Candidates for seven At-large seats on the Westfield City Council gathered in the Westfield Vocational-Technical High School auditorium last night for a question and answer session staged by The Westfield News Group and The Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce. Attending the forum were incumbents (left to right) Brent Bean II, John Beltrandi III, Dave Flaherty, Brian Sullivan, and Agma Sweeney, are joined by challengers Daniel Allie, Matthew Collins, Stephen Dondley, Cindy Harris, Kevin Medeiros and Matthew VanHeynigen. Missing from the forum was incumbent James R. Adams. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Education, taxes, and attracting business were the priorities among most candidates last night during a debate sponsored by The Westfield News Group and the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce.
Eleven of the 12 candidates for seven City Council At-large seats answered four rounds of questions at Westfield Vocational Technical High School. Incumbent James Adams was not in attendance due to a prior commitment. Fellow incumbents Brent Bean II, John Beltrandi III, Dave Flaherty, Brian Sullivan and Agma Sweeney faced challengers Daniel Allie, Matthew Collins, Steve Dondley, Cindy Harris, Kevin Medeiros, and Matthew VanHeynigen.
The candidates offered opening statements followed by a series of questions from moderator Patrick Berry. For the rounds, an incumbent and a newcomer were randomly paired and asked one of five questions prepared by News staff. The last question was specific to each individual candidate, and the evening ended with closing statements.
All candidates posed a question about whether or not the property tax structure meets the needs of the city agreed it does not.
Flaherty said Proposition 2 1/2 limits Westfield and the city needs to stay within its budget.
“It puts a tough limit on us,” he said. “We have to live within that 2 1/2.”
Harris’ campaign focuses primarily on homeowner taxes and said the rising cost of taxes is not acceptable and it does not meet the needs of residents.
“Big businesses have come to Westfield,” she said. “There is no room to shift the burden of taxes on the homeowner.”
Bean discussed opportunities for new growth and said the city needs to focus on attracting more business so that homeowners are not burdened with taxes.
Another question posed asked candidates if under Westfield’s weak mayor/strong council form of government the council lacks independent thought and is a rubber stamp for the mayor.
Sweeney said the mayor, a former councilor, is “well prepared” when he comes before the council and because of that, the council often votes in his favor. She said the council often disagrees.
“When we’re able to disagree and have good discourse, it’s strong all around,” said Sweeney.
Flaherty said the council “lacks independent thought and is a rubber stamp for the mayor too often.”
He said the two branches of government are separate, but equal but “lately there has been too much rubber stamping.” Flaherty also said the mayor is often inaccurate and councilors need to perform their due diligence.
Dondley said Westfield has become a miniature version of Washington, D.C.
“It’s a he-said, she-said thing,” said Dondley. “It has to stop.”
Dondley promised to “find facts and report facts” if elected and added that citizens need to do their research, as well and question councilors.
Sullivan, who is seeking his ninth term, noted that many of his years as a councilor were spent with his brother as mayor and no one accused the council of being a rubber stamp then.
Councilors were asked about their spending priorities and the overwhelming majority said education was their top priority.
When asked about the most important concerns for the city, candidates agreed schools topped the list once again.
“Our children are our biggest asset,” said Beltrandi. “The schools are where we need to direct our attention.”
Beltrandi added that playing fields are also important, the senior citizens of Westfield are the city’s other greatest asset and said the senior center coming to fruition is a priority for him.
Sullivan said finances are his main concern and said during tough economic times, it is important to maintain schools and public safety while “keeping our head above water” until better times emerge.
When asked about what some perceive as an the aggressive pace of change in the city, Medeiros and Bean both said it is not too aggressive because securing new business is fundamental to the city moving forward.
“We really need to develop business,” said Medeiros. “We need a group of two people on the council to focus in on the businesses that want to come here.”
Medeiros added he believes P.J. Miller and Jeffrey Daly are doing a great job attracting new business to the city.
Allie said Westfield has made many good improvements but believes the pace is too fast at times.
“The last five to seven years into his community have been tough economically and people are struggling,” said Allie. “During this time some of these projects moved fast and people weren’t sold on them.”
Bean said he believes the city needs to be aggressive.
“We have the tools to be aggressive, that will alleviate the tax concerns we’ve talked about tonight,” he said.
VanHeynigan agreed with Bean that the city has the right tools, it just needs to market them.
“We have a lot to offer and we undersell ourselves,” said VanHeynigan.
On the topic of transparency, Medeiros said the council needs to simply get along.
“The family aspect of the City Council has to come together,” he said. We need to have continuity – we need to get along.”
Collins was asked about a recent 2.5 override that passed in Northampton to fund schools. Without such an override here, Collins was asked where he would look to cut the city’s school budget. A vice principal in Northampton and a former Westfield teacher, Collins said Northampton’s schools are not “top heavy with administration” but Westfield has too many administrators for Collins to remember them all.
“We need to move money from the administrative level and put it back in the classroom,” Collins said.
Flaherty was also asked where he would make cuts and said salaries, which comprises the majority of the budget, are not an option because of contract negotiations. He said he has questioned in the past why the council is not privy to those negotiations and he believes “we should know what’s in a contract” that the council approves to fund.
Harris listed rising taxes, the Pochassic Street Bridge and senior housing as her top three priorities for the city.
During closing statements, councilors asked for votes Nov. 5 and made statements about working for the city and being a voice for residents.
The debate was taped for Westfield Community Programming Channel 15 on the following dates and times: tonight at 9 p.m.; tomorrow at 2 p.m.; Friday at 9 a.m., 4 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 11 a.m. and 5:30pm; Sunday at 5 p.m.; and Monday at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.
All of the forums are also going to posted at https://vimeo.com/channels/603160.
Candidates for ward 4 and Ward 5 will face off Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Land Auditorium at the Westfield Athenaeum, and Mayor Daniel Knapik will square off with opponent Michael Roeder Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Westfield Vocaitonal technical High School’s upper campus auditorium.
