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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 84 NO. 243
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015
The Westfield News will run our masthead in pink, in recognition of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
75 cents
Committee to seek new hearing on contractor’s yard
Westfield State students visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Left to right: Bridget Matthews-Kane, Jennifer Green, Carole Duquette, Christina Cardillo, Brianna D’Amato, Hillary Sackett, Bryan Nay, Jillian Bates, Taylor Somerville, Kate Burgoyne, Tanner Connors, Michelle Lynch, Zach Spicer, John Yourous, Callie Tambling.
WSU students examine China WESTFIELD – Thirteen Westfield State University students travelled to Beijing and Shanghai China for two weeks this summer as part of the short-term study abroad course “International Economics: China Rising.” The course was led by Dr. Hillary Sackett, assistant professor of economics, and assisted by Professor Bridget Matthews-Kane of the English department. Sackett said she chose China as the focus of the course due to its economic ties with the United States. “China has undergone an unprecedented level of economic transformation and growth in the past couple of decades,” Sackett said. “China is now the second largest economy in the world and an important partner to the United States. Students studying economics and business need to be familiar with the role that China plays in the global economy.” While in China, the students visited businesses and heard from internationally-renowned guest speakers. Student Tanner Connors ’16 of Yarmouth, Mass. said she most ben-
Westfield State University students pose in front of the Shanghai skyline.
efitted from visiting the Hutong, a small organization that works directly with residents that live in culturally historic housing. She was especially intrigued by the presenter and Corporate Director Joe Wood, a Texas native that studied abroad in China and fell in love with the culture. “It was very educational and enlightening to be able to speak with
him because he was really able to describe the cultural differences between our nations and open our eyes to what’s really important to the people, not just the government,” Connors said. When listening to the guest lecturers, Connors said she was pleased to See WSU Students, Page 3
House unanimously approves spending bill BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts House has approved a spending bill that closes the book on the last fiscal year, which ended in July. The measure approved by a unanimous vote Wednesday includes more than $200 million in Medicaid payments that House leaders said were tied to the breakdown of the state’s health connector website in 2013 and 2014. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, also provides $27 million to help combat the heroin overdose crisis and funds contracts recently negotiated with unions at the University of Massachusetts. In all, House Ways and Means chairman Brian Dempsey says, the plan calls for $248 million in net state spending, after federal reimbursements. The bill would also return $75 million that had previously been withdrawn from the state’s so-called rainy day fund. The bill builds on four years of increased funding in DCF, and significant funding made last year for caseload management and technology improvements. It provides $7 million in new money for caseload, immediate staffing and training needs. Given the state’s ongoing efforts to ensure the Commonwealth’s children are safe, the legislation also requires DCF to report any new policies, procedures or guidelines executed over the past year by November 17, 2015. “I’m proud that through this legislation the House is enhancing its efforts to
SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO support our most vulnerable citizens, particularly children and those battling substance addiction,” said House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop). “By making critical investments while reinvesting in Massachusetts’ rainy day fund, the supplemental budget positions the Commonwealth for economic growth and helps us address the most pressing challenges facing the state.” This $360.3 million spending bill highlights the House’s ongoing commitment to fiscal prudence by reinvesting $75 million in Massachusetts’ stabilization fund. The House’s focus on the stabilization fund has helped the state reach its AA+ bond rating, the highest in the Massachusetts’ history. The Legislature continues to provide record-level funding to confront the substance abuse epidemic. The budget allocates $29.5 million for substance addiction programs, including $27.8 million
to reflect initiatives proposed by Governor Baker’s Opioid Working Group and $1.7 million for a detox pilot program for the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. The spending bill also provides: • $15.2 million for residential recovery beds; • $5.8 million to move female patients from MCI-Framingham to a DMH facility; • $3.8 million for substance abuse prevention curricula; • $3 million for MassHealth substance abuse treatment and prevention. Additional healthcare funding includes: • $11 million for disproportionate share hospitals and $8.2 million for the delivery system transformation initiatives trust fund which traditionally serve residents in economically disadvantaged communities. Following last year’s gun safety legislation, which has been hailed as the strongest in the nation, the legislation provides $150,000 for a follow-up study to assess successes and any challenges in implementation. The House did not include the Baker Administration’s proposal to narrow eligibility for emergency housing programs. While the House regards prevention initiatives as essential to confronting homelessness, it also believes that emergency shelter is a necessary component to helping families achieve stability.
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee of the City Council will request the Law Department for an opinion on a special permit application to operate a contractor’s yard at 1006 Southampton Road. The L&O was discussing its recommendation to refer the special permit petition, requested by Robert Wagner, to either the License MARY L. Committee or to the Zoning, Planning & Development Committee when O’CONNELL another issue was raised by Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell. O’Connell said the public hearing, held at the City Council’s last meeting on Sept. 17, was apparently improperly advertised and should have been published under the city ordinance recently established to protection of the city’s aquifers. “It was inadvertently advertised as only a public hearing for a contractor’s yard and it should have been advertised under the aquifer protection ordinance,” O’Connell said at the L&O meeting which was held earlier this week. “It seems that a Planning Board review of the project is needed.” The improper advertising to notify city residents of the purpose of the public hearing “opens an opportunity for someone to object” and appeal any decision made by the City Council on the special permit. O’Connell suggested that the L&O request a legal opinion from the Law Department ‘to properly post the public hearing” and to determine if the issue should be referred to the License Committee or the ZP&D Committee. L&O Chairman Ralph Figy suggested that the issue be kept in committee “until the law department provides an opinion on how we can remedy this situation. “I was also told we need to put findings and condition with the City Council’s decision, but do those have to come out of committee with a recommendation on the special permit application,” Figy said. Assistant City Solicitor Shanna Reed said that the Planning Department staff will assist the City Council in writing the finding and conditions. “The City Council, as a whole, does that (vote to approve findings and conditions), not the committee,” Reed said. “The committee can suggest conditions as part of its recommendation to the City Council.” O’Connell said the City Council has a limited period of time to act on the issue “after the gavel bangs to end the public hearing.” O’Connell said that the applicant never appeared at the Banes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee to discuss the operation of the contractor’s yard. The BAPAC often suggests conditions for a project based upon what materials will be used by the business and if those materials are a threat to the Barnes Aquifer which provides drinking water to Westfield, Holyoke, Southampton and Easthampton. “The Wagners never showed up at the BAPAC meeting to discuss their plans,” O’Connell said.
Figy seeks repeal of ‘redundant’ ordinance By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy will sponsor a motion to remove a city ordinance which recently exposed the city to litigation tonight at the City Council session which will begin an hour late at 8 p.m., because today is Westfield Day at the Big E. Figy’s motion, if approved by the City Council, will strip the RALPH FIGY Planning Board of authority to review applications for the sale of alcohol within 500 feet of a school or church. The Planning Board denied an alcohol application submitted by the owner of two convenience stores who is currently litigating the city’s authority to giving the See Ordinance, Page 3
Man arrested in OD death of UMass student faces arraignment AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — A New Hampshire man facing an involuntary manslaughter charge for allegedly selling the heroin that led to the overdose death of a UMass student in 2013 faces arraignment. Prosecutors say 27-year-old Jesse Carrillo, of Derry, will be arraigned Thursday in Hampshire Superior Court. Eric Sinacori, of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, was found dead in his Amherst apartment October 4, 2013. Sinacori was working as an informant for campus police at the time. He had been under investigation for alleged drug violations but police agreed not to press charges if he cooperated with them. The move angered his parents, who said police should have helped him get the treatment he needed. The university has since ended the informant program. It's not clear of Carrillo has an attorney.