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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments.” — Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
www.thewestfieldnews.com FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.172
75 cents
District cuts costs through consolidation By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – During an appearance on The Westfield News Radio Show on 89.5 WSKB yesterday morning, Westfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion spoke of how the school department has been forced to get creative with administrative positions over the past few years. According to information compiled from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website by Westfield Director of Technology and Business Services Ronald Rix, the
district has seen the percentage of their budget devoted to administration hover around two percent since 2006. This percentage began to shrink in 2011, when the district’s budget set aside 2.31 percent, or $1,789,957, it’s lowest since 2006. The percentage fell below two percent in 2012, when the district spent $1,497,178, or 1.96 percent on administration. For 2013, the district will spend roughly $1,413,652 or 1.81 percent, though the 2013 numbers have yet to be certified. “The percentage of our budget has remained consistent, with a slight dip in ’09, ’10, and ’11,”
RON RIX
DR. SUZANNE SCALLION
Scallion said yesterday on The Westfield News Radio Show. “We’ve also seen a decrease in administrative costs of about half a
percent from ’07 to ’13, which is just amazing given inflation and everything else.” “We’ve buttoned up. If you look at the administrative costs for Westfield in ’06 – 2.37 percent of the whole budget – in 2013, they were 1.8 percent of the budget,” she said. “I believe thats a reduction of around 25 percent.” Scallion said that, as the administration costs continued to be scaled back at the start of the decade, the teachers’ cut of the budget remained high. “Teachers were still at 38.46 percent of the district budget (in 2013),”
A Train Station ride designed for the younger generation is one of the many rides at the Southwick Days Carnival starting tonight at the Southwick Recreation Center on Powder Mill Road in Southwick. The carnival days opens tonight from 5-10 p.m. with a special Family Day tomorrow from 3-10 p.m. and Sunday from noon - 6 p.m. which will feature a Grill’n Daze BBQ & Chili Cook Off contest. Fireworks will be tonight. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Thief sends wallet back to victim for he found it gone. Officer William Cavanaugh responded to the store and reports that, when the store’s security video was reviewed, the clerk immediately recognized the man seen stealing the wallet to be a homeless man who frequents the store. The man was not found in the area. When Cavanaugh returned to the store about and hour and a half later to speak further with the clerk he learned that the suspect had returned there. The clerk told Cavanaugh that when he confronted the man about the wallet the man said that he had dropped it into a mailbox on Chapel Street and abruptly left
the store. Assistance was requested and received from the Westfield Post Office and when the mailbox was opened the wallet was found. Det. Todd Edwards reports that the wallet was intact – except for the cash. The victim had said that the wallet contained more than $100 in cash which was not in the wallet when it was recovered but the victim did get back the financial cards, documents and personal papers which had been in it. Edwards said that although the See Wallet, Page 3
North Pond preservation supported By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Lake Management Director Richard Grannells is supporting the preservation of 140 acres of land along Congamond Lakes’ North Pond. The Open Space Planning Committee (OSPC) met last week to discuss the land, which is privately owned. The Committee is partnering with the Commonwealth’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, which own 250 acres next to the 140 acres in question, the location of one of the wildlife management areas. The DFW is interested in preserving some of the acreage for bird habitat for endangered species like Sand Pipers and Sparrows. Their goal is to form a landtrust with the town of Southwick to keep the lake frontage safe from development. The property owner once considered
building a resort on the site, but now wants to preserve the land rather than see it developed. Conservation Commission Coordinator Dennis Clark, a member of the OSPC, spoke about the enironmental benefits of the land preservation. Grannells, also a water department engineer, said there are financial benefits as well. “There are no sewer plans for that area, so we would need a sewer extension if it was developed because there is nothing there,” said Grannells, adding that it would be a very costly endeavor. “We would have to cross Great Brook and add three pump stations to brings sewers there,” Grannells said. “Then there’s the problem of capacity.” Grannells said the town just completed its parallel sewer interceptor project, which brings the Southwick sewers to the Westfield wastewater
See District Cuts, Page 3
O’Grady appointed district judge
Southwick Days Carnival tonight
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A thief who was apparently willing to steal the cash from a wallet he took from a liquor store counter was kindhearted enough to make sure that the victim got back the wallet and the personal and financial documents it contained. A Sackett Road man called police Monday afternoon to report that his wallet was stolen after he inadvertently left it on the counter of a Franklin Street liquor store. The caller told the emergency dispatcher that he had accidentally left his wallet on the counter and when he returned
she said. “But what has gone up as administrative costs have gone down, are insurance and retirement, which went from 16 to 19 percent (since 2006).” “Our teachers salaries have remained roughly the same,” said Rix. “As you look at things and say ‘hmm, if these are all staying the same, wheres the difference?’ A lot of it has gone into our healthcare.” Despite the cuts in the administrative budget, Scallion said that news of the creation of new positions may give folks the wrong impression.
treatment facility. The capacity of the interceptor is based on the planned sewer system for Southwick, which does not include any potential development at the lakes. “We purched a half-million gallons a day capacity, and that’s pretty much spoken for,” he said. If the land was developed without sewers, they would have to add septic systems around the lakes, which Grannells said “is undesireable.” Both Grannells and Clark touted the pristine condition of North Pond and said further development would compromise the lake. The OSPC is in the process of approaching the town’s Community Preservation Committee for funding for the preserve and contacting other town boards, including the Lake Management Committee and Board of Health.
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Attorney William J. O’Grady of Westhampton was appointed as an Associate Judge for the Chicopee District Court Wednesday by a unanimous vote of the Governor’s Council. O’Grady is taking the Chicopee District Court bench vacated by Judge Mary Hurley, who also served as the mayor of Springfield from 1989 to 1991. O’Grady, in his interview with the Governor’s Council last week, said he sees the role of a District Court Judge as treating all before him with dignity and respect. “I have appeared enough in the courts of this Commonwealth to underWILLIAM J. stand that virtually O’GRADY every decision a District Court Judge makes has a profound impact on many lives. That impact extends much further than the individual standing before the court. Each and every decision made, and there are many, many decisions made daily by a District Court Judge, must be made with an acute appreciation of the impact of each of those decisions. Each of those decisions must be made with a sense of fairness, and while treating all the individuals that come before the court with dignity and respect,” O’Grady said in a prepared statement to the members of the Governor’s Council. O’Grady has served with the city’s Law Department as a litigator for the past five years and prior to that performed a similar function in Chicopee, where he was Chief of Litigation. O’Grady served as a special prosecutor for the Northwest District Attorney when that office needed outside counsel because of a conflict See District Judge, Page 3
Rape case moves to superior court By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A 45-year-old city man will answer charges, including rape of a child, in Hampden Superior Court after the charges he was facing in Westfield District Court were dismissed yesterday. Jason C. Tolbert, 45, of 12 Meadow St. saw three charges of indecent assault and battery on a child youngJason C. er than 14, as well as charges of rape of a child with force and assault and Tolbert battery, dismissed after he was indicted and arraigned for the same offenses in superior court. Det. Roxanne Bradley reports in a court document that the charges stem from a series of incidents which began in 2012 when Tolbert was babysitting for a then eight-yearold boy and continued until shortly before his May, 2014, arraignment on the child abuse charges. Bradley documents a pattern of inappropriate touching and fondling of the boy’s private parts and includes one overtly sexual act which Tolbert allegedly foisted on the young boy who had been entrusted to his care. Tolbert had been arraigned May 19 in Westfield District Court before Judge Philip A. Contant who ordered the revocation of the recognizance which had been imposed in a pending case in Springfield District Court ordering that Tolbert be held without right to bail in that case. Contant set bail in the new case at $50,000. Tolbert is represented by David Hoose of the Northampton law firm of Sasson, Ryan, Turnbull & Hoose.