by Brent B. Bean II, At-Large City Council
I was disappointed in the outcome of the vote on the water bond at the March 15 City Council meeting.
I want to make it perfectly clear that if the finance committee needed more time to research the project, they could have easily kept the matter in committee until they had the time to acquire the information they were seeking. Instead, they voted it out of committee and sent it back to the council with a negative recommendation. Councilors Emmershy and Surprise voting NO and Councilor Allie voting YES. There was an effort by Councilor Emmershy to leave the bond in finance which wasn’t recognized by the committee, which is puzzling.
Then, on Thursday, as explained by myself and the Mayor, those opposed to the project could have given themselves an additional two weeks to research the matter by voting to approve the bond in finance and the first reading in Legislative & Ordinance committee. They could still have rejected the bond at the second reading if they were not satisfied with the project or its financing.
Let me also make it clear that nobody is asking anybody to rubber-stamp the bond. But as Councilor Babinski pointed out, the water improvement project has been in the works for a very long time. The plans had been developed, discussed and approved by the water commission together with our engineering team and expert consultants who explored many options. If the finance committee was surprised by the size of the bond request or wasn’t sure how the money would be spent, it’s only because they were not paying attention to the process.
This water project is extremely important to the welfare of the residents of Westfield. We have contaminated wells that need permanent filtration systems installed. And as evidenced by the Westfield State University closures and the loss of pressure in Ward 4 last year, we have a water system that is in urgent need of capacity improvements.
The Mayor and other City Councilors will continue to do our best to work with the appropriate subcommittees in an open, professional manner. Clean drinking water is a core function of government, and this has become an absolute emergency situation. All Councilors need to treat it as such and ensure that we are able to address this problem before it turns into a public health crisis.
