I would like to thank Patrick Berry, owner of the Westfield News Group for his invitation to the City Council members to submit articles to the newspaper. He has proposed a weekly rotating schedule and this should allow you to be informed on the issues that affect Westfield.
I would also like to thank the voters for electing me to the City Council. It is a high honor to once again have an opportunity to represent the citizens of Westfield in elected office. The Council President, Brent Bean, has assigned me to the following committees of the Council; Business Development, City Properties, Government Relations and Chairman of the License Committee.
Upcoming items for the License Committee for Thursday night (October 6 at 5:30), include an application for a special permit to operate a bed and breakfast at a residence on Susan Drive. We will also discuss an application for both a Junk Dealer and Junk Collector’s license for a business proposed as Monty’s Motorsports LLC., 518 Southampton Road. The last application is for a Special Permit for a contractor’s yard on 0 Medeiros Way for Western Mass Demolition. Lastly, we will look to clean up the “items in committee” list which means that leftover, unacted on items will be discussed and moved to a vote of removal for the city council to consider. We have items going back to April of 2012 that were not acted on. This is a routine activity for city council committees.
Recently, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) was awarded a technical assistance grant from the MA Department of Energy Resources to assist 20 communities with their clean energy activities. Westfield will benefit from the assistance as the PVPC technical team will assist the city with development of a municipal energy reduction plan. The plan is a document that demonstrates a pathway for the city to reduce its energy (natural gas and electricity) consumption by 20% over 5 years. This is also a requirement to become a Green Community, a program that 155 of 351 cities and towns participate.
Additionally, the City Council and School Committee will consider adopting a fuel efficient vehicle policy and the adoption of the energy reduction plan. Also, in front of the City Council in the coming days, will be a resolution to adopt 780 CMR 115 Appendix AA (Stretch Energy Code) of the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS), including future editions, amendments, or modifications thereto, effective January 2, 2017. If the items above are adopted, then that will allow the city to submit an application to the Green Communities Program for consideration later this fall. If designation is granted, the city will be able to access Green Communities funding to implement the energy reduction plan. More on that later.
It is anticipated that later this month, the Westfield Gas and Electric will be provided with an opportunity to convert the remaining street lights in town (over 2,000) to Light Emitting Diode or LED lights. The G&E has responded to a recent Green Communities Grant opportunity that would provide up to 50% of the cost of the lighting fixtures. Across the Commonwealth, and the United States, cities and towns are converting their street lights and saving between 30-70% of their cost to light the roadways. I will provide the projected savings for Westfield in a future edition of this column.
Lastly, this past week was Westfield Day at the Big E. I marched with Westfield Little League and it was a lot of fun as the back of the parade is filled with all of the youth organizations in town. This was the 100th edition of the Great New England Fair and it did not disappoint as the weather was fabulous and a fun time was had by all. If you would like to email me, my address is [email protected] or call at 562-1390. Enjoy the Fall.
Regards:
Daniel M. Knapik
City Council At-Large
