By RON MOORE
Guest Columnist
Editor’s note: This column is the first in a series of four addressing the issue of whether Westfield should change its status from a class 3 to a class 2 city. The Westfield City Council is set to have that discussion at its June 13 meeting. All four columns from Mr. Moore will appear in the pages of The Reporter prior to the meeting.
Westfield was just a small town 18 years ago when decisions were made to move to a class 3 city.
There was a lot of work to do to make that move. It was necessary to accommodate a number of factors that required fixing for our local governance to meet the challenges of a rapidly growing population. In those early days, the budgets for the young city were in the low millions and tax revenues were the main source of funding with small bonding issues to meet those short-fall funding issues. The structure for the legislative, city administration, and financial responsibilities were adequate. This organization of governance worked well for the city as it grew.
From the time this decision was made and implemented, the population of the city has grown to 10 times the size it was as a town, fast approaching 50,000 residents. From those early budgets of only a few million dollars to city budgets totaling $100 million, the cash flow through the city accounts has grown to be challenging to manage. The sources of revenue have become more complex, tax increment financing (TIF) districts have been implemented, and bonds issued to keep up with the need for services, public works, and safety add to compound issues of city finance.
In the most recent years, this organization of our governance has come under the stress and strain of our own success. Bickering among the three groups of elected officials – administration, legislative, and financial – has exposed the weaknesses of this governance to the point of appearing to be dysfunctional. This was clearly evident when there was no alternative to legal action between two of the parties because there was no requirement in law to establish accountability or cooperation between them. These conditions still exist and threating the future of our beloved city.
The future of Westfield is bright. People from all over the country want to come here, raise their families, and enjoy the amenities of our city. If we just build out the current approved neighborhoods that are on the books, we will continue to grow to over 68,000 population. This will further compound the issues we are currently experiencing.
Clearly, the current governance and its distractions require attention and repair. The argument for a class 2 status holds merit from the standpoint of increased representation, different financial structure, and the change in roles for some elected officials. The new organization of governance will provide the resources needed to meet the challenges of the larger city.
Moving forward, we will explore this discussion with further dialog concerning these issues with which we are confronted and work on the understanding of the cost/benefit of this move to determine the if it is time to move to a class 2 city.
Ron Moore must have been an attorney, because saying there is no alternative than legal action shows he really is out of touch with the city, its workings, and how the Mayor, the Clerk-Treasurer, and the city council should work together, not sue someone or threaten a suit anytime someone disagrees. The mayor does a great job of spending your hundreds of thousands of dollars working with people like Ron Moore and his own appointees and his public relations department for which you pay. Maybe some of the money he keeps wasting should be used to hire a controller and work with the rest of the city for the advancement of the city, not just his own agenda.