Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 10/30/2015
CHICOPEE – The Chicopee Herald submitted the same questions to Mayor Richard Kos and former Mayor Michael Bissonnette and their answers follow.
Please describe your most significant accomplishments as mayor in the last two years.
The last two years have been quite active and productive, and Chicopee has moved forward on a number of fronts. The following activities are representative of what we achieved by working cooperatively with a vision for a better Chicopee:
• Welcomed Cenveos Printing, Yankee Candle, Chemex and PetSmart to the Chicopee Business Community.
• Continued demolition at Uniroyal with the removal of five large buildings.
• Restarted negotiations with Michelin North America, the private sector responsible party for sub surface hazardous waste cleanup, for a final resolution of costs a schedule to finish the job.
• Began planning for a new three megawatt solar farm at the 26 acre former Navy housing parcel at Westover which will demolish some 130 vacant and derelict houses and lead to lower electric costs for Westover Air Reserve Base and Chicopee residents.
• Began planning for the city’s newest industrial park, AirPark South at Westover, where over the next few years 100 acres will come on line for large site users capable of providing hundreds of employment opportunities.
• Planning the installation of high speed internet and updated data transmission lines to Chicopee River Business Park to help with the marketability of that long stalled project.
• Initiated the conversion of the former Lyman Mills textile building to 80 units of market rate housing and (embargoed till this Thursday) we are expecting a multi-million dollar state grant to aid this project and future development anticipated at Cabotville Mills.
• Secured millions of dollars in state and federal grants to support community improvement projects including brownfield clean up and housing rehabilitation.
• Increased public safety by installing new leadership and personnel to the Police Department and increasing foot and bicycle patrols in neighborhood business districts as well as plans for camera security and gang suppression activity in Chicopee Center.
• Appointed new leadership to several City Departments including Law, Planning, police, Personnel, Parks and Community Development.
• Started Buy Chicopee homeownership program and the City’s first ever Homeowner Assistance aimed at three unit multifamily dwellings.
• Installed first ever public WiFi in Chicopee Center.
• Planning over 75 new parking spaces in Chicopee Center to enhance the shopping and visiting experience.
• Enhanced communication, cooperation, consultation with Chicopee City Council and our State and Federal legislative delegations.
• Hosted first ever downtown block party.
• Engaged in Medical Marijuana Dispensary site selection process.
• Updated City web site, increased social media communication reach out to citizens via Facebook, Vine, Twitter and Community TV 5.
• Secured state funds for school building improvements.
• Presided over the completion and openings for the Kevin Dupont Middle School, Willimansett Bridge , RiverMills Senior Center and Chapin School veterans’ housing project.
• Began planning for the expected closing of the Chicopee Sanitary Landfill in 2018 and the installation of a redundant water line from Quabbin to Chicopee as a safety back up to the aging trunk line now serving our City.
If elected what would be your most immediate legislative priorities.
At the federal level, our major concerns are continued funding availability for the Community Development Block Grant Program, the HOME Program and Brownfield Economic Development Initiatives; relaxation of the EPA sewer separation schedule; and all Department of Defense budgetary activity that may impact Westover Air Reserve Base for better or worse.
On the state level, maintaining and increasing aid for school and highway operations and improvements, lottery aid, and other more targeted programs such as MassWorks are critical for our being able to address some of the larger development projects that are on our agenda. Fortunately, the city and this administration have very good relationships with our legislative partners, and I see these paying dividends during the next few years.
What are the future plans for the Uniroyal? Are there funds available for future projects there?
Demolition has been ongoing for the past two years and five significant buildings are now down on the lower tier exposing a great view of the river corridor. Much still needs to be done and significant funds are needed from both Michelin North America, the responsible party to clean up ground contamination and our state and federal partners at MassDevelopment, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency as well as potential private investors.
Over the near term, I have jump started negotiations with Michelin that will attempt to finalize a master Memorandum of Agreement that will call for the company to contribute to the city’s demolition costs for the power plant on the site as well as future contributions to the city for allowing concessions in their cleanup plans as allowed under DEP and EPA guidelines.
I have further authorized the release of a Request for Proposals for the old headquarters administration building that we believe could provide 40 to 50 units of senior housing. Lastly, we are advancing plans to fill the lower tier at the site with urban earth from area construction projects to raise the height to near the top of the dike to accommodate future recreational fields and to safely contain any waste that will remain. This activity could raise over $1.5 million privately that could be applied to additional demolition in the coming years.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the city in both the short and long term and what strategies do you have to meet the challenges?
• Keeping municipal taxes and fees as low as possible.
• Advocating for strong state and federal financial assistance in the areas they historically are involved with.
• Investing in roadway, water and sewer improvements.
• Investing in education, intergenerational learning, emerging technologies to ensure high school graduates have the skills to get good jobs in an evolving world economy.
• Managing new development at Exit 6 at Burnett Rd; continuing progress at Uniroyal; starting AirPark South; tackling the situation with a dormant Cabotville Mills; marketing the former Chicopee Library; repairing the historic stain glass windows at city hall; attracting new businesses particularly a high volume water user; continuing upgrades at Chicopee Country Club; improving conditions in all our neighborhoods and business districts; monitoring federal actions re Westover Air Reserve Base; the list could go on and on.
The strategy to address these and other challenges is to continue to build a strong municipal management team and adhere to their advice and recommendations as much as possible with the proviso that it is the mayor who is ultimately vested in moving the city forward in the most economical and efficient way possible. Through communication, consultation and collaboration, and with the availability of adequate financial resources, progress can and will be made and Chicopee will be better from all of our efforts.
Please describe the accomplishments of your last term.
Keeping taxes stable, avoiding layoffs, improving services like snow plowing, trash collections and dealing with problem properties while creating the largest stabilization fund in city history with our best bond rating (saving money on borrowing) all continued during my last term. We were able to obtain 80 percent reimbursement to redevelop the old Chicopee High, finish the Davitt Bridge project in record time, build a new Senior Center after using $14 million in state and federal grants to clean up Facemate, begin transforming Chapin School into 43 tax paying units of veterans cooperative housing and added millions in new tax revenue from the WMECO power lines and Chicopee Crossing/Memorial Drive economic and retail development.
If elected what would be your most immediate legislative priorities.
First and foremost will be to establish an improved working relationship with our City Council. I will ask to meet individually with each member to determine what priorities they would like to see addressed.
Another top priority will be to return Chicopee to a safer place to live, work and raise a family. To that end, I will establish a Police Commission to do a full review of our law enforcement and policing policies aimed at making the department a cohesive and coordinated agency dedicated to preventing crime. Chief Jebb will remain the chief, and I will work with him on new initiatives in creating safer neighborhoods.
In addition, I believe further consideration is needed on important projects like trash toters, a waste to energy plant, wireless water meters (saving $3 million per year in lost revenues), implementing the energy efficiency project begun in 2013 to reduce our energy costs and moving forward on updating and modernizing schools at Bellamy, Barry, Litwin and Lambert-Lavoie under the state repair reimbursement program.
What are the future plans for the Uniroyal? Are there funds available for future projects there?
Uniroyal has been the most complicated environmental and legal issue our city has ever faced. Instead of ignoring it, my administration tackled it with the help of our state and federal partners, bringing in millions in federal and state resources to begin this massive undertaking at no cost to local taxpayers. Just in 2013 we obtained $600,000 more in federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brownfield grants, which has allowed further removal of asbestos and demolition of more buildings. Unfortunately, those funds have been spent, and the current administration has not received any additional funding. Instead of completing asbestos removal in the administration building, they spent $180,000 in property taxes to board it up. With a cost of $3-5 million to stabilize structural defects and an estimated $20-25 million in costs for rehabilitation, developers have said that such a project is not economically feasible for the private sector.
Seven years ago, we worked with the EPA and Department of Environmental Protection to bring Michelin (which now owns Uniroyal's liabilities) to the table and prevent them from obtaining clearance to abandon their responsibility for cleanup on that site.
As a result, Michelin is now responsible for cleaning up any contamination in the soil. Preventing further progress, the project manager for the city on Uniroyal, Facemate and the Senior Center construction was fired by the current administration in 2014. This resulted in a halt to demolition, no additional funding for cleanup, lack of furniture, technology and needed services at the Senior Center and failure to seek buyers for parcels ready for development at RiverMills.
We even advanced the concept of filling in the large deep area between Grove St and the river with 3 million tons of clean fill to encapsulate the remaining demolition, making the site level from the street to the riverfront and eliminating future costs of maintaining the Chicopee River flood control system. This would provide close to 35 additional level acres for future redevelopment.
As one additional note, $2.2 million of federal funds were previously secured to complete the Chicopee RiverWalk. I will get that project completed before those funds are lost to another city and begin to seek additional funds to finalize the Uniroyal cleanup.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the city in both the short and long term, and what strategies do you have to meet the challenges?
Financial stability through revenue growth, new businesses, retail/industrial development and budget efficiencies will always be the main challenge facing Chicopee. Seeking to coordinate many different services, needs and desires at a price we can afford is something that requires the attention of a full time, committed manager who understands the struggles of our taxpayers, employees and senior citizens. Ignoring problems for two years while trying to appear engaged in the few weeks before an election does not lead to successful management. I see solving the coming trash crisis as a major issue where we need to be creative, innovative and flexible to avoid the proposed trash fee.
Coordinating all planned and future road, sewer, water and utility projects to avoid the current traffic and neighborhood, disruptions needs to return with another multi-year plan for coordinated capital projects. Chicopee is an ongoing story that requires proactive not reactive leadership.
The job of mayor should not be a place to retire. A mayor can provide vibrant and passionate advocacy for our community at all levels of government, within the private sector and also instill a sense of possibility in those who make up our city workforce. I know this because I have done it in the past to move Chicopee forward with enthusiasm and vision. I have never sought another position or used the job to improve my personal circumstances. I intend to be a full-time mayor who will again seek out resources in new grants, new businesses and new revenues. We can do this while seeking positive ideas on how to improve serving our citizens while planning to meet the serious challenges we face in the future.