MATT VANHEYNIGAN
Dear Citizens of Westfield,
First, Happy New Year!I hope that all of you were able to enjoy the holidays, and find time with family and friends.As the holidays are often a time for many of us to re-connect with family and friends who return here to visit with us, it’s times like this that often serve as a reminder how far we’ve come as a City. In catching up with former residents visiting us, we hear much praise about the improved Elm Street corridor, the completed Park Square, the expanding Columbia Greenway, the new Senior Center, new and growing businesses across the City, and the excellent education received here that served as the foundation to successful careers of many former students of the Westfield Schools, now living across the Commonwealth, and the country.As residents, despite all of our frustrations with the process of governing our City, it is worth noting and celebrating the successes and progress we are reminded of by our guests not only at this time of year, but throughout the year as well.
I’m sure 2016 was a very busy year for many of you, and it was for us on the Council as well. In particular, as a member of the Council’s Finance Committee, with At-Large Councilor Dave Flaherty and Councilor Bob Paul (Chair), 2016 was an incredibly productive year addressing the City’s finances and capital needs. For the first half of the year, we spent countless hours in a series of meetings over several weeks with department heads – to review their capital needs, and FY17 budget needs. The meetings on capital needs in February – March helped us to arrive at a fairly comprehensive list of the City’s capital priorities, ranging from various infrastructure improvements to equipment needs across departments. Overall, I’d say this was a very worthwhile exercise for the Committee, to help the Council better understand how we can better prioritize our capital needs going forward. The budget meetings held in April – May allowed the Committee to identify not only areas for greater efficiencies, but areas where fee increases in different departments could be implemented to generate more revenues for the City. As a result, each of us on the Finance Committee brought forth a number of proposed cuts totaling $1-$2 million for the full Council to consider in its review of the FY17 budget in June. As you all know, the cuts ultimately made by the Council amounted to about $100,000 – far less than I, and my colleagues on the Finance Committee, had hoped. The budget the Council ultimately passed included another tax increase, which we were trying to avoid altogether, or at least minimize, through targeted budget cuts. Unfortunately, there simply was not enough appetite on the Council for the cuts we proposed.
For the second half of the year (after enjoying some much-needed time to re-charge with family and friends over the summer given a very busy spring), in addition to voting on a number of appointments to city boards, the acceptance of several grants, and the transfers of city monies between accounts, the Council also took action, after some discussion, on more sizable financial decisions for the City. In September, two allocations of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding (generated by a 1% assessment on residential property for open space, historic preservation, and affordable housing projects); were made, one for the Athenaeum’s renovation project ($550,000) and another for the Moseley Apartments project by DOMUS, Inc.($200,000). In October, the Council approved a $4 million bond for the City’s water meter replacement project, which will ultimately net savings by identifying the loss of water through leaks in the system across the city. In addition, the Council passed a $75,000 appropriation to allow us to begin to address the backlog (no pun intended) of tree work that is needed on city property to protect life and property from many trees that clearly are posing risks to residents. In November, we learned that the City’s certified free cash balance of over $3.4 million would allow for an allocation to completely offset the budgeted FY17 tax increase, and in December the Council voted in support of a $2.37 million appropriation of free cash in order to do this. Thanks are due to Mayor Sullivan and his team for their substantial effort to determine this to be a sound financial decision at this time, for which we can all be grateful – for now.
At the Council’s final meeting of 2016, Councilors Bean and Knapik motioned for several appropriations totaling $6 million to begin to address many of the City’s capital needs, as well as for site preparation work at the Turnpike and Airport Industrial Parks. These motions led to some important discussion on the pressing needs of the City against the backdrop of the $2.37 million in free cash the Council had just approved. Going forward, as Mayor Sullivan and other Councilors have said, as residents rightfully expect our infrastructure to be maintained as well as the creation of revenue-generating activity for the City, these and other projects will require our investment. Complete relief from tax increases in the future is not realistic in light of the long list of infrastructure improvements needed – not the least of which includes the City’s nearly 250 miles of roadways demanding our upkeep.
The work of the City Council this year will include some key decisions – and call for input from you, the residents and taxpayers of our City – on making the necessary investments in the City’s infrastructure, including our roads, sewers, and buildings. The city’s water system will require substantial investment so that it can continue to meet our needs, and the new school will need to be addressed – as sending our students to a school outside of the City, at a cost of over $250,000 each year, is neither sustainable nor a long-term solution. A recent tour of the City’s Police Headquarters on Washington Street with my son’s cub scout den was a reminder of the need for a long-term solution that meets our City’s public safety needs as well.
On Wednesday, January 11 at 6:00 p.m., a public meeting will be held at the North Middle School regarding the Airport Noise Mitigation Program, and a representative of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be present. Residents will have another opportunity to review the latest plans for the Western Avenue construction project at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at the South Middle School, when the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Ma DOT) will hold a Design Public Hearing on the project. I plan to attend and hope to see many of you there.
As always, I hope to hear from you with your concerns and your input. As an individual like all of you, I have my own beliefs and positions on the issues, but as one of your elected representatives on the Council, I need to hear your perspectives and concerns in order to best serve all interests across the City. I can be reached via email at [email protected], or by phone at (413) 335-4548.
With 2016 now behind us, I look forward to my continued work on the Council this year – and to hearing from you.
Best,
Matthew VanHeynigen
City Councilor At-Large
