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Date: 3/10/2021
CHICOPEE – The Chicopee City Council met to vote on both a controversial zone change and potential raises for city officials on March 2.
The meeting started with public input, where many members of the community voiced their opinions on the zone change at 0 Fuller Rd. Those who spoke seemed to vehemently oppose the zone change, and urged the council to vote against it.
The application would change the 57.46 acres of property at 0 Fuller Rd. from residential land to IPUD-1 for the purpose of industrial park development. This is being proposed by the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, who has already built two industrial parks within the city and wants to use this land to create a third. Many citizens who live near the zone called the plan a “horrible idea” and noted they did not want the land to be destroyed when it is often used for recreation.
According to Councilor Derek Dobosz, the city sold this land in 2009, which he said he he believes was a mistake.
“This land should be conservation. There isn’t very much space left in Chicopee for green space,” he said. “I believe the land should’ve never been sold and I believe the city should try to obtain the land back in some way.”
His remarks were met with applause from residents attending the meeting.
Dobosz also mentioned that there is a petition of over 300 signatures from Chicopee residents to stop this zone change from passing.
The council first voted on a leave to withdraw, which would allow the applicant to withdraw their zone change, rethink their plan and then apply again. This motion was denied by the council. They then voted on the Zoning Subcommittee report, which urged the council to deny the application.
There were four reasons for denial from the Zoning Subcommittee. One reason the subcommittee listed was that this zoning change would create nuisance due to air and water pollution, flood risk, noise, vibrations and lights. Another was that it would be inconvenient or a hazard to abutters, vehicles or pedestrians. They also noted that the zoning change would also be inconvenient or unsafe to vehicular or pedestrian movement in relation to adjacent streets and property improvements. A final reason was that the zone change had overall strong opposition from abutters and neighbors, which should be greatly considered.
In the end, the council unanimously voted to deny this zone change. Many residents voiced their approval and gratitude to the council on a Chicopee Area Community Forum post on Facebook.
Tina Colucci wrote in a post, “At last night’s City Council meeting all the councilors stepped up for the people of Chicopee and voted no to the zone change. This doesn’t mean that this issue is over but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. This is a testament to the neighbors and community coming together to join united voices for a worthy cause and having our voices heard. We appreciate the City Council taking the time to hear us and act on our behalf. This is a good day for saving the forest, a good day for saving the animals and a good day for being a citizen of the City of Chicopee.”
Another issue that the council voted on during the meeting was raises for city officials. Some of the most controversial raises consisted of increasing the salary of mayor, City Council president and all 12 city councilors. In the original proposal, the mayor’s salary would go up to $122,000, the president of City Council would receive a $15,000 raise and all councilors would receive a $14,000 raise each.
The council voted on the newly recommended changes from the Ordinance Committee.
The Ordinance Committee recommended that the mayor’s salary increase over a two year period. On Jan. 24, 2022, the mayor’s salary would increase to $103,500 and a year later would increase to $122,000. The committee also recommended that the president of the City Council and the city councilors receive no raise.
According to Councilor James Tillotson, the Ethics Committee informed City Council officials that they can’t vote themselves a raise in a year they are having an election.
“It made it easy to postpone it because we really can’t do that,” he said.
Tillotson also compared Chicopee to areas with smaller populations, like Pittsfield, where the mayor makes over $100,000.
“I only think it’s fair and just that our people get some kind of an adjustment. They’re not going to get anything this year, we split it in half to get it up to a reasonable salary,” he said.
Tillotson also mentioned that it has been 13 years since the mayor of Chicopee has received a salary raise.
“It’s clear to me that an adjustment had to be made. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t make an adjustment sooner so that we wouldn’t have such big gaps as we have now, but hopefully we’re going to look at some options in the future, such as cost of living adjustments or something else, so that we won’t have to get into this situation again where we’re so far behind everybody else,” said Tillotson.
Councilor Frank Laflamme also agreed that raises should be tied to something else, such as cost of living, in the future to prevent such a long gap in time.
“Thirteen years of no raises and it comes to this situation where it’s a large amount of money and that’s not fair,” he said.
Councilor Derek Dobosz acknowledged that many residents think now, during a pandemic, is not the right time to increase salaries.
“It’s hard to say that it’s not a fair deal because it is. The most common response we get is that it’s not the right time, but this doesn’t fully take effect for two years. So hopefully the city and the greater economy will recover in a two year span. Eighty-five thousand dollars is just way too low for a mayor’s salary,” he said.
Councilor Bill Courchesne proposed that they table the vote on raises until September in hopes to give the economy and tax-paying citizens more time to recover from the pandemic.
“I am one of those that say that now is not the time, but we have until September to make a decision on these raises that will still take effect next January,” he said. “It won’t hurt to wait until September and to see where the economy is for our residents.”
Councilor Joel McAuliffe voiced his opposition to the raises altogether at this time.
“I simply cannot, in good conscience, vote to raise elected officials salaries in the middle of a pandemic. I believe it sends the wrong message about our priorities when we have had so many years to consider making these changes, especially when we aren’t raising the salaries of teachers, DPW workers and other front-line workers. I hope those whose positions are up for consideration can respect my position. It is in no way reflective of my personal opinions you or the work that you do. I believe that they merit great consideration, but like I said, given the circumstances I do not believe I can support this so I will be voting no tonight,” he said.
After a long discussion, the recommendations of the subcommittee passed. There were 10 yes votes – only McAuliffe and Courchesne voted no. The mayor’s salary will now be raised to $103,500 by 2022, as suggested by the subcommittee. It will increase again in 2023.
The council continued to vote on various raises for positions such as assessors, treasurer, collector, city clerk and more. All raises up for consideration at the meeting were passed. McAuliffe and Courchesne continued to be the only councilors who opposed the raises at this time.
Though the idea of these raises created backlash in the community, many members of the council spoke on how they were well-researched and compared diligently to other cities. Councilor Fred Kramptis said that the city’s HR Department worked hard on coming up with the correct numbers to help make the raises fair.
Councilor Gary Labrie agreed with Krampits.
“We did not take this lightly. Councilor Tillotson put in numerous hours of research, the entire council did tremendous research, read through numerous documents, we looked through other town’s payrolls,” he said.
Those who are interested in viewing the City Council meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the ChicopeeTV Facebook page.