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WESTFIELD – On Friday, the Westfield City Clerk’s office confirmed that Mayor Daniel M. Knapik took out nomination paperwork for an at-large City Council seat.
Knapik commented that it was “just a rumor” when questioned about his seeking a return to the City Council but he posted an announcement to his FaceBook page Friday evening about his run for an at-large seat.
So far, Knapik is the twelfth known individual who has requested nomination paperwork from the Clerk’s office for seven elected at-large seats on the City Council. Of the remaining 11 who have taken out nomination papers, four are currently at-large incumbents: Daniel Allie, Brent Bean, David Flaherty and Matthew Van Heynigan. The others are: John J. Beltrandi III, Mark Butler, Steve Dondley, Christopher Keefe, Muneeb Moon Mahmoud, Rudolph Musterait and Carl Vincent.
Here is a list of the individuals who have shown an interest in the individual Ward Council seats as of this writing:
Ward 1: incumbent, Christopher Keefe, and his challenger from 2013 Mary Ann Babinski.
Ward 2: incumbent Ralph Figy.
Ward 3: incumbent Brian Hoose and Andrew Surprise.
Ward 4: incumbent Mary O’Connell, Mark Butler and Katherine Bentrewicz.
Ward 5: incumbent Robert Paul, Sr.
Ward 6: Cheryl Crowe, Dave Flaherty and William Onyski
The mayor’s race has Harold Phelps, Michael Roeder and current At-Large Councilman Brian Sullivan circulating nomination papers.
None of the individuals identified can be certified as official candidates until they submit the required paperwork, which is due by 5 p.m. om Aug. 11. If there are any citizens interested in running for any of the elected positions this November you can still request nomination paperwork up until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, from the Clerk’s office at City Hall.
Once the registrar qualifies the signatures of those seeking office it will be determined if preliminary elections will be held. Tuesday, Sept. 22 is the tentative date for preliminary elections in the city with a general election set for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The deadline for voter registrations are Wednesday, Sept. 3, for the preliminary and Wednesday, Oct. 14, for the general election.
The Westfield News will once again host candidate forums this fall. The at-large candidates forum will be on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and a mayor’s candidate forum on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Both of these forums will begin at 6:30 p.m. with candidate meet-and-greets and be held in the auditorium of Westfield Technical Academy, which is located within the upper campus building, on Smith Avenue. Individual ward candidate forums will be scheduled at a later date if needed.
