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Date: 10/25/2023
WESTFIELD — One thing unites incumbent Mayor Michael McCabe and his opponent in the upcoming mayoral election, Kristen Mello: They both want to make the city a better place to live and work.
But these are two very different candidates. McCabe, who is completing his first two-year term as the city’s chief executive, says if reelected, he’ll continue to focus on what he calls the “the three Ps — pavement, people and parks.”
Mello, who has served two two-year terms as an at-large city councilor, counts a different “P” — PFAS — as part of her top priority.
“Water is my issue,” said Mello, who entered the public arena as an activist in 2016 when she learned of the PFAS groundwater contamination in the neighborhoods around Barnes Air National Guard Base.
With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in analytical chemistry, Mello, 57, immediately understood what PFAS, which has been called a forever chemical because it takes so long to break down, could mean for the health of those exposed.
Suffering from the effects of PFAS exposure herself, Mello founded and is the director Westfield Residents Advocating For Themselves, a nonprofit group that provides education and advocacy for town residents affected by the pollution of their natural resources.
That activism spurred her to enter the political arena, winning the at-large seat on the City Council in 2019, being reelected to that seat in 2021, and motivating her to run for mayor. She is also running for reelection to her councilor seat.
“Westfield needs a mayor that cares about clean water and about what not having clean water has done to us. It’s been passed on to our generation and we need help,” she said.
She also alleges that the Westfield city government won’t address the problem.
McCabe, 61, said he recognizes the toxic effects of the PFAS and its existence in the groundwater on the city’s North Side, and disagreed with Mello’s assessment that nothing is being done.
He said the city has been one of the leaders in the nation in mitigating PFAS in its drinking water since learning of the contamination in 2016.
The city closed two wells and invested millions of dollars in the Owen District Road Water Treatment Plant and built a permanent Granular Activated Carbon facility for wells 1 and 2 on Dry Bridge Road.
The city “believed at the time that the best way to go was with the GAC filters,” McCabe said, adding that when the city was grappling with the groundwater contamination issue, he was still serving as a captain in the Police Department, from which he retired in 2019 after nearly 40 years.
He recognized that as technology advances on removing PFAS from drinking water, future mitigation efforts by the city will have to adapt to those changes.
“And most important, we got our people educated about it,” he said.
McCabe didn’t minimize the PFAS contamination issue, but said he is focused on making the city a better place to live for its residents and do business by focusing on “pavement, people and parks.”
He said that since being elected, 31 roads in the city have been paved, including a few that he said hadn’t been touched in decades.
“That has been a tremendous lift [to the city], said McCabe, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Westfield State University.
The success in getting those projects completed, he said, was getting the city’s engineering and DPW departments to work together.
As for the city’s parks, McCabe pointed out the plaza under construction on Elm Street that will offer green space, a shell for holding weddings or music concerts, and additional parking.
He also supported the city’s commitment to building eight new pickleball courts in the coming months.
Mello said she enthusiastically supported the construction of the new pickleball courts and new basketball courts.
Working together, or collaboration, is part of McCabe’s management style.
“I focus on problems, not people, to get things done,” he said.
Mello, when describing her management style, also spoke of taking a pragmatic approach.
“I’ll always be willing to jump in to solve a problem and not take sides. Just find a solution,” she said.
Both candidates spoke of the need to understand the important role the mayor has in negotiating contracts with the city’s various employee unions.
McCabe pointed to his experience, not only as mayor, but as the president of a bargaining unit for officers in the Police Department. Mello said while working in the private sector, she negotiated contracts with the state and federal governments and non-governmental organizations.
And both said they had budgeting experience — Mello with what she’s learned as a city councilor, and McCabe while serving in the Police Department and as mayor since 2021.
There is currently a proposal before the Traffic Commission to have School Street in downtown closed to create a pedestrian walkway.
Mello endorsed the proposal, while McCabe was open to closing it off temporarily and making a final decision when he can hear input from all the businesses along the street, to see if they would prefer it open or closed. He added that hosting festivals or vendor fairs at the downtown plaza under construction just a block away would be a good alternative to closing School Street.
The question of where to build a new police headquarters has been an ongoing discussion for over a year.
Mello was clear on her choice; she believes the station should be built at the intersection of North Elm and Union streets, on the site of the former Blessed Sacrament Church rectory, land still owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. She was opposed to the proposal to build the new station on part of the athletic field behind Westfield Middle School on West Silver Street.
McCabe’s response to the question was more nuanced. While he didn’t specifically say where the police station should be sited, he said there are procurement laws that prohibit the city from purchasing the church property.
The diocese is asking for $1.5 million for the two parcels that total nearly 3 acres. But McCabe said the properties have been appraised at nearly $500,000. The state’s procurement laws only allow a municipality to pay 25% over the appraised value.
“That’s it. $650,000 is all we can pay for it,” McCabe said.
Both were asked what their motivation was to serve as mayor.
McCabe pointed first to “pavement, people and parks,” but added his life experiences made him “uniquely trained to for this job.”
Mello made it clear that before the PFAS groundwater contamination, she hadn’t been very involved in local politics.
That changed.
“I became accidentally elected,” she said.
In addition to the mayor race, voters will elect seven at-large city councilors from a field of 10; one councilor from each ward, with contested races in wards 1 and 2 only; three School Committee members from a field of six; one Municipal Light Board member from each ward, with no contested races; and one out of the two candidates for Athenaeum trustee. All terms of office are two years, except four-year terms on the School Committee and a six-year term for the Athenaeum trustee.
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, in polling places in each of the city’s six wards. Some wards have two polling places, one for each precinct. Voters can find their polling place by entering their information at www.sec.state.ma.us/VoterRegistrationSearch/MyVoterRegStatus.aspx.
The city will offer in-person early voting 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at City Hall, 59 Court St., Westfield. That is also the final date and time for residents who are not yet registered to vote to do so. Voter registrations are taken in the city clerk’s office on the second floor of City Hall.
Voting by mail is also available, for any reason. Ballots can be requested from the city clerk's office, and must be received by the city clerk by the time polls close on Nov. 7.