Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan (WNG file photo)
WESTFIELD – Mayor Brian P. Sullivan called Thursday night’s City Council meetings “very frustrating.” Seven department heads, including the Mayor were invited to the Finance Committee and, he said, “not a single one of us was ever addressed by the councilor who asked us there to answer questions.” He said that was evidenced by the fact that they sat around for two hours, and at the end of the night, everything was tabled.
The department heads had been invited to go over line by line the $1.5 million in reductions that the Mayor presented to the City Council on October 19. At the time, he had asked for immediate consideration of the reductions, but the matter was sent to the Finance Committee.
“I tried to make my office and City Hall very available for discussions that I thought were going to happen last night,” Sullivan said on Friday. “Unfortunately, political games were played, and at the end the only people that were affected were the citizens of Westfield who did not get to see the reduction in the budget, and therefore a tax decrease.”
Sullivan was also accused on the Council floor of playing politics by the timing of the proposed budget reductions. He answered that charge, by saying, “the reason I sent that in is that we’re four months into the fiscal year, which is enough time to look at the budget and see areas I can cut. It’s a timing thing. The Council needs to make the cuts so they have the final numbers on what the budget is to set the tax rate at the end of November or early December, when they get all the final numbers from the Department of Revenue.”
The Mayor made the point that he is running unopposed. He said he promised that he would manage the budget, and “that’s what I’m doing.”
Sullivan believes that in two weeks, the Council will find the means to accept the reductions. “They all know as well as I do, all these moves are in the best interests of the citizens in Westfield,” he said, adding, “I find it interesting that the four Councilors who tabled the budget found it in their powers to pass the police cars, and they say my motive was a political one.”
He also admits that he is all for “going toe-to-toe on politics. But when it spills over and affects city workers and residents, that’s not politics anymore,” Sullivan said.
The Mayor said Friday was another day, and he wanted to thank the department heads for showing up and “doing what they do best, working in the best interest of the City of Westfield.”
