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TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 TUESDAY, JUNE 27,6,2017 THURSDAY, JULY 2017
One sent to hospital after Hampton Ponds boat collision
The Granville Fire Department received a pet oxygen mask this week. (Photo courtesy of Laura Kelley Bauver)
By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—A two-boat collision in Hampton Ponds sent one to the hospital Wednesday night. According to Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nick Latino, out of the Russell State Police Barracks, a call for a two-boat collision came in shortly before 11 p.m. last night at Hampton Ponds. The crash sent one person to an unidentified hospital. The extent of the injuries are currently not known. Latino said that one boat had a total of five people on board, while the other had two. The boat with five parties was where Latino said the injured party came from. State Police said that the Massachusetts Environmental Police are currently investigating.
Granville Fire Department receives piece of equipment By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent GRANVILLE – The Granville Fire Department received an important piece of equipment this week. Posted on the fire department’s Facebook page on Wednesday, the Talcott Mountain Agility Club donated a pet oxygen mask to the fire station. Concentrated in Central Connecticut, the Talcott Mountain Agility Club focuses on assisting dogs with agility, obedience, herding, and conformation. The club has about 100 members with various types of breeds and purebred dogs.
Granville Fire Chief Matt Ripley sees a significant benefit to the new piece of equipment. “In case someone has a pet that’s involved in a fire, we can administer oxygen to it properly,” said Ripley. “Their (dogs) are very important family members in a lot of homesteads.” The pet oxygen masks have three different sizes and can fit all dogs, and as well as small cats. The masks are also able to connect to the fire department’s oxygen regulator. Ripley added that the mask is very similar to a human oxygen mask, with the only difference being its shape.
Williams Riding Way Pump Station is operational By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—According to city engineer Mark Cressotti, the Williams Riding Way Pump Station is “up and running.” Cressotti informed the Westfield Flood Control Commission yesterday that the pump station is active. The pump station had been undergoing rehabilitation, according to Flood Control Commissioner Al Giguere, and was estimated to have cost under $2 million. Both Cressotti and Giguere said that there is still work to be done at the location, however. “As of right now, everything is operational,” Giguere said. According to Giguere, the pump station had been unofficially operational previously, but as of July 1 it became official. That was the date that the contract for rehabilitation of the site officially ended, he said. Work that still needs to be done on this phase, according to Cressotti, is the acquiring of tools and training. The pump station was made functional in July of last year, when three pumps within the facility were renovated. The pumps were initially gas-powered and were installed in 1955, the same year as one of Westfield’s largest floods. The equipment installed to replace the gas engines was electric-powered, with three total pumps, along with a back-up diesel generator attached in the event that electricity cannot flow to the station. Giguere said that the pump station could be capable of pumping 60,000 gallons of water per minute, if each pump is operating. According to an article about the site last year, Cressotti said that the pumps were last used in 2006 or 2007, prior to the rehabilitation. Also according to the article, rehabilitation at the facility started three years ago. Giguere said that the pumps have been used since the facility was made functional, but it was in order to test and evaluate the system. Giguere said that he is hopeful that this will allow the Flood Control Commission to move onto the next phase of the rehabilitation of the pump station. This phase, according to Giguere, includes improving inflow and outflow infrastructure and rebuilding a portion of the facility called the grit chamber, which is where debris from stormwater collects.
Westfield Police Chief John Camerota.
Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan (WNG file photo)
City Council preview, July 6, 2017 By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—The City Council will be meeting this evening and there is a full list of agenda items up for discussion. The meeting is set to feature public hearings on zoning changes and site plans, reports from city officers regarding the Barnes Aquifer and truck traffic on Paper Mill Road, a possible vote and discussion on a synthetic turf and crumb rubber moratorium on city-owned land and mayoral requests, among other items. For the “Communications from the mayor,” Mayor Brian Sullivan said that the most of his requests are for the acceptance of grants or gifts to the city. “Everything going into city council from the mayor is really just a grant or a gift, so it’s pretty simple and straightforward,” Sullivan said. Some of the grants include over $266,000 that was given to the city from the Department of Energy Resources Green Communities Designation Grant, over $135,000 total in grants related to the public safety communications center and $158,000 for the Westfield Barnes Regional Airport Layout Plan. In addition, Sullivan is expected to request that city council approve making the city’s interim treasurer-collector Megan Kane, and interim auditor Mary Daley, into permanent positions. “Both have been there on an interim basis and I’m just looking to make them permanent for the fiscal year ’18 time frame,” Sullivan said. Regarding reports from city officers, one will be in relation to protection of the Barnes Aquifer from officials at Barnes Regional Airport, and the other is related to a possible truck exclusion on Paper Mill Road. For Barnes, airport manager Eric Billowitz is expected to address the council and will talk about what they do to help protect the aquifer. According to a letter for the city council, Billowitz wrote that the airport “follows and is subject” to all local, state/Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and federal/Environmental Protection Agency “laws and regulations as they pertain in an aviation environmental,” among other points within the letter. As for the truck exclusion on Paper Mill Road, Westfield Police Chief and traffic commissioner John Camerota is expected to provide for city council a request to look at creating a truck exclusion for Paper Mill Road. “The residents up there are looking to get heavy truck
All three pumps at the Williams Riding Way Pump Station. Photo taken during a July 2016 demonstration.
See Cily Council, Page 3