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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— Mike Todd
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 283
“I’ve never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.”
75 cents
Brinkmanship high as tax deadline nears By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council declined to vote on several agenda items relative to setting a new tax rate Thursday night, instead voting to send those matters to its Finance Committee. The chairman of that committee, Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe, vowed to keep those matters tied up in his committee, preventing the setting of a new tax rate, until
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik explains his rationale for seeking a tax increase when the city has nearly $13 million in reserve funding. The Council conducted a public hearing on the tax shift which spanned nearly half of the council’s five-hour-plus meeting. The shift is a key element in setting a new tax rate for the current fiscal year, and really the only part of the tax rate formula approved by the City Council.
The city has a bifurcated tax levy under which residents are assessed property taxes at one rate and businesses at a higher rate for commercial, industry and personal property. Residents were generally united in asking the council not to raise taxes for either classification and to use some of the funds held in the city’s free cash account ($6,241,170) and stabilization account ($6,217,074) to avoid any tax increase at all.
Residents said the city needs to spend less, not tax more and that the City Council members have to cut more when setting the annual budgets in June, its only opportunity to cut significant levels of funding. Attorney Calvin Annino said the city needs “to cut the (tax) rate for all of us. Get spending under control and come up with a tax rate that makes sense. It’s time to put tax relief for everyone at the top of the (City’s priority) list.”
The Council did cut $3.2 million from the budget last June, from the city’s health insurance account, knowing that at some point of the current budget year Mayor Daniel M. Knapik would request it to restore those funds. Knapik submitted two agenda items, requesting immediate action on both, under communication from the mayor. One requested the City See City Council, Page 3
Powdermill energy efficiency improved
Utility hedging on energy cost volatility
By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A $2 billion federal initiative from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) known as the Better Buildings Challenge has been expanded to improve the energy efficiency of multifamily housing units and developments throughout the United States. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 12 affordable housing communities will be receiving energy efficient makeovers thanks to the Better Buildings Challenge, with Westfield’s Powdermill Village, an affordable housing community located on 126 Union Street, among them. The housing community is currently undergoing $3 million worth of upgrades, $2.3 million of which went toward mechanical and electrical systems, and $425,000 that went into improving the exterior of one of the community’s 12 buildings. Thursday morning, a coalition made up of representatives from HUD, MassHousing, Boston Community Capital, Coldham & Hartman Architects of Amherst and Peabody Properties, Inc., the Braintree-based real estate firm which owns Powdermill Village, took a tour of one of the facilities to highlight the improvements. “We’ve done something that is relatively transformative for an affordable community which is in the world that we all work in, enjoy and support,” said Michael Ferguson of Peabody Properties, Inc., adding that the energy savings will help to cover the low repayments of the project. “If money is the barrier (for future projects), we can over-
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Westfield Gas & Electric Department is anticipating another challenging winter season, but is also taking steps to buffer consumers from sharp increases in the cost of gas and electricity. Investor-owned utilities, both gas and electric, are preparing by seeking rate increases to offset the higher cost of power. The Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) has requested the state Department of Public Utilities to approve a 29 percent rate increase due to a shortage of natural gas used to generate most of the region’s electrical power. National Grid’s rate increase of 37 percent went into effect on Nov. 1. While regional electrical power companies are seeking rate increases, natural gas companies are also instituting moratoriums on accepting new customers because the gas distribution pipeline system is incapable of providing a sufficient supply into the New England region, despite an abundance of natural gas nationwide. The lack of natural gas delivery capacity is also putting the region at an economic disadvantage as the delivery price of natural gas spikes
Dan Mahr, of Aslanco Service Corporation of Westborough, explains the new 400,000-BTU/HR Lochinvar WHN 399 gas-fired wall-mounted heating boiler which replaced the 20-year-old cast iron boilers. The former 1985 cast iron boilers were measured at a 75 3/4 efficient with a stack temperature of 550-degrees making them inefficient by today’s standards. The new heating systems were part of a $3 million energy conservation project at the Powdermill Village in Westfield. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Tom Hartman, of Coldham & Hartman Architects, points out the new R-12 wall insulation panels mounted on the exterior walls of the basements of the Powdermill Village in Westfield where a $3 million energy conservation program was recently completed. (Photo by Frederick Gore) come that barrier with energy savings,” he said. Powdermill Village, which has built in 1972, consists of 12 buildings divided into 250 housing units, with each unit containing 18 to 22 sub-units each which range in size from 835 square foot, one-bedroom apartments to 1,540 square foot, three bedroom units. The oil boilers being replaced were installed in 2000, when the community was last renovated with new siding, roofs, windows and in-unit finishes. The $2.3 million spent on improvements to the mechanical and electrical systems included the replacement of boilers, adding indirect tanks and a loop for domestic hot water, the removal of in-unit electric water heaters, conversion of exterior and basement lights to LED/CFL in all buildings and the replacement of toilets, aerators and showerheads in all units. The $425,000 exterior improvements to one of the buildings was spent replacing rotten pieces of the exterior and adding two inches of insulation, installing triple-glazed windows, replacing sliding glass doors with patio doors, insulating basements and crawl spaces, and upgrading the building’s unit ventilation. Ferguson stated that the oversized, aging oil-fired boilers had grown “relatively inefficient” and that the new boilers were far superior. “They’re small, wall-mounted spaceships that do fantastic things. They have an automatic transmission, so to speak, where – if it is low demand – it operates low,” said Ferguson. “We’ve taken advantages of oil prices in recent weeks. It still outweighs the cost of gas.” Ferguson said that the projects will be completed by December 18. “We’re using state-of-the-art technology such as a true remote control where, through a web-based interface, we can log on, look at the boilers and change their settings without having to drive out here,” he said. Dan Mahr, president of Aalanco Service Corp., the Westborough-based HVAC service company who handled the See Powdermill, Page 3
Work on Southwick solar project halted By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Residents living near Big Y have noticed the solar project there has come to a halt. Work on the project ceased a month ago and town officials are in the dark as to why. Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart said he has tried to make contact to find out the status of the project and how to ensure the project fees are adjusted, but he has not received an answer yet. Last month, the Board of Selectmen set a fee of $7 per $1,000 valuation, an electric panel fee of $200, and a perpanel fee of .25 cents, all for commercial projects. It also set a flat fee of $50 for residents and a $50 electric fee and agreed to make sure the project at Big Y was aligned with the new fees. Big Y Energy Manager Gary Kuchyt said yesterday he was not able to divulge details on the situation at this time, but would have more information in a month. “We are working on getting that project completed, but we’ve run into a few roadblocks,” was all Kuchyt said. In early October, a modification of the design was presented to the Southwick Planning Board by designer Matthew Puntin of RGS energy after heavy rains in late summer caused damage to houses
situated below the project on College Highway. Michael Noble and Martha Baillargeon both experienced damage following an August rainstorm when water flowed from the solar project into their yards. Baillargeon’s gravel driveway was almost completely washed out and Noble’s backyard was ruined. Baillargeon’s driveway was pushed back into place the next day but she has since discovered damage to her septic system’s leech field. Noble said his backyard was virtually unusable following the damage, and both residents attended a walk-through of the solar
project and a Southwick Planning Board meeting last month. Puntin offered a two-fold solution. To combat Baillargeon’s concerns, he said a trench included in the original design would be extended to 240 feet, nearly double the originally proposed length. The trench was designed to slow down water in the event of a major rainfall. Puntin said a swale located behind Noble’s home would also be extended an additional 20 feet, which exceeds the width of Noble’s property. Puntin said another existing swale would be modified to help slow down water and divert it away from Noble’s property.
The 7-acre solar farm near the Big Y on College Highway in Southwick in October. (©2014 Frederick Gore)
DANIEL HOWARD during cold weather, making it many times the cost of the commodity in other regions of the country. The regions reliance on natural gas for electrical generation means that those gas delivery price hikes are directly reflected in higher electrical rates. General Manager Dan Howard said that the WG&E will not see any decrease in its gas supply because the city is served by two gas lateral lines, the Southwick Lateral line bringing gas into the southern area of the city, and the Northampton Lateral which brings gas into the northern area of the city. Both of those supply lines are linked by gas line loops. See Utility, Page 8
Tennessee Gas Pipeline promises to ‘make whole’ farmers By RICHIE DAVIS Greenfield Recorder Staff AMHERST — Farmers who sign agreements with Tennessee Gas Pipeline granting easements for the company’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct project will be “made whole,” according to the company. But, during the annual meeting Thursday of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, they also were cautioned to understand all the ramifications of those contracts. About 30 people attended the session, during which representatives of Tennessee Gas Pipeline parent Kinder Morgan assured them repeatedly that they intend to “make you whole” for any losses as a result of the $5 billion project proposed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The preferred path of the pipeline, which is scheduled to begin providing as much as 2.2 million cubic feet of Marcellus shale gas to New England beginning in the fall of 2018, is expected to pass through Plainfield, Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Deerfield, Montague, Erving and Northfield before passing into New Hampshire on its way to Dracut, according to a new FERC filing scheduled for Monday. That path is expected to be 90 percent along electric power-line rights of way, spokesman Allen Fore told Thursday’s gathering at the University of Massachusetts that began the Farm Bureau’s two-day conference. Fore and Jim Hartman, Kinder Morgan right-of-way agent, said the pipeline would be buried about 4 feet underground, with a 50-foot right-of-way required and a 100-foot right-ofway during construction, during which topsoil would be segregated and protected and rocks larger than about 4 inches would be removed. The permanent right-of-way, Hartman said, would need room for mowing and mechanical trimming, with trees trimmed to allow for aerial surveillance and inspections on foot. It could also leave room for possible future expansion, he said. Continued agricultural plantings could be allowed, he said, particularly if they are annual vegetable crops, but fruit trees, See Promises, Page 8