ROBERT PAUL
WESTFIELD – The city’s Ward 2 was represented on the Municipal Light Board for six years by Robert A. Paul Sr. but, when his Camelot Lane home became part of Ward 5 after a re-districting plan took effect, Paul declined to challenge the Ward 5 G&E incumbent and instead chose to run for the ward’s city council seat.
Paul said in a recent interview that Ward 5 has “a great representative in Tom Flaherty” and the G&E is “lucky to have him” so he chose to seek a City Council seat where, he said, he can bring “the same qualities I brought to the G&E”
He said he believes he can be effective on the council because “I know how to work as (a team) and create a team” and said, “I believe that the city council will do good things for the city as a team.”
He said that, working as a team, the Municipal Light Board has brought the residents of the city electric and gas rates which are significantly lower than both the state average and rates charged by nearby publicly traded utility companies while still maintaining a “reliable high quality distribution network” and “superior storm response.”
“I bring a proven track record, I have delivered at the G&E” he said and said that he can benefit Ward 5 by making the whole city a better place.
“Ward 5 will be successful when the city continues to grow and prosper” he said and pointed out that the city has the needed assets to do that.
“This town’s got the right stuff” he said and said that by working as a team the city council can guide the city’s success by making the city attractive both for residents and for businesses.
“We need to draw people into Westfield,” he said by having “the type of community (with) policing, fire, EMT (services) where people want to live.”
Paul said that in his professional life he has had both local and global responsibilities and said that companies everywhere are seeking to locate facilities in communities where they can be assured of stable infrastructure to support their operations.
He said that the city can also be attractive to businesses not only because of the airport in the city, which can accommodate any passenger plane, but also because the city also has the reliable infrastructure that companies are looking for in terms of “electric, gas, water, sewer, public safety (and) schools.”
Paul said he is also a strong supporter of the city’s school system which educated all four of his sons who he said are all now grown and successful in their careers.
“I think you need a strong school advocate on the city council,” he said and said he would fill that role. He also said that he has long been an especially strong advocate of special needs programs and said that a good special needs program is “good for the school system (and) good for the city.”
He said that he became involved in special education and with Kamp for Kinds shortly after he moved to the city.
Paul grew up in Philadelphia and said he moved to Forest Glen Drive in Westfield in 1971 when he started a Chicopee-based business, Jerrold Electronics, which he said “is the company which build all the broadband in this region of the country.”
He said he moved back to Philadelphia for five years when he started a liquid-crystal display company which he sold before he moved back to Westfield to work at Digital Equipment Corporation where he was responsible for manufacturing, technology and plant management for 15 years.
After that, Paul worked for a Chicago-based company working to deregulate the electric and gas utility businesses.
He currently works as a vice president of material operations for Sealed Air Corporation, with an operation in Holyoke where, he said, jobs have recently been added to the payroll.
Paul lives in the Ridgecrest section of the city with his wife of 49 years, Chris. Their four sons are grown but one, Bob, still lives in Westfield with two of their six grandchildren.
Another son, Jonathan, lives in Holyoke while his remaining sons, Christopher and Shawn moved farther afield.
Christopher lives in New Mexico with his wife and two children and Shawn lives in Montana with his wife and two children.
