MARY L. O’CONNELL
WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee will recommend that a motion relative to term limits for the mayor and City Council members be removed from committee without action because there is another similar motion pending.
The L&O also voted to keep another motion, the definition of a family, in committee until it can find a better solution than the present motion which appears to violate a number of state and federal standards and protections.
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell and former Ward 3 Councilor Ann Callahan submitted a motion on May 16, 2013 to establish a definition of a family and that the definition be added to the city’s Code of Ordinances.
The two councilors were seeking to create a zoning code to deal with the number of unrelated persons residing together, a problem not specific to their two wards, but of concern because of the high number of properties being rented to Westfield State University students in their wards, a situation frequently leading to town-gown conflicts pertaining to comportment and propriety.
ANN CALLAHAN
“We’ve been working on this for quite a while,” O’Connell said. “It’s an ongoing challenge. Whatever ordinance we put together has to be enforceable.”
Shanna Reed of the Law Department was present Wednesday at the L&O session to provide legal advice to the City Council members.
“The definition of family has changed so much over the years that there is a concern about the legality on enforcement of it,” Reed said.
PETER J. MILLER
Community Development Director Peter J. Miller Jr., who was Callahan’s predecessor, said there is currently a definition of family on the city ordinance codes “that would not stand a (court) challenge.”
Miller said that the city needs language in the zoning regulations so that building and health code enforcement officials will “have something to point to so developers and landlords can see what is acceptable. We have to have a means of addressing overcrowding and density issues in the downtown area of the city.”
L&O Chairman and Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy said that zoning regulations “may be the way to go instead of trying to define what a family is.”
RALPH FIGY
Figy said that he was aware of a situation in his ward where 31 students were all living in a three-apartment building on Taylor Avenue, a situation resolved when Domus Inc. brought the property and rehabilitated the building which is now used as a special needs housing facility.
Miller suggested that the Council create an ordinance requiring landlords to complete a renter’s registry of people residing in their properties.
“That is done in Amherst and other college communities,” Miller said.
The L&O members voted to remove a motion submitted at the October 3, 2013 council session by former At-large Councilor Agma Sweeney to change the current two-year term of the mayor and City Council to a three year term.
Figy said that there is also a motion to establish four-year terms for those elected offices.
Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe, an L&O member, said the four-year term would “save the city a few bucks by piggy-backing (local elections) with state elections” which occur on a four-year cycle.
“Towns have three-year terms, but that could not work for cities,” Keefe said.
Figy said that any term changes would require a City Charter review and possible amendment, a process which may include a voter referendum and action of the state Legislature which established the city’s Charter in 1919.
