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Date: 9/10/2019
CHICOPEE – In anticipation of the preliminary election on Sept. 17, Reminder Publishing asked the following questions of the four mayoral candidates:
Angela Breault-Klusman
1. (We are assuming that the city is not getting all the funding we should be) A budget is a finite resource. We must act within the budget, however, if money is owed to the city from the state we need to be more diligent in its pursuit to ensure students receive adequate resources toward their education, while also pursuing better options to further security for our schools.
2. We need to approach the city as if we were moving into the city. What are the first things you would see? Improvements should be to the most obvious items we would see. Begin with basic maintenance and upkeep of roads and continue with a deliberate approach to giving our city a better appearance (the buildings look well maintained, the grass mowed, roads are drivable). We need to make this a place businesses want to come to and continue with infrastructure updates once these initial goals are met. This way we are prepared for what may come. Things will come if we look better.
3. Westover ARB is clearly a needed asset, the city has grown up with it. Communicate/coordinate with the base to ensure a continued relationship and look for possible ways to encourage their growth. Also working together with our representatives in Congress to continue to emphasize the importance of Westover not only to Chicopee but to our State and country as well in order to ensure continued funding to allow Westover to continue to complete it’s very important mission. Example: Bringing more air shows for the public, maybe do a Military festival, make a military appreciation day!
4. I’ve never been a mayor before so I am not entirely sure what to expect. However, after I collect my thoughts, I believe my first priority should be to coordinate with the municipal departments to attempt to find reasonable solutions to issues brought forth by residents of our city. ie- tiny trash cans/road maintenance/speeding traffic.
John Vieau
1. The Chicopee School District has experienced some fiscally challenging years. It is clear that the State’s public-school funding formula is not working. It is obvious to me that the antiquated funding formula is not fair to gateway communities like Chicopee. The Commonwealth is not doing enough for students in the economically disadvantaged districts. I will continue to advocate on behalf of and work collaboratively with the CEA, Superintendent, School Department, city officials, and legislative delegation to bring economic justice to our students, who are still held accountable for their scholastic results.
One of the best ways to offset increases in the school budget, is to secure grant funding, such as STARS grants to bring award-winning programs to our schools like Enchanted Circle Theater, where art teachers come into the classroom to work on core curriculum subjects in creative and exciting ways. In addition, in order to improve efficiency with anticipation of cost savings, the city has undergone the process of consolidating departments while always assessing the cost benefits of our programs and interventions. Our goal is and will be to provide safe, comfortable schools and classrooms for all of our talented educators and students in which to flourish. As mayor, I plan to work collaboratively with the Superintendent of Schools and the School Committee to continue to find cost-saving solutions to help offset the rising costs of a public-school education.
2. As mayor, it is key that the person in this role has a deep understanding of infrastructure, especially Chicopee’s. As an 18-year employee of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, I follow the new road, roundabouts and bridge projects throughout the state. I attend informational conferences to look for cutting edge cost saving products for maintaining our highways. I look forward to working with our Superintendent of our Department of Public Works and our City Engineers as we embrace new technologies. As we look at the Chapter 90 Reimbursement Program funding for capital road and highway projects, Chicopee receives just over $1.3 million annually. As mayor, I am committed to conservatively supplementing those funds in order to continue to improve public roadways and other forms of intermodal transportation. While speaking with residents and business owners about their concerns for the city, the message was clear that taxpayers would like to see more of our streets repaved.
Regarding infrastructure, residents might be aware of the major infrastructure upgrades over the years, as a direct result of an EPA mandate of the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Consent Decree. I often hear the question, “Why are the water/sewer/stormwater fees so high and are they going to keep increasing?”
The reason is this: What has severely impacted the rates we pay in Chicopee, is the EPA’s ultimate goal that Chicopee clean the Connecticut and Chicopee Rivers through the Clean Waters Act with the intent to make all US waters fishable and swimmable. Chicopee was mandated via the CSO Consent Decree, to create and implement a 20-year plan in 2006 to update the sewer system to abate pollutant discharges from the combined sewer overflows. This mandate resulted in major improvements to neighborhood infrastructure with new water, sewer, and gas lines in addition to newly paved streets. To date, the city has spent over $220 million in sewer separation to achieve nearly 80 percent compliance. Over the past six years, I can proudly say that our City has been able to convince EPA to grant eight modifications/extensions to the Consent Decree allowing time for the existing debt service (loans) to be paid before beginning new any projects. The latest extension has stabilized rates in a way that will ultimately minimize the impact on our rate payers.
Another very important, key component of our infrastructure is the wastewater treatment plant. Our wastewater treatment plant is in need of major upgrades to meet the most stringent unfunded guidelines for nitrogen and phosphorous removal. There is a feasibility study currently underway regarding sending our wastewater to Springfield. There will be some very important decisions that will have to be made by our next mayor.
As your next mayor, I plan to work hand in hand with our Superintendent of DPW and our City Engineers to fiscally and responsibly improve the city’s infrastructure by implementing a capital improvement plan to resurface/rebuild using the best practices and materials to enhance the life of our streets while ultimately saving taxpayers money in the long run.
3. This is a great question! Not many people know that Westover Air Reserve Base is the country’s largest reserve base. It encompasses more than 2,500 acres and is the city’s largest employer. The WARB, in addition to the Air Force Reserve is also home to Army, Marine and Navy reserve units. Westover ARB, with more than 5,000 military and civilian workers, is an essential part of our local economy.
Westover is home to the Air Force’s largest cargo aircraft, the C-5M Super Galaxy, which are assigned to Westover's 439th Airlift Wing, a unit of the Air Force Reserve Command. Groundbreaking is set next year on a new $43 million hanger being built. It will be the length of two football fields and will be able to accommodate maintenance & repairs not only for the 8 C-5Ms housed here but also for the entire fleet.
I can proudly say that we supported the current administration’s decision in 2016 to demolish 128 units of former Navy housing that had been dormant for nearly 20 years to clear the way for a solar farm. The idea was part of an effort to make Westover AFB more efficient to operate and less likely to be considered for Department of Defense cost-cutting. I have had the opportunity to recently meet the new WARB Commander, Colonel Craig C. Peters and I plan to work collaboratively to ensure that we continue to partner together to explore other creative ways of reducing costs such as waste reduction by incentivizing recycling and other forms of reuse/reclaiming of viable materials.
As mayor, I plan to join Congressman Richard Neal and other elected officials in advocating for funding to sustain Westover ARB for years to come. This is such a great question because it not only allows candidates the opportunity to share ideas on the sustainability of the base, but it brings awareness of WARB and its importance to the City of Chicopee and the Western Massachusetts economy.
4. I understand that the first 100 days are critical. Since I announced my candidacy for mayor, I have given this considerable thought and I have developed a clear vision with an action plan so that when elected I can immediately begin collaborating with the City Council and all of the departments throughout the city to address issues and concerns facing our residents and business owners. Honestly, I don’t believe that there is just one important topic to tackle but a myriad of challenges that I have begun to map out.
As mayor, I will oversee the completion of the second phase of the newly renovated public safety complex with our new state-of-the-art dispatch center. The second phase focuses on modernization and updates to the fire department headquarters to serve generations to come.
With my background in real estate, I look forward to exploring and working with new investors who are considering our industrial parks, commercial corridors and other areas. I see so much potential Downtown with the Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) Grant and the two year fellow from Mass Development as we work together to encourage start-ups as well as diverse new projects in Chicopee Center. We have two major affordable housing projects, Cabotville and Lyman Mills currently in the works. These beautiful, modern studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments will provide much needed housing.
I strongly support the deployment of demand driven broadband to residential customers in Chicopee. As mayor, I will continue to be very supportive of our own Crossroads Fiber, the Chicopee Municipal Broadband Project.
I will work collaboratively with the Superintendent, School Department, CEA, city officials, and legislative delegation for proper funding in support of the Funding Our Future Campaign, to protect public education and advocate on behalf of our students and their families.
With a background in Civil/Environmental Engineering, I look forward to overseeing the future of our Wastewater Treatment Plant and exploring the most cost-effective ways to treat our wastewater.
I’ve had many conversations with people whose lives have been touched by addiction. It is heartbreaking to see families and lives ruined by this epidemic. I have seen this suffering firsthand and it is essential that we address this. The Hampden County Addiction Task Force runs through the Sheriff’s Department and works as a collaboration with the Chicopee Police Department and the rest of Hampden County. This ultimate goal of these collaborative resources is to focus on a county-wide approach to address drug addiction, overdose and prevention. Sherriff Cocchi has secured a facility with 86 beds in Western Mass for Section 35, persons civilly committed for drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation. As doctors focus on more responsible alternatives other than opioids for pain management another problem pops up with fentanyl. We will continue the work of the CPD health professionals and service providers and other members of the task force as we combat the epidemic.
As mayor, I will ensure that the City of Chicopee will progress at a pace that is palatable to you, the taxpayers while keeping us on track with our goals. I will continue to meet with residents, business owners and city employees as I listen to your thoughts and ideas on how we can continue to make Chicopee the safe, happy place to live, work and raise a family that we all have come to love. Generations of future Chicopee residents are relying on us.
Joe Morissette
1. I will prioritize the preservation of all programs and items that are closest to students, teachers and para-professionals, and include fine arts, athletics, and more. Additionally, I will ensure that we take every opportunity to share resources and collaborate with other area districts for professional development. I will advocate for hosting professional development training events in Chicopee, using our own spaces, to reduce or eliminate travel expenses and venue costs.
Ensuring the highest level of safety and the security of our students, staff and visitors is a priority and cannot be budgeted away. As mayor, I will direct our schools to use our local resources whenever possible, including Chicopee police and state police and fire officials. Outside consultants are expensive and often times no better trained than the public safety experts employed by Chicopee.
Chicopee leadership must improve our commitment to staffing and funding grant research, targeting areas that are underfunded and lacking in resources. Past grant applications have duplicated efforts with other initiatives. This type of “get it because it’s free” mindset can cause inefficiency in the schools. I will request a focused effort to secure funding through grant programs addressing specific areas of need.
I will work to continue all efforts for the Fund our Future initiative. I believe that the City of Chicopee should be a partner with the Chicopee Education Association on this matter, working together to advocate for all funds that can be used to increase opportunity and improve the quality of education for all students in Chicopee public schools. Strong schools are the foundation of a strong city. It is essential that families with children, homeowners and Chicopee businesses understand that city leaders are advocating for fully funded schools, directing funds to targeted areas to ensure high quality education, and eliminating waste to assure that the highest percentage of budgeted funds is spent directly on education services.
2. Investing in infrastructure improvements is critical to creating good jobs and economic opportunity for Chicopee residents. It is the foundation for a strong economy. Growing communities rely on well run city services including water, sewer and trash disposal efforts. Trash collection and disposal is a critical issue and associated costs will continue to grow every year. As mayor, I will immediately work to find a solution that allows citizens to obtain a trash receptacle that is sufficient for their needs, and one they would pay for in addition to the city provided receptacle. At the same time, I will dedicate a resource to research ecological and economically responsible ways to collect and dispose of city waste. As of now, we pay someone else to transport our waste to landfills in other states. I will seek ways of transporting our own waste and cutting out the middleman.
Establishing beautification projects at the entrances to Chicopee is a high priority, and one which has been confirmed during my campaign efforts and discussions with citizens of Chicopee. Our homeowners and business owners want a neater, more appealing welcome when people enter Chicopee from any of our highway ramps or city streets. I would start with the highway exit in Chicopee Center, since this is an area which is expected to be developed in the near future.
The Chicopee sewer separation project is ongoing and will continue until 2035, according to the DPW superintendent. Continuing to fund those projects using federal and state funding and while not making them a financially cumbersome burden on our city finances is a high priority.
3. The economic consequences of a strong and active Westover Air Reserve Base cannot be overstated. Base operations are susceptible to changes in state and federal levels, and future rounds of base realignment and closures must always be considered a possibility. This is where the strong relationships with state and federal elected officials are critical. Most recently, Congressman Richard Neal announced his ongoing support for Westover Air Reserve Base (WARB), which translated into continued essential funding. I will establish a strong partnership with Congressman Neal and other senior congressional and senate leaders.
I will seek appointment to a state and/or federal task force that will offer ongoing updates related to the status of operations at WARB and the criteria for realignment going forward. Locally and regionally, I will collaborate with the wing commander, the governor’s office, state and federal legislators and regional mayors on matters pertaining to WARB. I will fully utilize existing data collected from the regional economic impact studies while educating myself and working towards an in depth knowledge of the base, the mission that this Air Force Reserve Command is tasked with carrying out, Chicopee’s role in this effort, and researching more ways that the City of Chicopee could weave itself into the existence and support of Westover.
4. In my first 100 days I will take action on the practical, progressive and innovative plan that I proposed during my campaign.
I will focus on public safety, education and economic development to assure a safe, inclusive and more prosperous city for all.
After appointing and hiring highly capable staff, I will work with department heads and key city employees to create a strong and engaged team of leaders for the city, making communication and interaction a high priority. I will review budgets and implement metrics to measure success and growth across the city.
I will study the city employee contracts and their renewal dates. I will authorize a plan with established timelines to begin new negotiations, at the appropriate time. All such employees deserve a timely response to contract renewals, thus avoiding unnecessary delays and impacts to our employees.
I will put into effect a plan by which appropriately sized trash receptacles are made available to those willing to cost share.
I will seek a full-time grant writer who will be tasked with meeting established goals and objectives for bringing external funding to special projects outside of the city budget back to Chicopee. Ultimately, this position will pay for itself.
I will be an active and involved mayor, and intend to manage by participating and understanding the unique challenges every city department is faced with, in times of tight budgets and often understaffed teams.
I plan to enact a city wide process of sharing resources and assets between departments when appropriate, and eliminating waste at every opportunity.
I will work with every resource available to me to make all of city hall’s daily workings transparent. I’d make myself accessible to the residents of Chicopee and the employees.
Michael Bissonette
1. Consolidate current school functions involving personnel, building management and business purchasing/accounting with compatible city departments.
Removing duplicative functions will allow professional educators in our district to focus on educating our children.
Innovative curriculum methods need to be encouraged with support for seeking competitive grants. We shared a reading grant of $20 million with Springfield that was won by the hard work of those involved in the application.
Parental involvement is key to beginning any success story and our schools are no different. Staff support and recognition for single parents, grandparents as parents or second language families improves the odds for some kids to make it.
Sometimes it is the little things: who knew bidding all copiers together could save $150,000 a year? Or bidding all the property insurance for the first time in seven years could save over $240,000 a year? Or even hauling sludge could save $100,000 a year. This is why best practices and professional management can be cost effective throughout city government.
I am a proud product of public education. Lambert-Lavoie, Barry, Kirby, CHS, HCC, NASC/Westfield and UMass all provided me with a ladder up. Our daughter is a proud CCHS grad. I would never pull that ladder of opportunity that a public education brings behind me.
Being called “The Education Mayor” by my colleagues on the School Committee (who worked tirelessly with us to avoid teacher layoffs, classroom cutbacks and charging for sports, buses and programs during a tough economic recession) was more meaningful because it sent a signal that I stood behind our teachers and our kids. We respected the educators, they knew it and we worked hard together to find solutions for making our schools better.
2. Getting control of the water and sewer bills has to be the number one priority. Failure to approve our water meter replacement program in 2012 has cost taxpayers over a million each year – over $7 million so far according to admissions from the DPW to the City Council.
Repairing and improving all our streets. The state sends almost $1.3 million annually in road funds to Chicopee under Chapter 90.
We always spent the state money on street repairs but the current mayor spent it on buying equipment. It will again be spent on roads as we seek to repair streets in all the older subdivisions.
Flood control and keeping flood insurance available for homeowners in impacted areas needs to be monitored and updated regularly. No more $8 million surprises.
Working with the EPA to implement the longer term strategy we developed to allow less rate shock for sewer separation over the next decade.
There are still two federal earmarks we obtained to complete the Chicopee RiverWalk (($2.3 million to Ellerton St) and to begin a Connecticut River project linking the Delta Park area to the boat launch (including a pedestrian bridge over the inlet). There is over $3 million still allocated from federal funds available for Chicopee. We designated these funds back in 2010 and they have been available for the past six years. We will make these river access project happen while protecting the neighborhoods nearby.
The Fuller Road full reconstruction project that we sought and designed in 2012 is also finally going to begin next year. We will again implement weekly project management sessions to deal with the headaches and issues caused by any major road project.
We also will continue the cost effective approach where we seek to combine water and sewer projects so “we only have to dig the road up once.” Just makes sense.
Grants: the success in bringing in federal and state grants to do road and bridge projects was unmatched. We still have a lot to do and I recognize the needs, know how the process works and am ready to begin the search to bring more funding to our community.
3. Living on Westover Road in the 1960s was certainly a different time. Westover Air Base then had almost 25,000 military personnel stationed there and it changed the face of Chicopee forever.
Today Westover remains a huge economic engine for our city and the greater region. Having been through the major changes of the late 1970s, it has emerged as a modern Air Reserve Base and the home for several other affiliated military units as it evolves into an eventual Joint Base Westover.
Having worked closely with several base commanders in the recent past, I am prepared to protect and articulate the current mission on behalf of the city.
In addition, I welcome the support and involvement of Congressman Neal and McGovern as well as Senators Warren and Markey, all of whom I have worked with before on Westover issues. This relationship helps insure that we will be as successful as we were in the past at keeping Westover strong and vibrant.
During my administration, we were able to execute a number of legal land swaps. This helped clear up several boundary issues necessary for force protection at the base facility.
There are still several issues (including condo utilities from old base housing and Generals Row) that will need to be resolved.
We also need to explore the possibility of locating military-related R&D companies into air parks adjacent to the Base as that has been successful model of economic growth elsewhere.
Encourage military stationed at the base to consider buying a home in the community. Having been a military community for a long time, we should look to embrace those leaving uniform who may seek a new hometown. Bringing back our first time home buyers program can help some of those folks, too.
4. Taking office in January, 2006, I had seen my predecessor arrested for corruption, all funds to the city frozen by the federal government, HUD audits required paying back over $8 million in Community Development funds, the Comp building project was not only over budget but nothing would be reimbursed by the state – a $24 million deficit!
The EPA has sued Chicopee and was fining the city $25,000 a day for dumping sewage into the river. And we had a big snowstorm on a trash day … needless to say there was a lot on the plate for Team Chicopee. We found a way to finance Comp that kept both the stadium field and the CTE funded. We resolved the HUD issues, cleaned house and barely avoided paying back the federal funds. We saved over $6 million in federal EPA fines and set up a new dialogue leading to getting millions in grants to clean up Facemate and Uniroyal.
There is still a lot of work to be done and it has to start the day after the election. To begin, I would first meet with all department heads to review the financials and current projects.
Team Chicopee involves everyone. So all candidates, volunteers serving on committees and anyone interested in making a better city will be invited to an all-day late November day retreat to discuss ideas, concerns, partnerships and methods.
From this will come an agenda with transition groups of volunteers for working with departments. I would also seek to involve the Department of Revenue to review and tighten the financial practices of the city.
With your help, the idea is that we can then use the first 100 days to hit the ground running.
To put away the taxpayers charge cards and again find new sources of revenue and grants.
To recognize education and our public employees as being vital to the success of our community
To go after the crime, violence and drugs threatening our community and lowering the quality of life.
To become first for something other than WalMart police calls.
To develop downtown to its full potential, create a cultural and small retail center while improving our tax base by renovation and restoration.
To make real economic development and new jobs something more than a catch phrase – To Get Chicopee Moving Again!