WESTFIELD – Finance Chairman Christopher Keefe anticipated heated debate Monday night as members of his committee, and other City Council members, discussed an extended agenda of appropriations and transfers.
Keefe wasn’t surprised that debate did occur then, with some pushback from several council members. What surprised Keefe was the funding requests that were the focus of greatest scrutiny.
In addition to Keefe, committee members Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean and Ward 5 Councilor Robert Paul Sr., the meeting was attended by Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy, as well as At-large Councilors Dan Allie, Cindy Harris and Matt VanHeynigen.
The council debate of the hot topic items tomorrow night may not only define the character of the City Council, which has six new members, but also the relationship between the seven At-large members and those six representing wards.
The hot button items Monday night were not the multimillion dollar sewer and water project funding, but the Domus request for $80,000 to build a home on Broad Street for homeless teens attending city high schools and for the $371,000 to complete the design and bid documents for the senior center project on Noble Street.
Figy is a strong proponent of both projects which are in his ward, both of which serve groups with unique needs.
Ann Lentini, executive director of Domus Inc., is seeking the $80,000 appropriation from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding collected as a property surtax to create low-income housing for up to 10 homeless students. That funding is the city’s “good will” gesture to secure $1.4 million in state and federal funding.
The project is to convert the former Red Cross Chapter house on Broad Street and construct 10 single-room residencies (SRO) in the Broad Street facility, as well as building an addition onto the existing structure. The facility would have several common areas to provide support services and counseling, as well as teaching life skills to the student, such as cooking, diet, budgets and finances.
“These are life skills that they did not learn from their families,” Lentini said. “This is an excellent location because they have access to school buses, public transportation, jobs and shopping. Domus has been working on this problem of homeless teenagers since 2008.”
“If we don’t go forward with this project, that state and federal money will go to another community,” Lentini said. “This project also preserves an historic building downtown. It would be the first project of this kind in western Massachusetts.”
Figy said that At-large Councilor James R. Adams, who was not present Monday night and who owns a business a short distance down Broad Street, investigated the business potential of the Red Cross building.
“Jim, speaking at the Planning Board, said that no developer is going to invest the kind of money needed to convert that building to another use,” Figy said. “It would be cheaper to just tear it down.”
Crean said his concern is that the $1.4 million budget to convert the building under the Domus project will cost $144,000 per unit.
“I’ve been very supportive of all of the Domus projects,” Crean said. “My concern, and that of my constituents, is that $144,000 is the cost of a home. I worry that good intentions will have negative consequences down the road. Part of me is very cautious because this is a very costly program.”
“This project is not an issue in the neighborhood,” Figy said. “I think you’re overthinking the issue.”
Keefe said that the members could continue that debate on the City Council floor tomorrow night. Crean made a motion to give the project a positive recommendation from the Finance Committee.
The committee also voted to give the Senior Center project funding a positive recommendation, but a number of councilors, both of the Finance Committee and in attendance, expressed concern about financing construction.
Keefe said that approving the $371,000 free cash appropriation to complete the design and bid document preparation is a good step, but questioned the city’s ability to afford the $7 million construction bond.
“How much (bond debt) can we afford?” Keefe asked. “Get the plans completed and put (the construction project) on the shelf, then pull them out when funding comes along, like we did with the Main Street/Broad Street $15 million project.”
Paul objected to the estimate square foot cost of $375, calling it a Taj Mahal project.
“I’d vote for it if it was $250 a square foot,” Paul said.
A number of city officials, including Purchaser Tammy Tefft and Community Development Director Peter Miller, said that the cost of public construction projects are 35 to 40 percent more expensive than private sector construction because of state and federal law pertaining to prevailing wages and other mandated requirements.
“Public construction bids are coming back at $280 per square foot and some are creeping up to $400 per square foot,” Miller said.
Tefft and Council on Aging Executive Director Tina Gorman said that senior center construction is more expensive because of the population the centers serve, many of seniors are physically challenged in terms of mobility, sight and hearing and require facilities to accommodate them.
Figy said that his ward has a high concentration of senior citizens who will use the new facility.
“The majority of people in Ward 2 are for this building,” Figy said. “It’s time. We need to finish something we start. It’s been over 25 years now.”
The committee voted to bring a positive recommendation to the floor tomorrow night to open further debate on the project.
