CHRISTOPHER KEEFE
WESTFIELD – This year’s race for the right to represent Ward 1 on the Westfield City Council is well underway with a two person race for the seat, one that Christopher Keefe has every intention of retaining.
Keefe, the Legislative & Ordinance Chairman and former two-term President, began his first term on the council in 2007, and served as the Chairman of the Westfield Zoning Board of Appeals prior to his time on the council.
Running for his fourth consecutive term, Keefe hopes that both his wealth of experience and emphasis on improving the city’s strained infrastructure will resonate with his ward.
“It was one of the reasons I ran in the first place,” he said of the road situation in the city. “And in six short years, we’ve made big improvements. Those two bridges going into downtown were a big issue for Ward 1.”
Currently the Western Massachusetts Regional Project Manager for Patriot Properties, Inc., which provides municipal software and revaluation services to almost a hundred different communities throughout the Commonwealth, Keefe says there is always room for improvement.
“We’ve got to keep it up,” he said. “The intersection at Notre Dame and North Elm is woefully inadequate, as is the turnpike exchange. We’ve been a victim of our own success. Exit 3 is a busy place because the city is a destination with low unemployment. When I first got here, it was a single lane heading from the pike to downtown.”
Prior to his current occupational position, he served as the Principal Appraiser and Chairman of the Board of Assessors for the Town of West Springfield and as a Community Advisor for the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services.
A 1988 graduate of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Keefe has been a Ward 1 resident since 1991.
He believes there are financial situations that need to be worked out, too. During his tenure on the council, Keefe has proposed and passed a $10,000 exemption on business personal property taxes and a full property tax exemption on farm animals and machinery.
“Ward 1 has the most farms of any ward (in the city),” he said. “And farm equipment gets very pricy. I want to keep taxes down for all businesses, though.”
While a strong proponent for business, Keefe believes there needs to be a “delicate balance”, as he has also been a strong advocate for stopping the development of an explosives depot on Root Road, limiting the size of the proposed industrial park off Cabot Road, and rolling back the annual 2.5 percent tax levy increase each of the past three years.
“A lot of seniors live in Ward 1 and they can’t fork over a 2.5 percent tax increase every year,” he said.
Overall, Keefe is looking to keep serving his ward with the same principles that he began with in 2007.
“Keeping the tax burden low, which I’ve been successful at twice, and continuing to focus on improvement,” he said.
