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The Westfield News
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”
Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— FREDERICK DOUGLASS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 049
75 cents
Public works consolidation proposed By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee voted Wednesday night to present an ordinance amendment which will restructure several infrastructure and service departments, forming a combined public works department to be presented to the full City Council Monday night. The reorganization was presented to the L&O by Water Superintendent Dave Billips, who is also the interim public works superintendent. The revised structure includes administration and four functional divisions, each headed by a deputy superintendent. The
“There are a lot of efficiencies that can be realized.” DAVE BILLIPS
Water Superintendent divisions are Public Works; Wastewater and Collections Systems; Parks and Recreation; and Water. The public works division will have two subdivisions: a highway subdivision and a subdivision for refuse, recycling collections and for the transfer station operations. MARY O’CONNELL
STAFFING BREAKDOWN FY08 FY15 NEW Highway 20 11 11 Refuse & Recycling 19 13 14 Natural Resources 13 13 14 Stormwater NA 4 4 Sewer 4 3 4 Water 19 19 19 Wastewater 8 8 8 Transfer Station 4 4 4 Administrative 18 21 23 Total 105 96 101
CHRISTOPHER KEEFE
The wastewater division includes the wastewater treatment plant and the collections segment of that division which is related to stormwater and sewer line maintenance. The parks and recreation division will include the natural resources subdivision for maintenance of the city’s parks and infrastructure, as well as a tree maintenance subdivision. The water department will remain pretty much within its current structure. The revised department management would have a director and assistant director overseeing the four deputy superintendents. Administrative functions, engineering (now in the water resource department), data administration (IT), budget analysis and a stormwater/solid waste manager would report directly to the DPW director. Billips said that the existing board overseeing departments which would become a division and subdivision will remain in place and continue to provide oversight of those areas.
Winter keeping its icy grip on country The Associated Press The bitter cold that has gripped the Eastern U.S. is showing no sign of letting up before the weekend as records for low temperatures were broken Friday. The National Weather Service says the newest band of Arctic air could plunge parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic into deep freezes that haven’t been felt since the mid-1990s. Temperatures and wind chills on Thursday dipped near zero or below in the Midwest, Northeast and even the South — where people are unaccustomed to the weather-related road hazards, school cancellations, and runs on supplies. The cold snap followed snow and ice storms earlier in the week. The low temperatures caused much freezing and refreezing of snow, ice and roads. Weather forecasters warn that more sleet and freezing rain will be possible in the coming days. Here’s a look at the latest weather and the effect it is having around the country: YOU THINK IT’S COLD WHERE YOU ARE? Temperatures dropping close to 0 degrees where you are? That’s nothing to folks in Embarrass, Minnesota. On Thursday, the community reported a temperature of 41 below zero — without the wind-chill factor. Forecasters say that’s the lowest recorded temperature in northern Minnesota this winter. Elsewhere in Minnesota, it was 31 below zero in Ely and Fosston, and 28 below at Bemidji. The National Weather Service issued a wind-chill advisory for parts of the state. BONE-CHILLING AND RECORD-BREAKING Bitter cold temperatures have shattered decades-old records in Washington and Baltimore. The National Weather Service said the low Friday got down to 6 degrees at Reagan National Airport, just across the Potomac River from Washington. That beats the record low of 8 degrees, set in 1896. At Baltimore’s airport, the temperature dipped down to 2 degrees. The record was 4 degrees, set in 1979. In western Pennsylvania, temperatures dipped to minus 18 in New Castle, minus 15 in Butler and 6 below zero in Pittsburgh — all records. At Newark Liberty International Airport in See Winter, Page 8
DAVID BILLIPS
“There are a lot of efficiencies that can be realized,” Billips said. Those efficiencies include equipment repair, equipment sharing, combined engineering resources, training, and improved communication. “We’re doing a lot of training that will make all departments better,” Billips said. “We can all benefit. We have some really smart talented people.” “We should be doing more work in-house,” Billips said, “Reducing our reliance on outside contractors and consultants. We have to have a vision of looking four or five years down the road.” Ward 1 City Councilor Christopher Keefe, an L&O member, questioned how the reorganization would resolve the “controversial” issue of stormwater funding accountability. Billips said the four public works employees whose salaries are currently paid through the See Consolidation, Page 3
State troopers discuss evidence in Aaron Hernandez trial
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER
Baker unveils plan to fight opiate abuse By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Calling drug addiction a public health emergency, Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday unveiled the first steps his administration plans to take to combat abuse of heroin and prescription drugs, including the release of county-bycounty data on opiate addiction. Speaking at Hope House, a treatment center in Boston, Baker also announced the formation of a 16-member task force assigned to formulate a statewide strategy for dealing with addiction, treatment and recovery. The group will hold several public meetings and submit recommendations in May. During his gubernatorial campaign last year, Baker pledged that controlling the state’s heroin overdose epidemic would be a top priority. The county-level data, he said, will help to highlight “concerning” trends in the prescribing of painkillers, including the number of individuals who receive Schedule II opioid prescriptions from different doctors — or fill those prescriptions at different pharmacies. These trends were found to be most prevalent in Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties. Officials say people abusing prescription opiates will often try to get multiple prescriptions from different doctors and fill those at a variety of pharmacies to escape detection. “These medications can provide great
relief for many patients, including those tormented by debilitating chronic pain or suffering in their last days of life,” Baker said. “But we need to make sure prescribing is appropriate.” The governor said insurance companies can also play a role in preventing abuse by “establishing best practices and ensuring compliance.” Baker is a former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, one of the state’s largest insurers. State health officials say there were 978 unintentional opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts in 2013, the last year for which complete statistics were available. That was a 46 percent increase over the previous year. It’s also about three times as many as in 2000, when there were 338 unintentional opioid overdose deaths. The Opioid Addiction Working Group, as the task force will be known, will be led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and include law enforcement officials, doctors and experts in addiction prevention, treatment and recovery. Sudders said there are no quick fixes but the state needs to face the problem head on. “We need to label it. We need to contain it. We need to address it,” Sudders said. Attorney General Maura Healy will also serve on the task force. See Opiate Abuse, Page 8
FALL RIVER (AP) — Three state troopers testified yesterday about evidence they collected in the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, including a digital scale with a dish that included a residue of marijuana. Hernandez is charged in the June 2013 death of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Trooper Zachary Johnson testified about going to Lloyd’s home the evening his body was found and alerting his family that he was dead. He also spoke about a safe police found in the closet of Hernandez’s master bedroom. Inside, he said, was the digital scale and dish. They also recovered four pairs of white Nike Air Jordan sneakers, he said. Prosecutors have said a footprint by an Air Jordan sneaker was found at the scene. Trooper Joseph Collins testified about picking up Hernandez’s BlackBerry cellphone from Hernandez’s lawyer on June 18, 2013, the day after the killing, while Trooper John Conron spoke for more than two hours about how he recovered a digital recorder that held video surveillance from Hernandez’s home. Hernandez’s lawyers have tried to poke holes in the state’s case by going after how police handled evidence.
Massachusetts State Trooper John Conron removes the hard drive from a DVR, taken from the home of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, during Hernandez’s murder trial at the Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River yesterday. Hernandez is accused in the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiancee’s sister. (AP Photo/ Charles Krupa, Pool)