Members of Westield Fire Local Union 1111 join the City Council in the Pledge of Allegiance at the meeting on Sept. 3.
Photo credit: Westfield Community TV
WESTFIELD — The City Council unanimously approved several items for the Westfield Fire and Police departments during its Sept. 3 meeting.
First up was a series of motions totaling $310,564 to fulfill the first-year contractual obligations of the ratified successor agreement between Firefighters Local Union 1111 and the city of Westfield for the period of July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028.
Councilor Daniel Knapik, chair of the Finance Subcommittee, said the total was needed to fulfill the first-year obligations. He said the Finance Committee received a very detailed write-up regarding the agreement and the various department accounts from which the money would be drawn.
An item of interest was the removal of the fire chief’s position from civil service, which requires a 1% appropriation in fiscal years 2027 and 2028 for the union to allow it.
Another area Knapik highlighted was a paramedic stipend of $1,000 per year starting in year five and continuing through year 10 as long as they maintain their paramedic certification, which he said relates to the Fire Department’s evolving medical role.
The City Council also approved fund transfers for wage scale and step increases for FY27 and FY28 that were part of the agreement.
“So all things considered, I think it’s a reasonable outcome as it relates to collective bargaining, which is always very difficult. I want to thank the membership of the union as it relates to the administration for getting to the point where we’re at this time, where we can take a vote on this agreement, and it carries us through to June 30 of 2028,” Knapik said.
Knapik also recommended transferring $27,213 from the police towing and storage account to the police equipment vehicle account and received City Council approval to purchase two new Polaris Sportsman 850 Trail ATVs.
He said Captain Eric Hall came before the Finance Committee to discuss the purchase, telling the committee that the department has a 2012 and a 2014 model, the older of which has been in and out of the shop and doesn’t seem to stay repaired. Hall told them the department’s best idea was to purchase two new ones, put the 2014 unit in reserve and retire the 2012 unit.
The department mainly uses the ATVs for search and rescue.
Councilor Cindy Harris, a member of the Finance Committee, submitted a resolution for acceptance of a grant for $317,457 from the Department of Mental Health Jail Diversion Program to the Westfield Police Department for the mental health co-response program, which provides two licensed mental health clinicians through the Behavioral Health Network to the Police Department to respond to calls involving individuals experiencing mental health crises.
Harris said in committee that Hall also addressed the grant accepted annually by the City Council since 2022. The licensed mental health clinicians from BHN are embedded with a police officer to respond to calls. She said the clinicians do not go out on their own. First, the police go out, and then they call the clinicians if needed.
Harris said the program has grown from a single co-responder working 16 hours a week to two full-time co-responders providing coverage Monday through Friday. She said, according to Hall, the program demonstrated exceptional success during 2026, with 600 calls for service providing immediate access to mental health assessment, intervention and community resources.
The collaborative approach has improved outcomes for individuals in crisis by connecting them with appropriate behavioral health services rather than relying solely on traditional law enforcement responses, she said, adding that, according to Hall, the two clinicians are “absolutely phenomenal”, and that Westfield has become the model for this program in the whole area.
Before the City Council approved the grant, Councilor Brent Bean II, also a member of Finance, said he believes Westfield should look to house the positions within the city in the future.
“They provide an unbelievable value just in the amount of calls that Counselor Harris just read off, and yet we’re still contracting with BHN because of the grant, but we really need to strongly look at this and consider bringing those two positions under our auspices. I think they could do a lot more and, to be honest, you probably could get four, five or six more people,” Bean said.
