Dear Citizens of Westfield,
With the November 3 election now upon us, I write to you with a final appeal for your consideration of my background and record on the Council over the past twenty-two months, and hope that you will allow me to continue to serve you as one of your At-Large City Councilors.
In addition to managing a household budget like all of you, I bring sixteen years of professional experience in reviewing, preparing and advising on budgets for external funding in both higher education and land conservation, and in working to ensure accountability (to both private and public funding sources) that the funds are used as proposed. In particular, my role as Director of Grants at Western New England Universityfor the past seven years – often involving proposals in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and occasionally in excess of $1 million – has lent much to my work on the Council in weighing funding requests from the City. Much like I’ve worked with project directors in higher education (and in my prior grant seeking work at The Nature Conservancy)to make the best case for funding of their proposals to corporate, foundation, or government funders, I look for a compelling public benefit in the use of your tax dollars when weighing funding requests and the annual budget from the Mayor. In addition, as I would advise against submitting a proposal without clear benefits to the constituency at hand, I have voted as a Councilor on issues that I did not believe were in the best interests of the city, or among its greatest priorities. In voting against both the meals tax and hotel tax increases, I believed the cost to small businesses would outweigh the benefit of additional tax revenue to the City – and that we should be better utilizing the revenues we have to work with before resorting to tax increases. In voting to dissolve the Business Improvement District (BID) last year, I believed – after hearing from dozens of business owners in our downtown – that the fee they were being assessed no longer brought the value they thought it would deliver to them and their businesses, and that they were wholly within their rights to dissolve the BID. If given the opportunity by you, the citizens of Westfield, to continue to serve you, I will continue with this approach in weighing each issue and funding request as you, the taxpayers, are the funders of the City’s work.
As a native and 29-year resident of the City, having lived in four of the City’s six wards, with seven years of service on the Planning Board prior to my election to the Council two years ago, I am intimately familiar with all each ward of our City and its neighborhoods, and the issues confronting each of them. As a graduate of the Westfield schools (WHS ’92) with a Master’s in Public Administration from Westfield State (’07), I am a product of the City’s educational assets. In addition, as the husband of a Westfield teacher, Melissa VanHeynigen, father of two current WPS students and one future WPS student, I am a knowledgeable stakeholder in weighing the many decisions regarding our schools that will come in front of the Council.
For you to place your trust and confidence in me, I view my role as Councilor with the utmost respect, and will devote my time and effort as your Councilor to address the issues you’ve deemed priorities to you – whether roads, taxes, schools, economic development, or quality of life. If re-elected on November 3, you can count on me to continue to serve your interests and priorities, and to continue to be as responsive as possible in addressing your local problems and concerns.
You should also know that while I am seeking re-election, the campaign I ran two years ago was my first ever, as I am not a career politician or a perennial campaigner – and I am not interested in any higher office here in Westfield, or anywhere else. I am seeking a seat on the City Council again for the same reason I sought a seat on the Council two years ago – for no other reason than to provide a voice for sound investments with our tax dollars here in Westfield, and tax stabilization for residents. I do not view my service on the Council as a stepping stone to a higher office – the residents and taxpayers of Westfield deserve better than this. I believe my strengths are in listening to the desires and wishes of the taxpayers, and voting accordingly as a member of the Council.
I am proud that every form of support I have ever received for my campaign (in both the prior and current election cycles) has come from you, the citizens of Westfield. You’ve never seen – nor will you ever see – any endorsements on any of my materials from any outside agencies, organizations, or political parties – because I refuse to accept any such endorsements. I firmly believe that I am accountable to all of you, and you only – and that once outside support enters local campaign coffers, the citizens (and their interests and priorities) are no longer what drives the decision-making by the official accepting that gift or endorsement.
Since first taking office as your Councilor in January 2014, I have taken what I believe has been a very pragmatic approach in my work in serving you. I bring a common sense approach to governing – due to the real understanding I have of your concerns – inaddressing the issues that are most important to you, your families, and the future of Westfield.
I believe that we – as a City – need to make the investments that are necessary to ensure our City’s long-term health and viability, such as our schools, roads and other infrastructure. I also believe that we need to be mindful of the increasing tax burden our residents are bearing, and encourage new economic activity to mitigate increases on our residents. As local support from the state continues to decline, and our obligations to our debt and retirees continues to grow, balancing the City’s budgets has been and will continue to be a challenge involving hard decisions, and input from all of you. However, I believe I offer the type of leadership that is necessary to help the Council navigate this course in service to you.
I hope to have your support on Election Day, and respectfully and humbly ask for your vote for City Council At-Large on November 3.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. VanHeynigen
City Councilor At-Large
