Candidate for Westfield Mayor Michael Roeder announces his campaign platform to a group of residents during a press conference at the Westwood Restaurant Monday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – City resident Michael Roeder announced his candidacy for mayor Monday.
Roeder, who lives on Western Avenue, made the announcement in front of about three dozen people at the Westwood Restaurant, among them were city councilors David Flaherty and Mary O’Connell.
Roeder said he and his wife Cathy were looking forward to spending time with their children and grandchildren in their retirement.
“On the way to that paradise, in 2006, the first tax increase came,” Roeder said. “Then there was 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. I spent yesterday going over the budget and I can tell you there’s another 2.5 percent headed our way.”
Roeder said he and his wife own a Florida home and choose to live in Westfield, but decided once their property taxes reached $6,000, they were southbound. He told the audience they are within $500 of reaching that cap, and they have had enough.
That, he said, was the first reason he decided to challenge incumbent Mayor Daniel Knapik.
“The second thing was while looking at the budget, it struck me that our personnel services budget is increasing $1.3 million,” said Roeder.
He promised the audience that if elected, he would be looking at job freezes where possible and was “not going to do political hires.”
“The only thing that’s going to change the culture is to bring in some fresh blood,” he said.
Roeder’s third point he spoke about was that he wanted to “insist that this election be a referendum on this mayor’s borrowing and spending.”
Roeder said poor voter turnout in the past has been brushed off as indifference.
“The last election in November, 17,500 people voted in Westfield,” he said. “You have to give them something to vote for and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Roeder is a 1962 graduate of St. Mary High School and a 1966 graduate of Westfield State College. Roeder joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard and was a member of the 104th Infantry in Westfield. From July 1969-October 1983 Roeder served in various command and staff positions in the Guard and Army Reserve.
Roeder was a probation officer in Connecticut and from 1974-1983 was manager of Volunteer and Intern Programs, State Judicial Department foe the state of Connecticut. Roeder was then in the
Active Duty US Army AGR Program where he served in a number of management and command positions and retired from active duty in 1997 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Roeder then worked as Manager of Transition Services for the Conn. Department of Correction. He has been a consultant, a property owner and manager in three states, and a certified referee for basketball and soccer.
