JOSEPH MITCHELL
WESTFIELD – The Personnel Action Committee presented the nomination of Joseph Mitchell to serve as the City Advancement Officer to the full City Council last night for a confirmation vote.
The council approved Mitchell’s nomination by a unanimous 11-0 vote.
PAC member Cindy Harris asked Mitchell to distinguish the differences between the City Advancement Officer’s duties and those of the Community Development Director because the job descriptions of the two posts are so similar.
Mitchell said the Community Development Director post, currently held by former Ward 3 City Councilor Peter J. Miller Jr., is focused on social and cultural issues while the Advancement Officer is focused on economic issues.
“The Community Development Department is geared toward Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) concerns and the underserved population segments of the community, while the CAO is geared toward business developments,” Mitchell said.
“Westfield can’t be a wallflower,” Mitchell said. “We have to work to not only draw new businesses to the city, but retain current businesses. Someone has to help those businesses navigate the permitting processes.”
Harris said that other City Council members have concerns about how information on pending projects, including financial enhancements such as tax incentive financing, is provided to the council members.
“Some councilors believe that information has been selectively provided to members,” Harris said.
Mitchell said that ongoing negotiations are often extremely sensitive and that details are not released until an agreement has been reached.
Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean said that he, as the council’s business liaison, conducts quarterly meetings with city officials involved in that negotiation process, so that some councilors, especially those assigned to the Finance and the Legislative & Ordinance Committees are privy to information before it is released to the council as a whole.
“This position is the sales force of the city,” Crean said during the PAC session. “The evidence of the effectiveness of this post is what has come into the city (new and expanded businesses) and what will be coming in.”
Crean, during the floor discussion of Mitchell’s appointment, said that several members of the City Council had concerns when the City Advancement Officer post was first established because of the similarity in the job descriptions of that position and the Community Development Director, but that over time the benefit of the CAO post has been proven to benefit the city.
In other business the City Council appointed Amanda Goodheart to serve on the Historical Commission after the PAC give a 3-0 positive recommendation. Goodheart is a PHD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in American History and currently works in Springfield in the museums.
The Pac recommended the reappointments of Daniel Smith to the Board of Registrars, Shanna Reed and William O’Grady as assistant city solicitors, Lenore Bernashe as the city Information Technology director and Tammy Tefft as the director of the Purchasing Department.
Smith’s reappointment was held up when presented at the April 3 City Council session because of a concern raised by At-large Councilor Dan Allie. The issue is a letter to the editor written by Smith and published just prior to the special election to fill the state Representative seat, a vacancy created when Don Humason was elected to serve in the state Senate, in which John Velis defeated Allie.
“We tabled this reappointment to deal with questions in committee rather than on the City Council floor,” PAC Chairman Ralph Figy said. “This issue is getting a life of its own. The intent if this (PAC) session is not to debate this on the council floor where Mr. Smith could not participate.”
“Did I do something that was ethically wrong?” Smith asked. “I did not. There are no do’s and don’ts as far was involvement (by a member of the Board of Registers) in someone’s campaign.”
“I attended the debates and one candidate put a spin on everything,” Smith said. “It is my personal belief that a person should not hold two elected offices. Sooner or later there will be a conflict on one of those constituencies will not be properly represented.
Allie said that he thought Smith’s action is inappropriate when he initially held up the reappointment vote.
“I have no ill will. Mr. Smith has valid concerns, but while he is entitled to his own opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts,” Allie said. “This was an attack piece written specifically to effect the outcome of the (special) election.”
Smith said that all of the statements in his letter to the editor were taken from statements Allie made during the election in various venues.
“Everything has to do with what he said during the campaign. He skimmed around issues, so this is no personal attack,” Smith said.
Allie, who voted for Smith’s reappointment, said he appreciated the way the PAC handled the issue.
