Back. Good. You'd like to call the meeting of the Westfield City Council. October 16th, 2025 to order. Roll call please. Madam Clerk Sullivan. Here. Adams. Here. Allie? Here. Bean. Here. Belt Here. Burns. Here. Fanon. Here. Gie. Here. Harris. Here. Matthews. Kane. She will not be with us. Meow. Here. Morgane. Here. Oniskey here. Thank you. Please rise with the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the of the United States America Nation Under God in justice. You reading of the record
of the meeting about October 2nd, 2025. Councillor Bean. Uh, thank you Mr. President. I would like to make a motion to prove the minutes without reading. So, second. Motion made it second. And anything on the minutes? See none. All in favor? A opposed? Thank you. Public participation. This portion of the meeting anyone wishing to address the city council may do so by coming up. Stating your name and address for the city clerk. And to do this in three minute increments, which may be extended. Anyone wishing to do so please step forward. My name is Anne Woodson. I live at one 12 Squaw Field Road here in Westfield.
I am a member of Central Baptist Church here in Westfield. And on behalf of Central Baptist Church, I want to thank the city council for their support on our request for the preservation funds. Approximately two years ago, we were granted some money to put an elevator lift and, um, a difference that has made, not just to the church, but mainly to the community. We are a host for the, um, Westfield Public Transition Program, which is currently 20 students, some of which have mobility issues.
They're in wheelchairs. This lift is used multiple times during the day, every day for the school. Central Baptist Church has been a vital and integral part of the Westfield community for over 200 years. In 1868, our current sanctuary was dedicated. That was civil war time. We have been part of this community. When the senior housing located on Washington Street had, uh, had to be evacuated due to a fire, central Baptist Church opened its doors immediately on the call before Red Cross came in.
We took in, um, displaced residence until the MRC and Red Cross was up and running. We also supported free of charge the MRC by providing storage space for their equipment. Until we started hosting the school. During COVI, we continued to support local residents with breakfast bags to go as well as other meals. We hosted AA meetings. We still host AA meetings. We are now running two separate groups. As I said earlier, we are the host site
for the Westfield Transition Program. We are an integral part of the community. Um, I have not coordinated with the other churches, but I, I think I can speak for them. When we say the church is an extension of the city, of the entities that you can't provide services for or you are overwhelmed with, we step up, we meet that need plus them. So we are not separate, but we are one. Later on this evening, you will hear, um, on the agenda about preservation funds.
I'm not going to address that except I will bring one note. And the last two months, central Baptist Church hosted two weddings downtown Westfield. Two weddings. The first one was 150 plus people. Not one of them was from Westfield. They were from New York. Upstate New York. Offic was from Boston. The musicians were from Hartford, Connecticut. All the guests were out of town. They stayed in Westfield at the hotels up by the turnpike.
During the reset rehearsals. They ate in the downtown restaurants. When I asked them, how did you find out about Central Baptist Church? They saw a picture posted on somebody's Facebook. They saw the picture of stained glass windows and an old church, and they knew that's where they wanted to get married. It brought money into the city. Just last month, we hosted another wedding. We were the host site for 300 plus people. They came up from Charlotte, North Carolina. Make a motion to extend for one second.
Motion made it second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Continue please. Thank you. 300 people came into Westfield and it was on the day that, um, Westfield on weekends had the artworks. Everyone was impressed that there were folks walking around, all dressed up for a formal wedding coming into the church. They stopped and they purchases. They stayed in the hotels. They ate in the restaurants. They had the reception up at Stanley Park. Again, it brings in money. We are a, I can't say we are a business 'cause we're not.
We are a non-profit, but we are drawing people into the city. Again, when asked what, what brought you to our church? They saw somebody else's wedding pictures done, and they wanted to have the stained glass windows. There is so much here in Westfield that draws people that I encourage the council to continue to support any effort, whether it be church or any other nonprofit to stay alive. Um, and thank you for your time. Thank
You. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else like to address the council? Nobody else seeing no one Communications from the mayor. Item one Councilor Piggy. Thank you Mr. President. Before I begin, I'd like to make a general comment to my fellow counselors watching the two meetings that I missed. It's, it was difficult at times to hear people, so I'm going to encourage you to each your mic speak right into it or speak up because it was hard to understand or to hear. Item one. Police have Madam City clerk read
and refer to finance. Second. You made it seconded. Madam City Clerk One transfer of $35,375 and 50 cents from the Department of Public Works Storm Audit Division. Fiscal year 26, purchase of service account to the Department of Public Works, land and Natural Resources division Fiscal year 25 Supplies count for a prior year bill. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? And now on the hands of finance item two, council ky Thank You Mr. President, would you please ask Madam City Clerk to read item two and refer to LO. Second Motion? Made it seconded. Madam City Clerk Two, submitting a resolution authorizing the mayor
to enter an agreement with the Council on Aging and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts for the brown bag Food of her older adults program. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Nam? The Hays of L and o. Item three. Councilor Harris. Thank You. Thank you Mr. President, please ask city clerk to read number three and refer to the Personnel action committee. Second. Motion made it seconded. Madam City Clerk Three. Submitting the reappointment of Ann m Larcom as personnel director for a term to end November 14th, 2028. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Now in the hands of PAC petitions, rem mons and other papers. Item four is a continued public hearing on a zoning petition
of the planning board to amend, affirm the map at 2 65 Union Street as Industrial A. We now reopen the public hearing. Councilor Alley. Thank President. So I'm gonna abstain from this, uh, vote due to a conflict of interest. Okay. Um, it's my understanding that the, uh, city planner is not here. You May not have To leave Dan. And that he had nothing else to offer on this. Oh. So he's basically leaving it up to the council to deal with it. Gonna close the public. He's,
he doesn't intend to come back. Okay. The vote happened. There's not gonna be any further explanation. Councilor Fanger. Thank You Mr. President. At the last meeting, the reason it was continued, it was because there was a request to hear from the homeowner. Is the homeowner present? Is the homeowner present? Because That was the only reason we continued it was to hear from the homeowner. Okay. So that being said, I don't know if there's anything else to say about it. You gotta close, but we here first, right? Yeah, you gotta, I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. Second. Motion made it second. And to close the public hearing. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed?
Public hearing is now closed. Motion to refer to Zoning Planning and Development Committee. Second. Motion made. And second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay, I'm back, but, but I will still be abstaining the next time. Welcome. Next time you have reports, city officers. Item five is a, uh, Westfield Gas and Electric Assistant General Manager and Director of Emergency Operations Joe Mitchell, presenting the WG E Emergency Response Plan. The floor is yours, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, thank you counselors. Um, I know you have a full agenda
and, uh, at least four of you told me to keep it short. So I will, Um, I'll be in number five. Uh, no. Most you, uh, Joe Mitchell, assistant General Manager for Westfield Gas and Electric, um, Westfield Genie. We are your community owned natural gas distribution company. It is, um, our mission for the safe and reliable delivery of your energy products. That's electric, gas, and rip city fiber. Um, as Councilor Bean can attest to 'cause he attends, uh, nearly all of our, uh, Westfield, um, electric light board member, uh, commission meetings. That there's increased scrutiny from the Department
of Public Utilities in the last couple of years, mostly due to the, um, Merrimack Valley incident. Um, we have several programs that are audited by the Department of Public Utilities. One of them that I'm talked to you about tonight is our public awareness program. Um, you've seen it. We, uh, we have a very robust public awareness program. Uh, we talk about natural gas safety. We talk about damage prevention, which is dig safe, dial 8 1 1 and carbon monoxide awareness. Um, what we do is you've seen billboards. We, um, we spend your rate payer money to notify the public.
We want everybody to be safe. You see billboards, um, social media bill inserts. It's on our vehicles. The, the big nose on the side of the truck. It's kind of humorous. Um, we do emails, website, um, phone on our call. You don't wait on, you're not on hold often at the GE but when it you are, you'll hear the message about, um, public awareness. And then lastly is our Shovels for Scoops program, which, uh, Denise Machado, that's her pride and joy and other municipal utilities have adopted that just because of the public awareness. However, the DPU, um, they audited this
and they, well, I'm, I'm happy to report. They dug really deep to find some fault. Um, we received a warning letter, uh, a little less than 30 days ago. There were three items about notifying public officials and emergency responders. So I've sent out, uh, emails. They wanted to make sure that every emergency responder knew that the Westfield GE has an emergency response plan, and that they have it. We've always notified the supervisors and they notify their crews. But now through email, I can document to the DPU that they all have this. Now, one of the other pieces was to notify
and explain to public officials. So this is your chance. Um, it's a 23 page insert. It's part of our o and m Operation and Maintenance manual. It is now Madam City Clerk. Put it on your share drive. So now you all have a copy of this. And as you might expect, Westfield, Jeanie, we wanna keep things safe. So we have an emergency response plan, and now you have a copy of it. What it, um, what's highlighted in that plan is, um, it's a distribution list of all the participants in the Plan. US Police Fire, um, Tennessee Gas Pipeline. You notify it, notifies who's the director of operations,
um, excuse me, director of Emergency Operations. In that plan, it's, it's myself, my phone number, my contact information's. In there, it categorize the different types of emergencies, whether it be, um, a level one is fewer than 10 people impacted. So if we have to shut close a valve in four homes while we do some repair, that's a level one. If it's 10 to 50 customers, that's a level two. And if it's more than 50 or we have to ask for help from outside agencies. That's a level three. The plan also includes contact information for all involved parties, including Intensity, gas Pipeline, US, and Eversource.
Um, and our phone number for the folks at home and the folks here, um, 5 7 2 0 0 0 0 or 9 1 1 if you smell gas. Um, it out outlines the investigative procedures that we have at emergency, what we do, the steps we take it. Also, the response protocols for various incidents. Uh, different emergency scenario. Different emergency scenarios are outlined in this document such as fires, loss of pressure, civil unrest, natural disasters such as earthquake. The final section discusses details about reporting requirements. So if something like this happens, who do we have to notify?
And some of the agencies are the, um, national Response Center, the NRC or the Department of Public Utilities. Uh, if it pleases Mr. President, I'm happy to take any questions if there are any. Councilor Bean? Yeah. Uh, Just a quick statement. I just, um, you know, obviously being the liaison to the department, I, you know, been part of the fabric for a long time and this particular department is in really good shape. And the future for it is extraordinary. So I commend you and Mr. Flaherty with, with that responsibility. Um, even on the community involvement
that we're seeing is really second to none. Our rates are really, really good. I know everybody wants to pay less of course, but, um, we are in really, really good position. And everybody talks about it all the time. The service from your department is unbelievable and it, it's really been something that we can pride ourselves on. So I commend you guys, and please, please, miss, let Mr. Flaherty know that as well. Will do. Appreciate the kind words, counselor. Thank you. Council ab Thank Mr. President. Just a quick, uh, thing, Joe. Um, so other than the actual emergencies, which you guys have done, we've had a lot go on here.
And you guys have done an amazing job. Is there actual training that goes on? Is that part of like Absolutely. Thank you for asking that. So, um, I should have had that Our personnel are trained under DPU administered. They're called OQs Operator qualifications. And there's roughly something like 80 of them. Whether you're fusing plastic pipe, there's certain, most of them are, are qualified in that, or emergency responding, or they're called saddles, which is what you use for pipe repairs. So you are absolutely correct, correct. Um, the crews are trained and we do, um, tabletop exercises
and working with the LEPC, local Emergency Planning Council, which is DPU Fire Police and everybody, we're, we're planning a, um, uh, a drill sometime later, either later this winter or, uh, early next spring. Oh, well thank you. And then thank you for all that, that the gas and electric does. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Meow. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanna thank you for sharing this document with all of us and with all the first responders. Like it, it's really, really important that we understand what needs to happen and who people need to contact.
And if we were to witness something, or if someone that we represent were to witness something, yes, you know, 9 1 1, but to know, you know, what information to share, where that information is, and for all of us to be able to put our hands on it at a given, you know, at a moment's notice, that is what preparedness is. So I really appreciate the fact that you guys took the time to do this and shared it with all of us. Thank You. Great. And, um, thank you for bringing it up, councilor Melo. And, um, for our, there's different components of who we notify, whether it be first responders, municipal leaders, or the public. They loved our public stuff.
So, so your constituents, when they, you know, it's smell gas leave, then dial 9 1 1. Don't turn on the lights, don't do anything. So our public awareness piece, they didn't pick it apart. So we're very proud of that. And thank you for bringing that up. Thank you. Anything further? You want a motion? Councillor Fige. Thank you Mr. President. Motion to accept and place on file. Second. Motion. Made it second in any discussion. Seeing none. All in favor? A. Aye. Opposed? Thank you Mr. Mitchell. Thank You councilors. Thank you. Reports of committees finance committee Item six, Councillor Figgy. Thank you Mr. President.
On, on October 14th, 2025, the finance committee met regarding a transfer of $9,875 and 15 cents from the Department of Public Works Land and natural resources Division FY 26 supplies account to the FY 24 supply account to pay a prior year invoice owed to coward farms. And on a three zero vote, voted to approve this transfer. Second Motion made it seconded further the discussion. Council? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. The, the documentation provided by the DPW director, uh, Mr. Brown was,
was self-sufficient. The, uh, bill came in on August 12th. As we all know, the fiscal year ends on June 30th. Uh, so because of that, the, the, um, PO had already been closed, so there was no money to pay this bill. Um, they brought it forward once everything got stabilized in their current budget and they found the money if they, we can do the transfer. So it's the recommendation that we do that. Anything from the council? Councilor Morgan. Thank you, Mr. President. Alright. Uh, this is certainly the type of bill that if it's,
there's gonna be a late bill. It's appropriate. It's, it's just in the last fiscal year. 'cause we've seen bills that are two years, three years old or more. So, um, I appreciate it coming in, in a timely manner. Not Gonna argue. Anything further. Roll call. Clerk Sullivan? Yes. Adams? Yes. Allie? Yes. Bean? Yes. Beltran? Yes. Burns? Yes. Fanon? Yes. Figgy? Yes. Harris? Yes. Meow. Yes. Morgan Alley? Yes. Oniskey? Yes. Thank you. Item seven, councilor Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, finance Metin on a three zero vote. Recommends the appropriation of $79,000 from the community preservation, uh, committee. Historic fiscal 26 account to the CPA Church of the Atonement, uh, historic account to cover the costs associated with, uh, accessibility improvements at the Church of the Atonement. I move approval. Second. Motion made it seconded. Further discussion Counselor? Yes. And the discussion on this and item eight will be the same, but they do have to be two separate motions. Uh, the total cost of the, uh, elevator, um, shaft,
and most of this work is being done in the shaft is a total of $115,000, which will come from community preservation, um, funds. These, uh, the church has not received funding, um, from this source in the past. We have as a body and the CPA have funded previous accessibility, um, applications and programs. Um, I am pleased to report that this work will be done. Uh, the shaft is, is on the outward facing wall. So there's not interior work here, which, uh, we've drawn the line on on other occasions, um,
to not do interior work. So it is gonna be on the outside of the, of the building. Um, and as I said, the, the work will be done mostly in the shaft. Um, I I'm also pleased to report that the church got three quotes. They're gonna be going with the low bid, which is significantly less than was what this project was originally, um, priced out at on the CPA, uh, committee from the city. Um, did meet, um, did have extensive discussions on this and does make the recommendation, um, to move forward and support this. Um, the public benefit on this is actually the,
if you wanna look at the building itself, is the views of the building. There will be historic restrictions, um, on the exterior of the building. So that will not be able to be, be changed out, um, without historic and other votes that would be necessary in the city. Um, but the, the public benefit is maintaining the exterior of the church itself. And we had a large contingency from the church. Anything from the council Councilor? Thank you. Also, the, uh, church has received the historical designation for the Historical Society, which also qualifies it for these funds. Anything further? Councillor Meow.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I'd like to share with my counselors that, uh, I did ask for all the prior year spending. We got a, a report about it in 2024 in July because the counselor crossed the way asked. Um, and then I asked for 2025 as well, right? 'cause we got everything up to June 30th, 2024 last year. I understand a lot of the arguments that I've been hearing from the public about the way the money is spent. And I would like us to maybe sit down and talk about that sometime.
Um, and I don't know exactly how we would do that, but I would ask my fellow counselors to figure out how we can sit down and have a conversation with the public. The document that we got last year says that there will be opportunity for public input at the finance committee meeting and at the CPC meeting. But there were residents who called me and told me that they were not allowed to speak at either. And so I would like us to have conversations about exactly what the process needs to be. And it, if you'd like, I can relay if I,
I would like us to have a conversation about what the requirements are. Maybe they're really loose and it's okay, but maybe they're not. And if we could please check. I would like to, we have totally approved this kind of thing. Before I was at the historical commission meetings when, uh, members of the church came in and told us the story about the stone angel and Right. Um, and I know that there are a lot of people who need to be able to access the floors of that building. And I do believe it is a public good,
but I think that there are residents who really need us to sit back and sort of look at how we're allocating funds. And if it's all okay, then it's all okay. And they need to understand that transparently. And if it isn't all okay, then I would like us to have some kind of, um, structure where there's like checklists that people can say, is it or isn't it? And everyone can be clear about what's going on. I'm a yes on this. I support it tonight. But I would like us to get back to a place, um, where everybody is clear on everything that's happening. Thank you.
Councilor Figure. Did you wanna address that? Yeah, I'd just like to say that at no time was anyone denied access to speak at a finance committee meeting that I chaired. So I don't know where your people are getting their information. But they weren't at the meeting Tuesday. If, may I please. Um, the resident said that at the beginning when it was public speak, that the phrase was anything that is not on the agenda. And so they did not speak at public speak because they thought it would come up at the agenda time. And then when it was discussed during the agenda time, um,
they were not, there was no public input. And that is how it was explained to me. Well, I disagree. There's plenty of public input. A lot of people that are here can attest to that as well. So, Council Beam? Uh, no, I was just gonna reiterate what, what the Chairman of Finance said. We did open it up in the beginning of the meeting and, um, I I, we do know the resident you're talking about. 'cause they tried to talk and we just told them at that given moment because we were discussing that particular item way beyond public participation, that they weren't able to speak. And that's just the way the rules work. So, um, they had an opportunity to speak at the beginning
of the meeting and didn't, for whatever reason. I, I have no idea. So And so the, the phrase on the agenda that wasn't No, No, No. Thank you for the clarification. Yeah, no problem. Anything further? No, I think we Roll comment's. Any clarification? Sullivan? Yes. Adams? Yes. Allie? Yes. Bean? Yes. Beltran? Yes. Burns? Yes. Fanon? Yes. Figgy? Yes. Harris? Yes. Mellow? Yes. Morgane? Yes. Oniskey? Yes. Thank you. Item eight. Councilor Sullivan. Yes. Finance met and on a three nothing vote, um, recommends the appropriation
of $36,000 from Community Preservation Committee, undesignated Fund, uh, fiscal 26 account to the CPA Church of the Atonement historic account to cover the costs associated with accessibility improvements at the Church of the Atonement. Second Motion Made it seconded for the discussion Counselor. Um, not so much. We've really already talked about this, but a little bit to the previous point in terms of what the dollars are used for. We did have a relatively robust discussion. Um, in terms of, um, in particular, uh, churches coming in. There's has been a growing, um, frequency of that.
Um, and that, you know, even, and I will say that I uttered the phrase that these dollars are not there as maintenance dollars for the churches in particular who seem to be the ones that are most in front of us. But we've had cemeteries and others. And you know, this, this money here is coming from the, the pot that is not designated for historic and not designated for housing and not designated for land preservation. So there's a fourth bucket and you know, we have done little to nothing with regards to housing. Um, and we haven't even recently done a whole lot with regards to land preservation.
So it has all been here and to the counselor across the ways point. I have absolutely no problem, in fact would encourage us because I do think it became pretty clear that at the finance committee level and then this body as a whole, this is the only time that there's realistically going to be a no vote. Because historic commission has ultimately voted Yes. And while there is good discussion at CPA on some of these issues, they do always seem to get to yes. To some number. So I do think there is a real role.
This is not just a pass through at finance. And here we had a, a pretty robust discussion. It was a pretty, I think it was a categorized as an honest discussion in terms of what some of us think that these dollars are set aside for. So I think it probably is time to have that larger discussion. Um, but um, but we did vote in favor of this one here, um, tonight. So I would move approval. Anything further? Council? Just, Uh, I was curious. It seems like we've got down to zero with the historic funds if we're reaching into the
UN-designated, correct. That's a fair statement. Alright. We, we can get a, you know, Jay Vinky is certainly more than happy to give us the accounting on that, but that would be the case. Thank You. Anything further? Roll call please. Sullivan? Yes. Adams? Yes. Allie? Yes. Bean? Yes. Beltran? Yes. Burns? Yes. Fanon? Yes. Fige? Yes. Harris? Yes. Meow. Yes. Morgan Alley? Yes. Oniskey? Yes. Thank you. Item nine, councilor Bean. Uh, thank you. Mr. President Finance committee has met and with a vote of two to one to approve the appropriation
of $45,000 from the Community Preservation Committee. Undesignated FY 26 account to the CPA Central Baptist Church historic account to cover costs associated with the repairs and restoration, restoration of the stained glass windows and church at Central Baptist Church. So second Motion made it seconded. Further discussion. Council B? Yeah. Uh, pretty self-explanatory. The money's going to be used to restore those stained glass windows that the, the speaker did talk about up, uh, at the podium just before our meeting started. Um, I was the no vote.
Uh, and I'll explain why I was, uh, I have supported all these asks, especially around the accessibility piece for me, because I think the state puts these laws in place for buildings and really stresses them. So accessibility for me would be hard to vote now on. Um, and I'm also having a hard time voting yes on multiple asks. I do agree with Councilor Melo in the, some of the words that she said, um, in, in the last motion. Um, and I do agree with Councillor Sullivan
to my left about, uh, the maintenance piece. Uh, unfortunately, um, I, I have supported, I believe all of the other asks out there, especially if that was the first ask from the, that entity. Uh, in this particular case, this is the second one. I did support the accessibility piece to it. Uh, but I will not be supporting the restoration of the stained glass windows. Um, and, uh, all these organizations do great work, but, uh, we have to get our arms around this account. Uh, we have to put a plan together. Uh, we are just reacting to asks right now.
And when money gets tighter and tighter for the city, um, we, we, we should sit down. We should put a committee together and find out what future plans are that would help the city as a whole when it comes to all these particular buckets. And housing probably being the number one at this given moment. Thank you Councilor Melo. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I very much agree with a lot of the comments we've heard from both the councilors across the way. Um, I'm wondering though, and it just occurred to me, if we already did a project in this church,
then there's a conservation restriction on the outside of that church. Right? And so then isn't this stained glass? I mean, you don't put stained glass windows in the closet, so that would be an exterior window. Right? And we have the, the exterior of the building must be preserved. So haven't we sort of painted ourselves into a corner here? Council Sullivan, you wanna address that? So we already have the, that restriction from the previous, this is the second time this organization's been in front of us. So the first one, the restriction's very similar to the one
that the Church of the Atonement gave, which is the exterior. So yes, we've already got that. There's no additional, um, requirement or restriction here. 'cause we have nothing left to restrict that. We did have a discussion in the committee about, you know, did the windows have to stay? Jay Vinky had indicated that that was the case, um, and that they wouldn't be able to remove 'em and sell 'em or whatever. So the windows themselves as part of that facade are restricted, but there's not actually an additional restriction because quite frankly, we already have a restriction from the last time.
There's not a new one. Right. But that's not what I meant. I mean, didn't, doesn't the restriction that we put on it requires required that the stained glass windows be kept and maintained. But but it doesn't require the city to maintain them. Correct. It requires them to do it. Correct. Right, Right. Anything further? Roll call. Madam City Clerk Sullivan? Yes. Adams? Yes. Allie? Yes. Bean? No. Beltran? Yes. Burns? Yes. Fanan? Yes. Li Yes. Harris?
Yes. Meow. Yes. Morgan Alley? Yes. Oniskey? Yes. Thank you. Item 10. Councillor Sullivan. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you. Uh, this is a first reading by title only to amend ordinance number 1768 to include alternatives to the zoning board of appeals and the planning board to the list of board and commission members that shall receive equal to twice the established rate. Move. Second. Motion made it seconded for the discussion. Counselor? Yeah, this is kind of a strange one. Um, we amended this ordinance, um, as a body, um, um,
previously and apparently what happened is that, and you can see from the council share the ordinance references alternate members in general, but does not specifically call out the, the planning board or the zoning board of appeals. Uh, which is all we increased was just those two bodies. Um, so what in effect happened was that the alternates, um, particularly on the planning board, um, actually took a pay cut, um, from a thousand dollars, which they were receiving to $500
because that's what the previous ordinance had said as quote unquote alternate members. So the law department has drafted up the, um, the corrected ordinance, which just references back to both, um, alternate members of the planning board and the zoning board, which will be paid a thousand dollars a year. Alternate members. And I will say that the law department is not aware that any other board and commission in the city has an alternate member. But they left that in there just in case somebody develops an alternate member. Um, so they went back and they corrected that to be a thousand dollars. This does not have any financial implications
because the budget that we passed and as proposed by the mayor actually had the alternates being paid, the thousand dollars. Um, so I don't think it was anybody's intention to, to cut their pay. So this just puts them back to the thousand dollars. And I would ask that the motion reflect that the ordinance takes effect as of July one, uh, 2025. Okay. Council Beach? Yeah, just a Quick one. And the alternates are doing the same thing right? As the regular members. So this is just to correct something that we didn't need to, So to reduce second. So this is a first meeting by title only?
I think it, yeah. You you want me to? Yes, it is by title only. Uh, an ordinance amending the code of ordinance of the city of Westfield, Massachusetts adopted June 17th, 1993. Second. Any further discussion? All those In favor? You You got one? Well, Does Council Sullivan, also, if you wanna make it to go back to that date, is that already part of this? Oh, that I, if that, I would like it to be part of the original motion because I wasn't looking to amend my motion. But do you want it as an amendment? That's up to you if you want to have the language In there. Oh, I, well then I'd move to amend the ordinance
to have it effective as of July 1st, 2025. Second. Second. Any discussion on the amendment? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Now I need original. The, uh, Uh, do you want a second reading by title only second. You don't have it in front of? No. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Now on for second reading. Uh, personnel Action Committees. Councillor Harris. Thank you Mr. President. 11 has changed to the job description for the position of superintendent of buildings. Second, the motion made it further. Discussion counselor,
The Personnel Action Committee met at 10 14 25. A change to the job description was presented to the City council by Mayor McCabe for the description of the superintendent of buildings in which the personnel directory Annie Larcom specified two changes in regards to this position. One, remove confirmation by city council because according to the current ordinance, the position is not specified for this process. She is correct, however, there is a history behind the situation that will be reviewed by Councilor Figy
with his report of a meeting with Attorney Reed and an in-depth look at research conducted by former city clerk now Ward one Counselor Fanon and current city clerk and current city clerk Bruce, regarding ordinances starting in 1966 when it did state this position was confirmed by council for a term of three years in 1967. Stated the same in 1969. Stated the same in 1971. A code book was published at actual hardcover states confirmed by counsel that in 1993, a whole new publication
of that same, but that confirmation referral disappears and never returns. Councilor Fanon suggests it was a sri's error. The charter does not say confirmed by council, but ordinances did until 1993. Councilor Adams input will also be heard. Note that Councilor Figu was a longtime member of LNO and Counselor Adams is currently on LNO. Second change is removing a section in duties of oversight and preparing for construction and repair repair projects. Uh, as this conflicts with the duties to inspect and enforce the laws, regulations,
and ordinances of those same projects, the facilities director's duties includes this oversight. Personnel action. Thanks, councilor Fanon and City Clerk Bruce for their extensive research to help this committee. As this first change is technically an ordinance situation as opposed to strictly a typical job description change and their knowledge of where all the records are in the city clerk's office is invaluable as chair. I wanna thank Councillor Fige and Adams for their research into this ordinance. Abnormality personnel Director Larcom presented us a newer
job description on 10 14 than the one presented to the full council. On 10. On ten two to this, it was added that the position is confirmed by the city council and corrects the wording of maintenance and repairs of various municipal buildings to re city hall only The other buildings are maintained by the facilities director. Uh, this new Jo job description was sent to all counselors. 10 14 as soon as the Personnel Action Committee ended by the city clerk Bruce. And if the present will allow Councillor Figgy to expand Councillor Figgy.
Yeah, just a brief synopsis of of my dealings with this. If you look at the city charter under section six appointments by the mayor, it states that appointment by the mayor subject to confirmation by the city council, except as otherwise provided in charter or by law, nowhere in the ordinances that was researched by Councilor Fanon and city clerk. Uh, Bruce doesn't say that at this point, however, the previous ones did. So there's no ordinance that removed it.
So in essence it was just an omission. So with that in and in discussions with the personnel director, we received a new, um, a new job description that was corrected. And I think that's the big issue I took away from watching the meeting. Uh, on the second. So thank Okay. Go ahead. Councilor Adams. Yeah, I think it was president. Um, first of all, this gets a little tricky because when things come to us like they do, I guess we assume everything's been looked into. However, in this case, this was,
this could have been a disaster for the city because that position, they impose fines, cease and desist, make zoning decisions. If this position wasn't hired correctly, Anybody who had anything against them, like told they can't build a house here or anything like that, could come back and sue the city every single one of those decisions because we didn't hire the person correctly. I guess we just assume when it comes to us that it's been researched and it's spent, we spent a lot of time figuring this one out. Probably shouldn't be on us, in my opinion.
Shouldn't be on us. We have a city hall here that should figure that answer out. Uh, we didn't change anything here. We just clarified what it should have been. Um, we shouldn't have to spend as much time as we did, but it's very important that we did because we could have been in a heap of trouble in five years if we didn't do this right today. So a lot of people put a lot of time in to clarify what actually should be in this job description. So thank you for everybody as Councillor Harris has said. Councillor Harris, what, uh, what was the recommendation outta committee? It's, uh, three zero recommended and make a motion to accept the new job description.
Second. Motion made it second. Any further discussion? Yeah. Mr. President? Yes. Uh, was there a recommendation to change the ordinance or do anything to the ordinance or how are we gonna handle that? Councilor Figgy? Yeah, there will be a motion coming once I meet with legal to develop that amendment to the ordinance to further clarify this so it won't be an issue in the future. So that's coming. Thank you. Okay. Councilor Bean, just just To clarify, so this amendment change is going to do what,
What amendment Change This. I'm sorry. Job description. Job description. 'cause Currently we're hired, we're the hiring 50. Correct. That's gonna remain the Second that's gonna remain correct. That was omitted in the original, but the new one puts us back in. We're Not, we're not looking to alter that and give the authority To the mayor, the department then We co confirm the Appointment. No, we, we are the confirming fine Councilor Melo. Thank you Mr. President. If, if what is before us put back in what was taken out and brought
before us on October 2nd, but we didn't approve what came before us on October 2nd. Do we have to approve this? Right? If if this brings us back to where we were before we started to change it, aren't we already? Okay. By doing No. Councilor Piggy. No, we're not. Okay. We need to approve the job description. If we don't approve it at this meeting, it automatically goes into effect to the one that was presented on October 2nd, which removes council confirmation. So by approving tonight, this con this new job description
that has been amended, it's not a new one, it's an amended. We now retain council confirmation to the building inspector. So what may I Yes, yes. The difference between this one and the one we didn't need to change at the beginning of August. This, The previous one had the, the mayor as the appointing authority and no council participation. The job description. Okay. Council Fanny. Thank you Mr. President. Also in the one that we, we received at the last council meeting, there was, um, a portion of that said that they oversee the preparation
of plan specifications of cost estimates on construction and things like that, that is being taken out. So with this amended one that we received tonight takes that piece out. So if we reverted back to said no to this would revert back to the other one and that would still be in there and that we do want that taken out. Right. Right. Okay. Thank you. Councilor Burns, did you have something? No, that, that, that answered it. Thank you. Okay. Anything further? Councillor Fige. I would just like to say that personnel director did research the ordinances
but didn't go all the way back into the sixties and seventies. So what she did find was accurate at this point. That's why an amendment's gonna be needed to change the ordinances first. Clarify. Alright, we're ready. All those in favor? So I just ask one question. Yes. Is this different than what's already posted on our website? There's already a job description posted and the job's posted. So is this gonna alter what's already out there? Does anybody know? I mean, I can, I can, I can find out. But it, I mean there's already something that was posted back in September, September 22nd, 2025.
I, excuse Me, cuts her. Harris, I think she, she had mentioned that it was a general description that it wasn't the actual job description, but it was a general analysis of what the job would entail. That it's, it's not the official job description. O okay. So now this new amended job description is what will be posted. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Anything further? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Good. Aye. License committee Item 12. Councilor Adams? Yeah, I think Mr. President, a motion to leave in committee. There was a miscommunication, uh, from the applicant
that wasn't at the meeting last night, so, uh, we will reschedule that at the quickest possible time for before our next meeting. Motion made it seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Before we go, um, I'm just going to ask the public, because this is our last meeting before the election, I'm gonna encourage everybody to get out there and vote. It's very important. Your input means a lot. And that being said, any announcements from any other counselors? Councillor Figgy. I'm not gonna talk about chickens, but I'm gonna talk about turkeys. Um, it's that time of year again,
the community Thanksgiving. I hope Turkey Drive is beginning. Uh, if anybody would like to purchase Turkey, we can go down to the butcher block and for $35, donate a Turkey to a needy family. Uh, once again, the Yakamas and the figgy will be coordinating this, this food drive and distribution for Thanksgiving. So thank you for your past generosity. I look forward to your current generosity. Thank you. Anything further? Councilor Harris? Motion To Adjourn. Second. Motion Made it seconded. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Goodnight everybody. Thank you.