While former Councilor Steve Dondley’s latest personal attack is not as unethical as his behavior that led FACEBOOK to remove his posts from the Westfield City Council News for violating its Community Policy, it is a waste of our law department resources, as he continues his scorched earth approach from the last election, when he collaborated with city employees to spread misinformation.
You would think that the two Facebook pages, the Westfield City Council News and Westfield City Council News Group, created by Dondley and another councilor would be so toxic, that people would refuse to be associated with it. While it is largely ignored by many who recognize it for what it is, (as compared to The Westfield Community Forum with 14,000 members, or We Love Westfield Community Forum with 7224 members), it is interesting to see who the 258 are that have been attracted to the stench. But I digress.
I appreciate the work of some City Councilors and concerned citizens who asked questions, sought answers and assistance from state and local sources and experts. Thank you to all those who phoned, emailed and wrote our representatives and Senators, attended meetings, and refuse to be treated like petulant children, rather than hard working taxpayers and residents who deserve respect, and a full explanation of all options the City explored before being asked to pony up 18 million dollars.
We all want safe drinking water right away. People should not be attacked for daring to ask questions. Westfield residents did not make this mess, and we should not be forced to pay for cleaning it up. Other than the two lawsuits, the Council was not briefed on the options at the state and federal level for mitigation and cleanup. Was this too much to ask? This is too important an issue to play games, fight over getting information or answers. The City Council approved a 5 million dollar bond over 15 months ago, which is enough money to move forward, and most councilors would support other options.
This is not just about the cost. Is it unreasonable to ask, if the best option for supplying the north side, is forever filtering water with a contaminate that does not stick to anything, from the two wells located closest to the highest contamination levels, when we are surrounded by land and large quantities of the some of the best water in the country?
Despite all the transparency, it was hard to get answers. What is clear, is if it had it not been for the four councilors who voted against the original bond, and pushing for information, the bond would have passed and the two meetings, including one of the whole council with the Mayor, department heads and the public, would not have been held, and much of this information would not have been made known to the public?
The public has a right to know whether or not, the City with 3 wells shut down investigated all options, qualified for Fast Track permitting of new well sites, or any government options for providing some sort of relief or assurance, and councilors had an opportunity to look into the matter, including buying water from Holyoke.
At the March 8, 2018 Finance Committee meeting, DPW Director Billips and Water Department Director Fran Cain presented little information on the process or alternatives considered by the Department or Water Commission to supply water to the North side.
The Legislative & Ordinance (L&O) committee and Council were scheduled to vote on the 13 million dollar bond, one week later. Councilor’s questions and comments were limited to the public participation portion of the L&O meeting. A request and a motion for an executive session had been denied. This issue is too complex to discuss in a few minutes, at the beginning of a meeting. Unfortunately, Westfield has a history of the Council being told one thing, only to find out something different, later.
As the emails below show, councilors were given conflicting instructions for submitting questions to the appropriate person, waited weeks for answers. Some questions were answered, while some were not.
Despite the attacks, I have remained respectful, and worked with everyone to move the process forward. The following are emails I received on April 10 and 11th from the Mayor, Council President, Director Billips, and the Water Department, regarding getting questions to our city experts, ranging from sending questions to the Mayor, through the Council President, or me as Finance chair to the Department Head.
Dondley has all the following information, and email messages provided to him by our Legal Department, at taxpayer expense, as part of his public records request.
—–Original Message—–
From: “[email protected] –Heather Stayton”
To: “‘[email protected] — Matt Emmershy'”
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 4 PM
Subject: RE: Filtration
Hi Councilor Emmershy,
So that I’m not answering questions from multiple directions at once, could you please send these through the Chair of the Finance Committee so that he can assemble all of the questions together to get to us, and so that our responses can come all together?
I imagine that others are interested in the same issues you are questioning here and that way we avoid information going out multiple times to individuals, rather than in one complete package so that everyone gets the answers and can consider them together. Keeping everyone on the same page is definitely key.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Heather N. (Miller) Stayton, P.E.
Less than an hour later, I received an email from Councilor Emmershy, in response to Heather Stayton’s request. Councilor Emmershy had sent questions to the Water Department for some time and was looking for information, in time for a Finance Meeting to be held the next night, on April 11th. I forwarded his questions to Dave Billups, Heather Stayton and Fran Cain.
Earlier that same day, the Mayor emailed me about the item in our committee regarding “Water Production Costs”. While the Mayor said he did not understand our motion and felt it was outside our authority, he said he would not get in the middle of fact finding,
The Mayor requested that we move item until a later date, as DPW Director Billips was out for another week, and that questions be sent to him and Dave Billips, prior to the meeting so the Department Head could come prepared for answers. The Mayor also stated that the topic had been covered in Water Commission meetings, and that he might send a Commissioner to attend to give their perspective.
I explained that the meeting would simply be a discussion of water production costs and options, and formulating questions. About this time, Councilor Emmershy posted some questions on social media. The Mayor then informed me that he would not be attending the Finance meeting. No Commissioner attended. Questions we had for them were not presented. An effort to schedule a meeting the following week could be posted in time due to the Patriots’ Day holiday.
The next day, April 11, at 11:48 AM, City Council President John Beltrandi stated in an email to Dave Billips, Mayor Sullivan, Dan Allie and Legal that requests are being made for information from department personnel. “Please be sure that the Department heads are the contact. Also the Chair of the committee should be involved in the requests.”
On Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 11:42 AM, DPW Director Dave Billips emailed the Mayor, Legal, Council President Beltrandi, Leanne Cloutier and I.
Subject: RE: Finance Agenda
Dan,
I will be back to work middle of next week and we can address any pertinent questions you may have. I would also respectively ask that any correspondence sent to employees who work for me include me. We are all working toward the same goal and I am concerned the process has become fragmented.
I appreciate you consideration.
On April 19th, the Mayor said, “I advise you to reach out to the President or the Sub Committee Chair from this point forward as I try and educate as a whole.”
On April 27th, the Mayor said he “was hoping all questions could flow through the President to him and the departments all at once, and not 13 individual lists.”
On April 23, Director Billips emailed,
Councilor,
I know you and Councilor Emmershy have asked for additional information but it was discussed and those request need to go through the Mayor.
I also believe some of what you asked is beyond the scope of your authority, we can get an opinion from the Law Department to clarify that.
I also believe you have more than enough information to make an informed decision on this issue and see no merit in providing more without and understanding of why you feel you need this detail.
Dan Allie
Westfield At Large City Councilor
