Ward 5 Councilor Leslie D. LeFebvre joined the City Council for his first meeting Thursday, Jan. 17 (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – The 2019 City Council reboot took care of business Thursday with some effort, as members adjusted to a new seating chart and committee assignments. Most of the communications from the Mayor were referred to sub-committees, with financial transfers sent to Finance, now chaired by Brent B. Bean, II, and ordinance amendments and resolutions to Legislative & Ordinance, now chaired by William Onyski.
One exception was the resolution authorizing approval for the Mayor to sign the Host Community Agreement with Heka, Inc. at 89 Sgt. Dion Way, which At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty requested to first go to License, now chaired by John J. Beltrandi, III. Bean asked Flaherty why send it to License, and he replied because the License committee is tasked to investigate all requests for licenses, and an agreement is a form of license. Flaherty said it would then be sent to L&O.
Flaherty also objected to a request for immediate consideration for the reappointment of Mark Cressotti as City Engineer, for a term to expire Feb. 2022. Personnel Action committee chair Cindy C. Harris then requested the item be referred to Personnel. Only one objection is necessary to prevent immediate consideration.
Immediate consideration to accept the G.L. disclosure to allow city employee Tyler Wingate to referee basketball for Parks & Recreation had previously passed.
Information from Assistant City Solicitor Shanna Reed from the Traffic Commission relative to the Papermill Road heavy commercial vehicle exclusion was referred to L&O and the Law Dept.
Two items recommended by sub-committees passed with the City Council’s unanimous approval. The first was acceptance of a grant from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs in the amount of $5,500 for a food program partnership between the Council on Aging and the Horticulture Department of the Westfield Technical Academy.
During the Finance committee discussion earlier in the evening, COA Executive Director Tina Gorman said this was not a grant that she wrote, but one “that fell into my lap as a gift,” when Sen. Don Humason obtained grants for all of the Councils on Aging. Gorman said she wanted to do something around food insecurity. This program will provide fresh vegetables for the COA lunch program, by providing equipment to the WTA Horticulture Dept., allowing students to grow vegetables hydroponically all year.
Also passing unanimously on a recommendation from the L&O committee was authorization of a MassWorks grant of $2,936,745 from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development to the Engineering Department for the Springfield Road Traffic Signal Project.
Onyski said this is not a matching grant for the city. Earlier, the council had voted to allow up to $400,000 to the Engineering Dept. for preparation work, of which they spent $200,000. At the L&O meeting earlier in the evening, City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell said they are hoping not to spend another dime on the project.
Cressotti added that if there are further changes in the design, there is a contingency in the MassWorks grant to cover the changes.
