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Managing Editor CHICOPEE Chicopee voters would like to see a four-year term for mayor and the possibility of casinos. Both ballot questions passed on Election Day. While voters narrowly approved the idea of allowing a casino in Chicopee, don't expect to rack up your comps real soon. On Tuesday a few moments after the vote was officially tallied, Mayor Michael Bissonnette said he expects the Legislature will take two years to bring the issue to a vote. Bissonnette said the vote of 5,277 in favor of casinos and 4,177 opposed showed that "people have changed from 12 years ago." At that time, the vote was overwhelmingly opposed to casinos. "This is a fresh start for us," he said. "I'm very pleased about the vote tonight." Pittsfield and Worcester voters approved similar questions on their ballots. Palmer voters have long supported the location of a casino in their town. Although originally the Board of Aldermen blocked the ballot question, a change in language led to inclusion on the ballot. The mayor said the victory wasn't a mandate and that casino gambling was clearly a controversial subject in the city. Now residents will want to see "a plan from A to Z" before they show any higher level of support, he said. Bissonnette said he has already fielded inquiries from four casino development companies and predicted the win would mean, "My phone will be ringing off the hook." A resort destination casino in Chicopee one of the three sites noted in a report issued by the University of Massachusetts could represent a $1 billion to $1.5 billion investment, the mayor said. The developer would have to determine if a Western Massachusetts location would be a profitable one to pursue, he noted. Speaking of the approval of a four-year term for the city's chief executive, Bissonnette said, "My message of professional government has resonated with the voters." The non-binding ballot question will now spur a change in the city's charter that will have to be approved by the voters in the 2009 election. If approved at that time, the change would go in effect in 2011. Chicopee would be the first city in Western Massachusetts with a four-year term, the mayor noted. In anticipation of people concerned about how to remove a mayor with a four-year term, Bissonnette said the change would have a provision that would allow the removal of the mayor with a super-majority vote by the Board of Aldermen if the mayor were convicted of a crime. That would solve "the Goyette problem," he said. |
