Westfield Ward 2 resident and City Councilor Brian S. Winters officially joined members of the Westfield City Council during last night’s meeting at City Hall. Winters, a write-in candidate received one vote to fill the vacancy of Ward 2 City Councilor James E. Brown Jr., who resigned the position effective September 1. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Brian Winters was sworn into office last night as the Ward 2 City Councilor shortly after the opening of the City Council meeting and following a half hour executive session at which three city lawyers explained a recent court decision on the disputed process of filling that seat.
The City Councilors avoided a yes or nay vote on appointing Winters, instead voting to accept the ruling of Hampden Superior Court Judge Bertha D. Josephson who “ordered and adjudicated that the defendant, Brian Winters, in this action is by definition a ‘defeated candidate’ for the purposes of filling the vacancy created by the resignation of the winning candidate, James E. Brown Jr., and the City Council for the City of Westfield is mandated to choose and appoint the defendant, Brian Winters, for the unexpired term.”
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell quoted Josephson’s decision verbatim in her motion to accept the court ruling to seat Winters last night. That motion passed on a unanimous voice vote and Council President Brian Sullivan called a recess to allow Assistant City Clerk Gordonna (Donna) J. Roy to swear Winters into office. Sullivan requested At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty to witness that ceremony.
The vote to accept the judgement ‘verbatim’ avoided a repeat of the City Council vote to seat Winters last October that failed to gain a majority, seven affirmative votes, to approve that motion.
The vote on Winters’ appointment at the Oct. 4 session was 2 (O’Connell and Ward 3 Councilor Ann Callahan) in favor and 1 (At large Councilor James R. Adams) opposed, meaning the vote failed to attain the seven-member majority required.
Flaherty left the Council Chamber just prior to the vote, stating that the city’s legislative branch was blatantly violating the law, on a number of levels, and that he would not be a partner to that illegal activity, and was recorded as a “not present” for the vote.
The other eight councilors recused themselves from the vote, effectively killing the motion to appoint Winters, who is one of the Cross Street residents involved in the Hampden Superior Court Article 97 litigation pertaining to the incorporation of part of the Cross Street playground into the Ashley Street elementary school construction project, a suit naming most councilors, as well as other city officials, as defendants.
The council received an unsigned letter stating Winters would drop his name from the Article 97 suit if appointed to the council.
Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., was the first to evoke abstention. Onofrey was challenged by Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell to justify his abstention, which he did by stating that Winters was a party of the suit in which he was a defendant. Six other councilors also took that position.
At-large Councilor Agma Sweeney also recused here self stating that Winters should have been sworn into office without a vote of the City Council.
Left to right, at-Large City Councilor David A. Flaherty, Assistant City Clerk Gordonna J. Roy and Ward 2 City Councilor Brian Winters, being sworn in. (Photo by Don Wielgus)
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik initiated the court action, through the city’s Law Department, filing documents with Hampden Superior Court on Thursday, Feb. 7, seeking a declaratory judgement pertaining to the process of naming a successor for the ward 2 council seat.
Josephson issued her order on April 22, 2013 ordering the City Council to “choose and appoint” Winters within 15 days of releasing her judgement.
The City Council members met in executive session for a half hour to discuss their option with members of the Law Department prior to their regular meeting. The agenda for that meeting included language stating that “Any action necessitated by reason of Executive Session” would be considered before the start of regular business.
Every vote taken during that meeting, following Winters taking the Ward 2 seat, was approved by a 13-0 vote.
Winters of 34 Cross St., has taken out Ward 2 nomination papers, joining a field of four potential candidates. Carl Vincent of 81 South Maple St. has already returned his nominations papers which have been certified. Daniel Allie of 38 Union St. and Ralph Figy of 53 Brookline Ave. have both taken out nomination papers.
Nomination papers, which require 50 valid signatures of registered voters, of a specific ward in the case of ward seats and from the city for at-Large seats, are available between April 1 and Aug. 2 and must be submitted to the City Clerk by Aug. 6, 2013. The Board of Registers must certify the signatures by Aug. 20, with a lottery for ballot position conducted on Aug. 27.
If more than two candidates for a ward City Council seat, or more than 14 at-Large council candidates, are certified, a preliminary election will be held on September 24, with the general election slated for Nov. 5, 2013.
