WESTFIELD – With his hat all but officially thrown in the ring for the city’s upcoming mayoral race this fall, Michael L. Roeder appeared on The Westfield News Radio Show on WSKB 89.5 FM yesterday morning to speak with host Patrick Berry on his plans for his upcoming campaign against City Council President Brian Sullivan.
Roeder, who made his first foray into politics in 2013 when he lost a nailbiter to incumbent Mayor Daniel M. Knapik by around 300 votes, said he will be focusing on shaking more hands, meeting more voters, and raising more money than he did two years ago.
A member of the Massachusetts Independent Party, Roeder is stressing fiscal austerity as a major theme of his latest quest for City Hall’s corner office.
“In my opinion, $100 million in debt is about as far as we can go,” said Roeder. “The bank’s have cleared us to borrow up to $300 million but for Westfield, it wouldn’t be possible because it is costing us $8.5 million a year to pay down the interest on the money we’ve borrowed.”
In addition to fiscal reform, Roeder said he will also be doing some staff housekeeping at 59 Court Street.
“In dealing with different agencies in the city, some people would be asked to leave. There are a couple of people who have such a degree of loyalty to Knapik, that they couldn’t possibly serve under me,” said Roeder, though he wouldn’t divulge names. “A new President comes in, he replaces staff. A new governor comes in… look at Baker – he cleaned house.”
Roeder said he wouldn’t touch the city’s Police and Fire departments and that the notion that he would come in and completely overhaul every position in city government is “ridiculous.”
“I think we’ve got one of the best police departments anywhere. If (Chief John) Camerota wants to stay, he’ll stay. If the Fire Chief (Mary Regan) wanted to stay, she’ll stay,” he said. “But some people will be asked to leave even if they’re under contract. That’s just part of the game.”
Curbing the city’s ongoing battle with narcotics, specifically heroin, will also be a major point of emphasis for Roeder, who worked in the late ’60s and ’70s as a parole officer in Hartford, Conn.
“Kids are doing the needle again and it is very dangerous. Kids are shooting up 60/70 percent pure heroin at $5 a bag,” he said. “When I was a PO, they were shooting 2 percent heroin and it cost $10 a bag.”
“We’ve seen one major drug bust in Westfield in the last six months, but generally speaking, everyone in Westfield goes to Holyoke to buy their drugs and they bring them back,” Roeder said. “(Drug addicts) create a tremendous quality of life problem in any community they’re in.”
Roeder believes that spending related to the proposed construction of both a new school and a new science wing at Westfield High School are the biggest issues of the campaign.
“The MSBA (Mass. School Building Authority) just turned down the initial request to fund a percentage of the wing,” he said. “The Mayor could throw out a $36 million bond to the banks tomorrow because the council’s approved it.”
Roeder said he was initially supportive of the science wing project, but his thinking on the project has changed.
“WHS will never lose accreditation and I would’ve supported a science addition for $9 million, realizing that we’d probably get reimbursed half. You have to support stuff like that,” he said. “But then it went from a $9 million lab to a $40 million rehab project involving the whole high school and I don’t support that.”
According to Roeder, there are two cases on appeal pending in the State Supreme and Federal Appellate courts involving the proposed location of an elementary school on Cross Street, cases that are “far from over.”
“Any mayor or contractor that goes after that contract if it is released, with these cases pending, could wind up in serious financial difficulty, because if an injunction is restored, than all construction that’s started would have to stop,” he said.
Roeder said that he would issue a hiring freeze if elected, though he would not lay off any city employees. He stressed that he doesn’t want to borrow any more money, but added that there are numerous projects – namely the Little River Road Fire Station expansion, the continued progress of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, as well as riverfront and downtown redevelopment projects, among others – that will stay unfinished when the next mayor begins his watch.
It is an endless flow and the next mayor is going to have to make some hard choices,” said Roeder.
“If I’m elected, I’m going to bring real swift and deep cuts based on the expense side,” he said. “I think a lot of people are worried about that, but I don’t see any other way to do it under the current circumstances.”
