WESTFIELD – The City Council voted last night to deny a request for a $1.85 million bond intended to improve energy efficiency at the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Neck Road.
The vote was taken after an opinion from the Law Department stating that the council does not have the authority to amend a bond request. The options available to the council are to petition the executive branch, through the mayor, to revise the bond or to vote to deny the order, which was the option taken last night.
The Finance Committee had amended the bond order to $1,447 million after discussing the scope of intended work with Water Resource Superintendent Dave Billips.
The council approved the first reading of a bond request to replace energy-inefficient equipment at the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant at its Oct. 16 session after elements of the bond were eliminated and the amount was amended by the Finance Committee.
The Finance Committee had balked at the original amount of $1.85 million and requested Billips to revise the bond by reducing the scope of work.
Billips submitted a revised bond request of $1,477,000 which will be used to replace two oversized Turblex Blowers used in the sewerage plant treatment process to aerate effluent in the treatment tanks. Billips said the blowers were installed as part of the last plant expansion by the construction contractor and are too large for the city’s facility. The Turblex Blowers currently in the plant have a resale value of about $500,000, income which will be applied toward retiring the bond.
The Law Department then ruled that the City Council does not have the authority to amend a bond request, that the bond figure is an executive branch decision, which resulted in the vote to deny the bond.
Billips, who attended the council meeting last night, said he will submit a new bond request, reflecting the Finance Committee revised figure, to Mayor Daniel M. Knapik as soon as possible because the work is time and weather sensitive.
