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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“Beauty is not caused. It is.” — Emily Dickinson
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 287
75 cents
Three officers appointed
BPW appoints Billips as DPW interim head
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The city’s police force grew Monday evening when the Police Commission selected three officers from the reserve list for appointment as fulltime officers. The commission, acting with a quorum of two members in the absence of commissioner Leonard Osowski, interviewed the seven reserve officers at the top of the civil service list – Elijah Wolfe, Andrew Vega, Steven Clement, Zachary Demers, Kenneth LaFontaine, Kyle Racicot and Jamie Campbell – to fill three slots in the department’s roster. The openings were caused by the recent retirement of Officer James Fournier, the impending retirement of Sgt. Paul Beebe and the resolution of a civil service appeal by former officer Michael Puza. The seven candidates, who had been interviewed by the commission previously when they were appointed to the reserve force, were re-interviewed and after a brief executive session. Wolfe, Racicot and Campbell were appointed to fill the vacancies. Although the appointments were not made strictly in accordance with the candidates’ positions on the civil service list, the appointments were in accord with the amount of time each reserve officer had worked since his or her appointment. Reserve officers, upon appointment, are required to complete in-house field training after which they are available to fill vacancies on the patrol schedule. Commission chairman Karl Hupfer asked each candidate if he or she knew how many hours the candidate had worked and had the answers in a list in front of him. Wolfe had worked 990 hours, Racicot
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 last night to appoint Water Resource Department Superintendent Dave Billips to serve as the interim Department of Public Works superintendent, action that the City Council declined to take. The City Council tabled a motion to appoint Dave Billips as the Department of Public Works Superintendent, at its November 20 session, on the argument that the Board of Public Works is the sole appointing authority for that DAVID position. BILLIPS In August Billips was named by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik as the interim superintendent of the Department of Public Works following the retirement of former superintendent Jim Mulvenna. Billips was initially hired by the city in 2003 as the director of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and later appointed by the Water Commission as the Water Resource Department superintendent. Knapik also hired a consulting firm to access the city’s departments performing a number of public works function to determine if consolidation of those departments would benefit the city. Billips said last night that he anticipates the consolidation report of that assessment from that municipal management consultant will be submitted to the City Council shortly. “We should have something at the next City Council meeting (on Dec. 18) to refer to the Council’s Personnel Action Committee and its Legislative & Ordinance Committee for review,” Billips said to the board members. “There may be some ordinance changes involved.” Knapik said in an Aug. 26 edition of The Westfield News that he would hire a management consultant to analyze the city’s “governmental infrastructure” to determine if consolidation of public works departments will improve efficiency. Knapik said the recent retirement of Public Works Superintendent Jim Mulvenna triggered the study to determine if consolidation of several departments is feasible. “Whenever you have a retirement of a major department head it’s an opportunity to examine the structure of city departments,” Knapik said following Mulvenna’s retirement. Billips said this morning that the consulting firm, Tata & Howard of Marlborough, is providing the city with tiered reports. The first tier, which will be submitted to the City Council, next week, is an organizational chart, “setting up the structure” of a consolidated department, while the second tier is a report on “best business practices.” Billips said the firm, if requested, will appear before the City Council or the committees to which the matter is referred. The council also has an ordinance amendment pending to delineate the chain of responsibility for the city’s Tree Warden. Knapik sent a request to the City Council at its Oct. 16 session to amend the ordnance establishing the position of director of lands and natural resources for the city and the line of succession. Billips said last night to the BPW members that he is seeking authority to delegate the duties of tree warden to a contractor, an arborist trained to perform those duties.
See Officers, Page 3
Doug Dowling, center, a mechanic at Tri-County Contractors in West Springfield, explains how to change the front end of a Wacker Neuson wheel loader to a group of Southwick Department of Public Works employees Monday. The town voted to approve funding for the machine and accessories during the May 20, 2014 town meeting. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
DPW ready to clear sidewalks By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Employees of the Southwick Department of Public Works (DPW) spent several hours this week preparing for winter by learning more about the town’s wheel loader. The Wacker Neuson wheel loader was rented last year to clear the town’s new sidewalks on College Highway and was purchased for just under $70,000. DPW Director Randy Brown said the vehicle proved invaluable in clearing snow from municipal sidewalks, including those in front of Town Hall, the DPW, library and police and fire stations. The price included a discount for the cost of renting the loader, which was $2,200 per month for four months last winter. Brown said the loader will save the town in labor cost and time all year. “This is a four-season machine,” said Brown. “The purchase price included several attachments so we can use it all
year. And, we’re looking into a street sweeper attachment.” The loader includes snow blower, bucket and forklift attachments. The one issue, said Brown, is the time it takes to switch over to the snow blower. “It takes several hours, so we will keep the snow blower attached all winter,” he said. “But when the bucket is attached, putting on the forklift is pretty easy.” Staff from Tri County Construction – the company the town rented and purchased the loader from – were on-hand this week teaching DPW employees how to change the attachments. The clearing of town sidewalks was once the job of the buildings and grounds department but when the state put sidewalks in all the way up College Highway, the task became too large for the small department to handle with a traditional snow blower. See Sidewalks, Page 3
Towing costs boost infraction expense By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Many of the hazards and costs of motor vehicle offenses are obvious but one expense –the cost to reclaim a vehicle from the police impound yard – can be a rude surprise to motorists. Vehicles which are apparently roadworthy often must be towed,, for example if the operator is found to have a suspended license or if the vehicle’s registration is revoked, and the expense of the tow is the responsibility of the owner. For about the past decade, Michael’s Towing on Clifton Street has had the contract with the city to provide towing services for vehicles which must be removed from the roadways by police mandate but the company does not set the rate for towing. Tony Militello, a driver for the company, explained that the
Vehicles towed from the scene of a traffic infraction often are brought to the impound yard at Michael’s Towing on See Towing, Page 8 Clifton Street. (Photo by Carl E.Hartdegen)
Carson Center to merge SPRINGFIELD – Carson Center for Human Services will merge into Behavioral Health Network, Inc, in early January of 2015, with the Corporation retaining the Behavioral Health Network, Inc. name. The decision to merge came as a way to maintain the strength of Carson Center programs within the corporate structure of another organization with a similar mission and values, according to a statement released to the press today. Programs formerly operat-
ed by Carson Center shall remain under the leadership of Sue West, presently the CEO of Carson Center, and soon to be Senior Vice President of BHN. Carson Center’s name shall be used to represent programs operated within Westfield, Ware and surrounding communities, as a way to maintain identity within those communities. Going forward it will be identified as “Carson Center, a program of the Behavioral Health Network, Inc.” Together, BHN and Carson
SUSAN WEST
Feds cite problems with EBT photo requirement By Peter Francis Staff Writer BOSTON — Massachusetts officials are disputing concerns raised by the federal government about implementation of a state requirement that electronic benefit transfer cards used by food stamp recipients include photo identification. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent state officials a letter last week that threatened to pull federal administrative funding for the food stamp program unless the problems were cleared up,
The Boston Globe reported Monday. The photo ID requirement, which went into effect last year as part of an effort to reduce fraud, has created some confusion among retailers, according to the letter. The EBT cards are issued to the heads of eligible households and act like debit cards for purchasing groceries. Some stores have turned away family members who are legally allowed to use the benefits because they don’t match the photos on the cards.
An amazing $600,000+ raised overnight from 3,000 donors WESTFIELD - For the last week social media in western Massachusetts has been dominated by messages calling for support from hundreds of nonprofit organizations. Following months of planning the Valley’s third giving day kicked off at midnight and is well on the way to the goal of 20,000 donors by midnight tonight. A complete list of participants is available at: http://valleygives.wordpress.com/2014-particpants/ Gifts can be made on 12.10.14 at www.valleygivesday.org. Potential donors are encouraged to follow Valley Gives in real time on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ValleyGives or on Twitter @ValleyGives. Valley Gives is powered by Razoo, the crowdfunding platform for causes. To date, Razoo has helped Massachusettsbased organizations raise more than $52 million through secure, easy-to-use, online fundraisers.
have programmatic synergy, compatibility in mission, and common interests that will create a strong organization, accoridng to the statement. “This is an opportunity to strengthen two very reputable Behavioral Health organizations,” BHN’s CEO Katherine Wilson said. “This creates a greater geographic network of programs, allows for our collaborations with healthcare, educational entities and social service organizations See Carson, Page 8
The valley gives again!
“There are significant concerns with regard to client access to program benefits,” the letter stated. The USDA also said some elderly and disabled people were turned away even though they are exempt from the photo requirement, and found many state workers improperly trained on the new rules. Stacey Monahan, commissioner of the state Department of Transitional Assistance, said the federal government See EBT Problems, Page 3