Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/9/2020
WESTFIELD – During its Dec. 3 meeting, the Westfield City Council discussed questions about water rates and discussed looking into a residency requirement for teachers and other city employees.
After the council submitted a request at the last meeting to bring in a representative from the Water Department to discuss water rates, the department denied the request and Councilor John Beltrandi said he wanted to invite them in through the Mayor’s Office.
“A lot of people are concerned about the water bills and really blown away by the water bills. We need to have this discussion to give them some level of comfort we are working on this situation, I was hoping to get it started tonight but we had a little bit of a setback. People want some answers, there are people getting water bills that are thousands of dollars,” he said.
Councilor Dan Allie said one of his constituents received a drastically higher water bill than last year.
“There was one resident that received a bill of $2,259, his normal bill is about $169. He lives alone and that represents about 520,000 gallons of water which would almost fill up an Olympic sized pool,” he said.
Along with the high water bills, Allie explained that the new meters should be able to pick up leaks in a system.
“With the new meters, alerts can be sent before a bill is even generated, saving residents money and reducing wasted water. I can tell you this resident here and others did not receive an alert, they’ve been inspected and there’s no leaks. This amount of water would’ve washed out and created a lake somewhere,” he said.
While the new meters may measure the amounts more accurately, Councilor Rick Sullivan said he thought there may be a bigger issue.
“A significant number of people saw dramatically higher bills. I understand that some of it has to do with new meters, but I do find it hard to believe that that many people – and it’s a lot, it’s whole entire neighborhoods – that it’s a one size fits all issue. I think it has to be something more than that,” he said.
Ultimately, the council agreed to submit a second request to bring the Water Department in for the Dec. 10 meeting.
During the meeting, the council also approved two Host Community Agreements, one for a retail marijuana facility on Medeiros Way and one for a marijuana cultivation facility on Progress Avenue.
After discussing the water bills, Council President Brent Bean brought forward a motion to look into a residency requirement for city positions, including with the schools and other city departments.
“It’s just something I think we need to address. This isn’t anything personal, but I get concerned when we’re hiring time and time again individuals outside of this town. When I see a lot of the larger salaries with department heads, some of the school administration, and the managers at Westfield Gas and Electric, it’s concerning,” he said.
Councilor Dave Flaherty said he was completely against the idea of a residency requirement.
“I hate this idea. I don’t care where they live, if they can do the job and they are the best person for the job, I could care less if they live in Chicopee or in Cleveland. If they can show up for work when they need to be there and do a fantastic job all day long, that’s what I’m interested in,” he said.
If the council were to investigate the requirement, Councilor Ralph Figy suggested including both the personnel director and city solicitor before moving forward.
“I think we need to bring in the personnel director and city solicitor for our research and discussion so that we can find out what is negotiable through the unions, and what are the parameters set by federal and state legislation,” he said.
The council eventually approved a motion to investigate the residency requirement further.