Ward 5 Councilor John J. Beltrandi III was unanimously reelected to serve as 2025 Westfield City Council president on Jan. 6.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — At the start of a brief rescheduled City Council meeting on Jan. 6, Councilor Cindy Harris made a motion to nominate Ward 5 Councilor John Beltrandi to continue as City Council president in 2025. When no other nominations came forward, the council unanimously approved the nomination.
Beltrandi has previously served as president three times; for one year in 2018, and consecutively in 2023 and 2024. A real estate broker, home builder and general contractor, Beltrandi brings a business point of view to matters before the council.
“I really didn’t anticipate doing this, this year. A couple of the councilors asked me if I would continue to do it, which was kind of nice,” Beltrandi said, adding he thinks they like the expediency of the meetings under his presidency. He said it’s also the same group of councilors, all of whom will be up for reelection in November.
Beltrandi said he has the same goals for this year that he has had every time he has served in the role.
“To keep everybody moving in the same direction, and to help out where I can,” he said.
Towards that end, he also talks with Mayor Michael McCabe several times a week.
Beltrandi said his style of leadership is to take control of the meetings, and not let them control him.
“I really don’t put up with a lot. My job is to keep things running smoothly — no infighting,” he said.
“It’s been very good. Once I started this a couple of years ago, I made that decision to try to be civil and professional, and everyone’s on board. That’s a good thing,” he added.
Beltrandi said the budget will be the next big issue the council will be working on, as well as certain development projects.
“We’re dealing with the battery facility that’s trying to get into Westfield. I know there’s a lot of concern about it — that’s something we’ll be paying huge attention to,” he said.
“All in all, it’s a pretty good group. I enjoy being on the City Council and I enjoy running the City Council,” he said.
In other business at the Jan. 6 meeting, At-large Councilor Kristen Mello spoke on behalf of the Government Relations Committee to recommend an ordinance for salary increases for members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, as proposed and approved in the mayor’s fiscal year 2025 city budget. Councilor Rick Sullivan, chair of the committee, recused himself from the vote.
Mello said the ordinance update matches the budget which was already approved for increases for members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.
Ward 3 Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane, who chairs the Finance Committee, pointed out for the public’s benefit that the two boards slated for increases meet frequently and put many hours into their work.
Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy, the only councilor to oppose the motion, said he has served on the Personnel Action Committee since he’s been on the council.
“Not once has anyone come into PAC and asked for more money, or complained. I think this was done backwards. The ordinance should have been passed before it went in the budget,” he said.
The motion passed 11-1, with one abstention.
A second reading and final passage of an ordinance entitled “Parking Prohibited at All Times on Certain Streets, adding, “No parking on both sides of Sibley Avenue and Falley Drive, between 86 and 102,” passed unanimously.
Two new motions were also heard. At-large Councilor Brent Bean made a motion to request an update on taking the chief of fire’s position out of Civil Service, to refer to the mayor.
“This is something that we’ve all talked about numerous times. It’s been over a year, and there was supposed to be some update on where we were on that process. I’m just waiting for the mayor to give us that update,” Bean said. Figy thanked Bean for following up on the matter.
Another motion was made by Figy to amend the ordinance in Chapter 6, Buildings and Building Regulations, by adding Article VIII, Residential Rental Property Registration, to refer to the Legislative & Ordinance committee.
Figy apologized to the Council for asking to schedule a public hearing on the matter at the last meeting, which he since learned didn’t require a hearing. The council voted to refer the matter to L&O.
During announcements, Figy spoke on behalf of his daughter Lauren Cadigan, supervisor of science and technology in the district, who is looking for judges for the annual high school science fair on Jan. 30, from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., meals included. “You don’t have to be a technical expert — just willing to listen and ask questions,” he said.
Before the motion to dismiss, Beltrandi once again thanked the councilors for their support of his presidency. “I appreciate it very much,” he said.
