Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski speaks to the City Council in favor of moving forward with the statement of interest to the MSBA for the replacement of Westfield Technical Academy.
Reminder Publishing file photo
WESTFIELD — The City Council voted 7-6 to wait a year before authorizing the superintendent to submit a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for funding to construct a new technical academy, following a 2-1 recommendation by the Legislative & Ordinance subcommittee.
In presenting the majority opinion from the committee, at-large Councilor James Adams said as the business owner of Firtion-Adams Funeral Home, he looks at things a little differently. He said for any plan, he asks whether there is a need, the space and “am I going to go broke if I do it.”
Unlike the majority of other councilors, Adams said he isn’t sure there is a need to build a new school, with only 40 people on the waiting list at Westfield Technical Academy. As a graduate of the school, he said he is well aware of its condition, which he said is about the same as when he was in school, and he knows there are things that need to be fixed.
As for affordability, Adams said in his opinion, “we have to go to the people and have them vote on it first. Our taxes are going up, no matter what. On top of that, it could be $800 to $1,200 [annually] for people if we voted on it.”
“The problem here is that there is only three weeks,” Adams said, referring to the application deadline to the Massachusetts School Building Authority of April 11. “For us, three weeks in my opinion is way too fast to do this. I think waiting one year — the only thing the superintendent said is it may cost more. Sometimes if you sit on it a little bit,” he said.
Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski, who chairs L&O, said he was the one dissenting vote to go ahead this year with the application. “Councilor Adams and I are not very far apart. The school is going to be very expensive. My logic was to go ahead, submit the SOI, then have a non-binding referendum [on the ballot] about the $800 to $1,200 dollars. If voted down, then leave it alone.”
At-large Councilor Nicholas Morganelli said he believes Westfield schools should be of a high standard, comparable to surrounding towns. He said at the discussion with the superintendent, he wanted to know how the city would pay for it and what was the plan. He recommended an exploratory committee made up of staff and students, community members and other stakeholders, that would consider upgrading the facilities they have.
“Everybody’s taxed out — I don’t think it will pass a vote. How long is it going to take? Could be five, could be 10 years. I’d like to see an exploratory committee rather than a submission to the state,” Morganelli said.
At-large councilor Brent Bean said like a lot of things in municipal finance, “it’s a weird process — we’re always playing catch up. The way the state works is that you have to get in line, you have to get in that queue. In my opinion, we need two schools. The reason I’m going to support the SOI and the work the School Committee did… is to show the state we really are in dire need for a school,” he said, adding that he supports the notion of a combined school. “The likelihood of us getting selected is slim to none anyway. We have to show the state we’re getting in line,” he added.
“I don’t know if doing this is literally tying the city to an override or higher taxes. You can’t tell me that a million dollars to figure out what we’re going to do is a huge waste,” said at-large Councilor Kristen Mello, referring to the anticipated cost of a feasibility study if the proposal were to be accepted by the MSBA. She said the vote to go forward would be a message of support to the schools.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie said he also supports putting a question on the ballot in November, but didn’t see the downside of going forward with the application.
Ward 3 Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane, who served on the building committee for the new Westfield River Elementary School said she was going to vote to go forward with the SOI. “Councilor Bean spoke already about getting in line. This moment is the funding for tech schools. As far as rehabbing the current schools – when you do this, they make you look at all the options. It was so shockingly expensive to rehab Abner Gibbs and Franklin Avenue — I say that from my experience on the building committee. When we looked at it, it was almost as much as building a new school,” Matthews-Kane said.
Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy, who is the liaison to the School Committee, said for the first time he would not be agreeing with them on this vote. He said he serves two roles, as liaison to the School Committee and as chair of the Finance Committee.
“The downside of getting into the queue is if we get accepted, we have to move forward. If we don’t move forward, we go to the bottom of the list. There is definitely a need for Westfield Technical Academy. I disagree, I don’t think Westfield High School is in the same condition,” Figy said, adding that the idea of a feasibility or exploratory study is not bad. “I think the timing is wrong at this point. I’m a no for the first time on the schools.”
At-large Councilor Richard Sullivan thanked his colleagues for the civil discussion, and said that everybody was coming from the same place and trying to do the right thing. “I’m going to be a yes. We talk about the new high school; but it’s 52 years old,” he said, adding that the most important thing the city does as a community is to support education. “That’s the future. To people who don’t have kids in the school, I always say we supported your kids when they were in school. I do think the most important thing we do is to support education.”
Ward 1 Councilor Karen Fanion said she agreed with all of the comments, and said she too is pro education. “I do agree, doing this is a little too soon. I agree that we should get the voters’ opinion on the ballot.”
“I cannot think for all citizens in town that are going to get a $1,000 increase in taxes — I can’t do that without getting their opinion,” said Cindy Harris.
Ward 4 Councilor Michael Burns said he would also be a no vote, and agreed with Harris about the need to put this to the people first. “I support the schools 100% — this is about the taxpayers. This is a tough decision for me. I listened closely to the superintendent,” he said before the 7-6 vote to not send in the SOI this year.
