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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“Responsibility educates.” — WENDELL PHILLIPS
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 85 NO. 122
75 cents
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016
Flaherty questions budget
Westfield man killed in South Hadley two-car crash One driver crossed over center line, crashing into another car SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (WWLP) – A man from Westfield was killed in a two-car crash on Route 116 in South Hadley, at around 7:00 Sunday night. According to Mary Carey, spokesperson for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, the investigation has revealed one car crossed over the center line near 124 College Street (Route 116), crashing into an oncoming car. The driver of that oncoming car, 29-year-old Thomas P. Flanagan of Westfield, was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he died. The driver of the car that crossed the center line was also taken to the hospital, but is expected to survive. There were no other people in either car. South Hadley Police, Massachusetts State Police, and the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office are looking into the cause of the accident.
Southwick Select Board meets for the first time By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent SOUTHWICK – In the Select Board’s first meeting since their name change, the board members’ roles were shuffled up. Russ Fox was named Chairman, Doug Moglin named Vice Chairman and Joe Deedy was named Clerk. The choices were voted on by the board and were unanimous. The town voted to change the name of Board of Selectmen to Select Board at the Annual Town Meeting May 17.Southwick town hall “It’s an acknowledgement of making the name more gender neutral,” Karl Stinehart, Chief Administrative Officer of the Select Board, said. In spite of the new name the tasks largely remained the same. Among other topics covered in the meeting the Select Board discussed payroll changes, a new telephone system for the Town Hall, a transfer of ownership for a liquor license and granted a common victualler’s license for Grandaddy Frank’s Barbeque. The liquor license was transferred to Lucky Stop, under the premise that the owner of the convenience store get Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) training within six months. TIPS training has been designed to prevent underage drinking, drunk driving and other alcohol-related offenses from customers. The new barbeque place will be put at 707 College Highway, taking over the locations of former Skyline Hop Shop. Grandaddy has been operating out of a temporary capacity at this location. “It’s been a process that’s been ongoing for the past few weeks. I’ve been operating as a mobile vendor,” Gaylon Stanley, owner of Grandaddy Frank’s Barbeque, said. The next Select Board meeting is scheduled for June 6.
By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD-Garrett Fitzgerald is one of four finalists in Xploration Station’s search for America’s “most passionate” STEM student. Xploration Station, dedicated to STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) programming for young adults and their families, has partnered with Zero Gravity Corporation for the second nationwide competition tied to the FOX series Xploration Outer Space. Fitzgerald, the son of Kevin and Theresa Fitzgerald, is a computer science major and physics minor at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. He is a graduate of Westfield High School, having served as captain of the football and lacrosse teams. “I have been interested in cosmology and star gazing most of my life, and most people share in this wonder,” said Fitzgerald. “I watched shows like Cosmos and Through the Wormhole which explores topics in astronomy and physics in a popular way.” Fitzgerald, noting one of his many hobbies is camping with his family, said there is “nothing like falling asleep under the stars.” He has two siblings, Sean, 22, and Eileen, 18. Since the competition was launched April 1, students from across the country have posted three minute videos explaining why they think space exploration is important, as well as why they should be selected to fly on the world-renowned ZERO-G airplane, named G-FORCE ONE®, and be featured on Xploration Outer Space. Part of the competition included getting others to “like,” “share,” and “comment” on one’s video. While the competition deadline recently ended, Fitzgerald and the other finalists are awaiting word of who won the competition. “The winner of the competition gets an opportunity to experience what it is like to train like a scientist astronaut and will also be featured on the show,” said Fitzgerald. “The Zero Gravity Corporation has a special plane which flies to the upper atmosphere and then dives back to earth to create a weightless environment.” The all-expense paid trip to Sanford, Fla., for the winner will be featured in a season 3 episode of Xploration Outer Space. Fitzgerald credits his parents for his thirst for knowledge. “My parents have fostered a hunger for knowledge and a drive to be creative in my pursuits in all areas, from athletics to music to personal adventures like camping and biking,” he said. As Fitzgerald waits patiently for the winner to be chosen and posted
By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – At the end of Thursday’s City Council meeting, At-large Councilor David Flaherty made several motions in advance of the upcoming budget hearings. In one motion, Flaherty requested that budget documents for each department individually (with columns for 2015 actual, 2016 original budget, 2016 DAVID FLAHERTY revised, 2017 department request and 2017 mayoral submission) be posted on the City website prior to any public Finance Committee meetings regarding the budget. He also requested a detailed school department budget, and the mayor’s recap sheet detailing the proposed sources of revenue be posted. Another motion by Flaherty requested that the latest audited OPEB (Other Postemployment Benefits) unfunded liability, pension unfunded liability, and severance unfunded liability numbers be added to monthly fund balance reports so that councilors and the public can see how unfunded liabilities compare to available funds. Another motion by Flaherty was made on behalf of a citizen taxpayer requesting that the city’s audit department and school department explain how funds appropriated in FY16 for energy were, or will be used. Flaherty wrote that the citizen believes energy costs should have been much lower than predicted during last year’s budget process due to declines in prices across the global energy markets. All motions were referred at the meeting to the city’s auditing and school departments. Regarding the motion on energy prices, Flaherty said that prices in June of last year were a lot higher, so all of the estimates were much higher. “The rest of the community wants to know what happened to the rest of the money, if more was budgeted than spent,” Flaherty said, adding that the “citizen taxpayer” believes the city should have money left over in their budgets. Flaherty said the public hearing on the budget is scheduled for June 27 at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers. “It’s an opportunity for people to come and speak on any line item,” he said. People usually come and say what is more important to them, for example schools or roads. Flaherty said other meetings currently scheduled include June 28 for the Finance Committee’s meeting to recommend a budget, June 29 for the Finance Committee to meet with the City Council, and June 30 for the City Council to vote on the budget. Westfield Public Schools business manager Ron Rix said he hadn’t yet seen the motions as of Monday morning, but he said he is prepared to answer any questions brought to them. He said it was unusual for the questions to be brought forward as motions. As for energy, Rix said they cut $228,000 from the utility line item last July, and were thankful for the “perfect storm” of both a mild winter and prices dropping. “This year, we have some savings in utilities that will pay
See Xploration Station, Page 3
See Budget, Page 8
Garrett Fitzgerald is one of four finalists in the 2016 #Student Astronaut Contest.
Student aims for the sky in competition
Growing vegetables community garden style By AMY PORTER Correspondent RUSSELL – It’s still early in the planting season for the Countryside Community Garden on Route 20 in Russell. An educational outreach of the Friends of SHAEC (Southern Hilltowns Adult Education Center), the community garden is in its third year, thanks to a generous donation of land use by Ron Hess, owner of Countryside Woodcraft next door. “That’s why we named it Countryside Community Garden,” said Michele Kenney, program director for SHAEC. Kenney said there are 36 plots in the garden being farmed by residents from Russell, Huntington, Chester, Middlefield, and one from Westfield. Some share plots, some are family plots, she said.
Kenney said the garden is a community effort, with no real funding but a lot of networking and generosity behind it. Plots cost $20 to rent, and this year included seeds donated by High Mowing Organic Seeds of Wolcott, Vermont. Kenney said members use all organic practices in the garden. Nelson Oaks, 74 of Chester, came last week and tilled fourteen of the plots for members. He’s going to do a few more on Wednesday, Kenney said. The focus of SHAEC is on adult basic education and computer literacy, but has also grown to include classes in sustainability. At the community garden, classes to support home gardening have included such topics as building a hoop house greenhouse, identification of garden insects, building a compost pile, permaculture,
and companion planting. Some of the classes have been taught by AmeriCorps volunteers in conjunction with the Hilltown Land Trust. Other classes encourage the preservation of garden produce, such as pickling and canning. More recently, thanks to community volunteers, SHAEC has offered classes in home cheese making, raising sheep, utilizing wool, and other sustainable farming classes. This year, flax seeds were donated to the Countryside Community Garden as part of an effort by SHAEC teacher Lisa Westervelt, who raises sheep in Cummington, to start a Massachusetts Fibershed in the area. Linen fibers come from the flax plant. Laurie Mikalunas of See Community Garden, Page 8
A sign on Route 20 in Russell for the Countryside Community Garden. (Photo by Amy Porter)