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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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JOHN J. RHODES Former Westfield Mayor
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State lawmakers approve budget
Former Westfield Mayor Rhodes Dies WESTFIELD — Former Westfield Mayor, John J. Rhodes, Jr, 70, passed away suddenly on Tuesday July 7th at his home in Van Buren, Arkansas. Rhodes, Mayor of Westfield from 1974-1977. John Rhodes was also the City’s Solicitor. He was a graduate of Westfield High School and attended Springfield College before joining the United States Marine Corps. and served his country in Vietnam. Rhodes leaves his wife of 42 years Carol, a son, Matthew and a daughter, Kathryn. A full obituary is forthcoming but services will be this Saturday at Firtion-Adams. ——— http://thewestfieldnews.com/ john-j-rhodes-jr
— IRVIN S. COBB
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 172
“If writers were good business men, they’d have too much sense to be writers.”
Joseph deedy, Board of Selectmen chairman and member of the Southwick Rotary club, at left, looks over a map of Whalley Park with Parks and recreation Commissioner John Whalley Tuesday night. (Photo by Hope E. Tremblay)
Whalley Park to offer limited July 24 fireworks parking By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Whalley Park will be open during the July 24 fireworks to a limited number of vehicles. The Parks and Recreation Commission voted this week to offer VIP parking at the park for 61 cars for a suggested $10 donation per vehicle. Fireworks spectators on foot will also be able to enjoy the display at the park for a donation and will be able to walk from the Southwick Days carnival at the Southwick Recreation Center into the park. Originally, the park was going to be closed during the event, but now that it is open, bylaws require it to remain open. Commissioner John Whalley suggested charging $10 for parking, but fellow commissioners Daniel Call and Jeanne Reed-Waldron did not support a fee. “I’m not happy to charge $10 per car,” said Call. “I have never paid to watch fireworks and I’m uncomfortable with that.” Reed-Waldron agreed and said it was “not good PR” to charge at this time. “I’m not saying it’s not good somewhere down
the road. I just don’t think it looks good for Whalley Park right now,” she said. Call said “at this point I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.” Both Call and Reed-Waldron said a suggested – but not required – donation of $10 was a good compromise. Last week the Commission met with Selectman and Southwick Rotary Club member Joseph Deedy to discuss concerns about the park being open. Deedy said the Rotary was concerned that Whalley Park would divert traffic away from its Southwick Days event. Deedy said next year he hopes to have Southwick Days at Whalley Park. Southwick Days is set for July 24-26 at the Recreation Center and features fireworks Friday night around 9 p.m. On Saturday, the Fireman’s Parade will highlight the day’s events stating at 6 p.m. with live music by the Charlie Galvin Band at 7 p.m. Sunday’s activities include a Vintage Baseball Challenge at 1 p.m., fundraising car show from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., and the Grill’n Daze competition at noon with music from Jack & His Guitar followed by the Rich Sadowski Blues Band from 2-6 p.m.
New Chester resident steps up for Gateway School Committee By AMY PORTER Correspondent RUSSELL – The newest member of the Gateway Regional School Committee is Debbie Dunn of Chester. Dunn was an art teacher for 27 years in the North Middlesex Regional School District, teaching grades one through twelve. Originally from Springfield, Dunn bought her house in Chester two years ago, and moved here with her husband after she retired from teaching last year. Dunn said when she was growing up in Springfield, driving down Route 20 was the highlight of her childhood. After reading about the challenges facing the Gateway district this past year, she decided to volunteer to fill the long vacant third seat for the town.
“I’m new to the area, but I do have a background in education. I thought maybe a new set of eyes and a different perspective might be helpful,” Dunn said. She said that there are some similarities with Gateway and North Middlesex. “It was larger, but also a regional school district, and it also had contracted,” she said. Dunn said that it would be great if all the seats from all the towns were filled, to show the community’s support and interest. A working artist, Dunn specializes in orthodox iconography, working in egg tempura and watercolor painting. She is currently working on a commission from an Orthodox Church out east. She and her husband attend St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Pittsfield.
Debbie Dunn of Chester is the newest Gateway Regional District School Committee member.(Photo by Amy Porter)
By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — State lawmakers gave final approval to a compromise $38.1 billion budget on Wednesday and sent it to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker for his signature. The spending plan includes measures aimed at strengthening management of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and requiring lawmakers to sign off before public money could be spent on a potential 2024 Olympics in Boston. Approval of the budget comes a week after the start of the 2016 fiscal year. The state had been operating since July 1 on a $5.5 billion stopgap budget. The 2016 fiscal year budget would increase overall spending by 3.5 percent over the just completed fiscal year. The budget also calls for a hike in the state’s earned income tax credit and would boost spending on programs to combat homelessness and the state’s opioid addiction problem. Baker called the final budget plan “a terrific start.” He has 10 days to review the plan and issue vetoes. “We should all remember that we started with a $1.8 billion structural deficit when we began this activity back in March,” Baker said. “The Legislature, with my gratitude, chose not to raise taxes and fees to close that budget gap but instead pursued a series of reforms and belt-tightening that we thought was a better way to go.” Baker said the budget also offers a promising start to the effort to fix the MBTA, which was widely criticized last winter after a series of snowstorms led to widespread breakdowns in public transportation. Budget negotiators adopted a version of Baker’s plan to create a five-member financial control board, appointed by the governor, to oversee the transit system for the next three years. The budget would also suspend the Pacheco Law, which limits the T’s ability to contract out some services to private vendors, for three years. Baker said the new tools “are absolutely necessary to provide the riders, taxpayers, businesses and workers of Massachusetts the world class transit system that they deserve.” Sen. Marc Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat, launched an impassioned 45-minute defense of the anti-privatization law named after him during the budget debate, but he failed to persuade his colleagues. The budget includes language that would prevent state spending on the 2024 Summer Olympics without public hearings and approval by the Legislature. Boston is in the running to be named host of the games, with bids also expected from several other cities including Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary. The budget provision was quickly dismissed as “smoke and mirrors” by supporters of a proposed 2016 state ballot question that would seek an outright ban on taxpayer funding for the games if they are held in Boston. See State Budget, Page 3
Gateway budget awaits final state budget By AMY PORTER Correspondent RUSSELL – The Gateway Regional school committee met in the Russell Senior Center Wednesday evening, in the first of their meetings on the road. In August, they will travel to Middlefield, and in September they will meet in Blandford and Montgomery. During the public input portion, Darlene McVeigh of the Huntington Finance Committee challenged the school committee on their vote to transfer $106,658 in unexpended insurance funds into the new OPED (Other Post Employment Benefits) Liability Trust Fund at their last meeting. McVeigh questioned the wisdom of putting funds into a restricted account instead of E&D (Excess and Deficiency), when mitigation funds are uncertain, and two towns may be forced to tax above their levy limit. Funds that go into E&D offset town assessments. Dr. David Hopson, school superintendent, explained that should the mitigation funds not come through, they could then use the money in the OPED account towards the health insurance line item in the budget, and free up the same amount for E&D. Gateway Business Manager Stephanie Fisk said Gateway has $14 million in unfunded benefits, and she and Hopson thought putting the unexpended funds into the OPED account would be a place to start. Later in the meeting, Hopson reported that the budget had gone to the governor on Wednesday for his signa-
ture. Hopson said according to Rep. Stephen Kulik, the supplemental budget which would contain the mitigation funds should be voted on within fifteen days. Hopson said that the fifteen day extension voted by the School Committee at the last meeting gives them until July 28 to propose a new budget. He said they could wait until the supplemental budget is released to vote on a new budget, or take action at this meeting. “I’d rather take action tonight, because in my experience, special meetings in the summer often don’t produce a quorum,” Ron Damon of Huntington said. Damon has served on the Gateway school committee for more than thirty years. “If we vote on a budget tonight,” Kennedy said. “we’ll have to send in the same budget. We can’t send a budget to the towns that they can’t afford.” Hopson said he recommended setting a special meeting on Wednesday, July 22. He said it would require a two-thirds vote from the committee for passage of a new budget. “Failure to have the committee take action on a new budget means the old budget,” Hopson said. A motion was made and passed to set the special meeting at Gateway. “I suggest that we send a special letter to school committee members about its importance,” Shirley Winer of Chester said, referring to the special meeting. The School Committee was then tasked with reorganizing, nominating and electing officers. There were no
Gateway school committee met in the Russell Senior Center on Wednesday night in their first meeting on the road. (Photo by Amy Porter) contests, and all officers will remain the same: Michele Crane of Blandford, chairperson;Martha Otterbeck of Chester, vice-chairperson; Stacy Stewart of Gateway, secretary; Deborah Kuhn of Gateway, district treasurer; Ruth Kennedy of Russell, legislative contact; and Dupere Law Office as counsel and negotiator for the committee. Crane raised the issue of School Committee professional development that
was moved forward at the last meeting. She suggested members first complete a selfevaluation survey provided by MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees). There was some concern expressed about the structure of the evaluation and survey. Mary Ann Laurie of Russell asked whether the committee had previously See Gateway, Page 3