WEATHER TONIGHT
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
Clear, cold. Low of 18.
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter,
and to argue freely according to Conscience, above all liberties.”
— JOHN MILTON
VOL. 85 NO. 297
Finance Committee backs Mayor’s Free Cash appropriation
25th annual Senior Citizen Brunch and Concert held at Gateway By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – The Gateway Regional School district held its 25th annual Senior Citizen Brunch and Concert on Thursday. Approximately 75 seniors from the six Gateway hilltowns attended the brunch which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but pushed ahead due to inclement weather. National Honor Society students worked double-duty greeting the seniors at the door, as well as serving them quiche, sausage, fruit and a cinnamon roll, under the supervision of Tasha Hartley, Gateway high school cook manager and food services director Wendy McCaul. “The food was delicious,” commented Marie Zomek of Huntington, who attended the brunch. Gateway junior Chloe Otterbeck of Chester, one of four interns working with communications specialist Wendy Long, served as coordinator for the event. Otterbeck said they sent flyers to the Councils on See Senior Brunch, Page 5
Gateway Regional superintendent Dr. David B. Hopson and communications specialist Wendy Long, along with other senior administrators, purchased $25 gift certificates to area stores as door prizes for the Senior Citizen brunch.
75 cents
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016
The display offers several different lights for the public to see. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Christmas lights display open to the public By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent WESTFIELD – With the heavy traffic that flows through Bright Nights in Springfield, residents throughout the Westfield and Southwick area have found a way to avoid the chaos while still experiencing the holiday feel of vibrant Christmas lights. For the last 20 years, vehicles about to pass through Westfield and into Southwick have been able to drive into Lecrenski Brothers Incorporated. As three brothers help run Lecrenski’s, co-owner David Lecrenski said that the Christmas lighting all started with his father. The father used to See Lights Display, Page 3
City council subcommittee seeks public way change By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD–Ward 4 councilor Mary O’Connell is seeking to make private ways in the city into public ways, opening them up to more funding. O’Connell brought to the legislative and ordinance committee–which she is a part of– the proposal that would make private ways into public ways. Currently in Westfield, private ways do not get the same maintenance and repairs as public ways do, both due to city regulation and funding. According to city engineer Mark Cressotti, private ways make up about a third of MARY O’CONNELL Westfield’s streets. WARD 4 COUNCILOR “The city is sometimes hesitant to help citizens on private ways,” O’Connell said. “For instance, there was a sinkhole in the backyard of a home on Caitlin Way due to developmental error. The backyard is deteriorating and the city won’t remedy the sinkhole due to it being on a private way.”
(Photo by Amy Porter)
See Public Way, Page 3
Dickinson School Trust awards Twelfth Annual Teacher Grants SOUTHWICK – The town of Southwick’s Dickinson School Trust awarded its twelfth annual teacher grants at the December 5th Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District school committee meeting. Two teachers were awarded grants for the 20162017 school year for their proposals that would provide numerous benefits to eighth grade mathematics and special education students. Receiving the teacher’s grants were eighth grade teachers Elizabeth McCarthy and Laura Fitzgerald of Southwick Regional School. Elizabeth McCarthy had submitted a proposal for a forty week subscription to a web based learning and assessment system See Teacher Grants, Page 3
Pictured left to right are Elizabeth McCarthy, Gene Theroux and Laura Fitzgerald (Photo submitted)
By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – On the agenda at Thursday’s Finance Committee meeting were two separate $1 million dollar plus appropriations from the Undesignated Fund Balance (Free Cash) intended to reduce the Fiscal Year 2017 tax levy. The first appropriation request of $1,034,300 was submitted to the City Council at its Dec. 1 meeting by Mayor Brian P. Sullivan, who said it was the most money ever used to give back to the taxpayers. Also at the City Council meeting, the Finance Committee presented a resolution requesting that the Mayor appropriate an additional $1,338,100 from Free Cash for the same purpose. Both matters were referred to the Finance Committee for discussion. Ten of the thirteen City Councilors attended the Finance Committee meeting, including chair Robert A. Paul, Sr., members Dave Flaherty and Matthew T. VanHeynigen, and Mayor Sullivan. Paul tabled the first item on the agenda to a future meeting, which involved a $249,000 transfer within the engineering department to pay three prior year’s bills. Paul then addressed the Mayor’s appropriation of $1,034,300 from Free Cash. Hearing no comment from the floor, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend the appropriation. Paul then brought forward the Finance Committee’s resolution, on which the mayor had a lot to say, including questioning the process, and reminding the Finance Committee that they could not appropriate funds. “You just passed an appropriation. This is a crazy way to do things,” Sullivan said. He went on to present an overview of his work over the past year. He noted that the City Council voted on a balanced budget in June that represented many cuts, including his own, the School Committee’s and those of the City Council. He also said that $500,000 was transferred from Free Cash at that time, and another $1.2 million put in the Stabilization Fund, which brought it to over $7 million. See Free Cash, Page 5
Finance Committee members Robert A. Paul, Sr. chair; Dave Flaherty and Matthew T. VanHeynigen. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Mayor Sullivan announces city park repairs project By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD–Mayor Brian Sullivan announced yesterday that the city would be replacing balustrades at several city parks near the Great River Bridge. The balustrades, which were initially installed during the Great River Bridge project in 2012, surround a number of parks overlooking the Westfield River. The parks where construction will occur are the Half Mile Falls, Women’s temperance and KaneWojtkiewicz parks. Sullivan said that the target of the project is “to get them to be safer and to have a better product and to match the rail fencing already in place.” Sullivan doesn’t expect the project to interfere with vehicle traffic, since the parks are in between or off to the side of the Elm Street roadway. Sullivan estimated the cost of the project to be between $250,000 and $350,000, but it is not expected to cost taxpayers anything new. “We will be using a reallocation of the Bullens See Park Repairs, Page 3
The new balustrades being put in that are currently around the Westfield River.