say he was one of the smartest people I ever knew. He was also an extremely loyal person to those who knew him,” he added. Judge Beattie said he also served under O’Connell when he became Mayor, and Beattie became City Assessor. He said O’Connell “wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions, and he made good decisions.”
Former Mayor Richard K. Sullivan, Jr., also knew O’Connell during his first-term as Mayor, when Sullivan served on the first elected Westfield Gas & Electric Commission. He said O’Connell was very committed to the community, had a vision for the Municipal Light Plant, and was an advocate for local control and the lowest possible rates. He called him “a political leader who understood issues from the perspective of the average citizen.” Rick Sullivan said O’Connell frequently came to meetings, and was a strong voice for those convictions. He was “dogged” in that belief, he said.
O’Connell ran uncontested for his second term and was inaugurated on Jan. 3, 1984, vowing to continue his commitment to education, and urging a continuance of “slow, well-controlled growth” in the city (Westfield Evening News 1/4/84). His son John called it a “tumultuous time, a strange time with the budgets” when Proposition 2 1/2 was just beginning.
During his second term, O’Connell got caught up in investigations by the Hampden County District Attorney into alleged irregularities of some city officials, according to archives at The Westfield News. The investigations included a $100-dollar-plate fundraiser held for O’Connell at the Shaker Farms Country Club in October 1983 after he was re-elected unopposed to his second term, and whether coercion was employed in the selling of tickets by some employees to city department heads. According to statements by O’Connell published at the time, about $8,000 was raised after expenses from the dinner.
O’Connell responded to the investigation by donating the dinner money to charities ($2,000 each to four charities) and in early Spring 1985 submitted his resignation as Mayor to be effective in June 1985. Although he and several other city officials were indicted later that same spring, there was no plea or conviction of O’Connell, and his case was dismissed, according to Rick Sullivan. Judge Beattie, who also served under O’Connell during his second term as Mayor said “it was a difficult time. Pretty much everyone that got indicted was found not guilty and had their charges dismissed,” he said, although neither he nor Sullivan were certain of the details.
O’Connell’s son John said on Wednesday that his father looked on his time as Mayor “very fondly. He took a great deal of pride that he left the office with a bigger surplus than before,” he said. “There were fine people involved the whole time he was the Mayor,” he said.
Judge Beattie agreed. “We had a great team at City Hall. It was a very friendly atmosphere to work under, because Mike was a very understanding man. So I enjoyed my time working with him immensely,” he said. Beattie was still on the Board of Assessors in 1989, when he resigned to go on the bench as judge. After that, he saw O’Connell in Hampden District Court quite frequently. “He was a good lawyer, well liked by everyone in the court system. He worked hard for his clients with good results. I can’t say enough good things about Mike O’Connell,” the judge said. “He was a great storyteller. We used to sit around and have a lot of laughs. He had a great memory for the distant past and near past, and a great sense of humor, so his stories were always enjoyable. I’m going to miss him,” Judge Beattie said.
“When I became Mayor, he was always there if you wanted an opinion. He was very professional, very giving of his time. He was always willing to answer a question, always behind the scenes and confidential,” Rick Sullivan said. “I very much appreciated that. Only a few people have held that job,” he added.
Brian Sullivan said O’Connell didn’t get back involved in Westfield politics until his wife, Cindy C. Harris ran in 2013 for her first-term as At-Large City Councilor, when he returned to the campaign trail for her. Harris is currently running for a third term as At-Large Councilor. In recent years, O’Connell was a constant presence at most City Council meetings, until his absence the last few months due to his illness.
“I would like people to know that he was very fond of Westfield, his home town. When he ran for Mayor, it was because he wanted to serve. When he was coach of the high school basketball team, it was because he had something to offer.You leave the world in better condition than it was when you got there, that’s what he thought,” John O’Connell said on Wednesday about his father.
