WESTFIELD – At the end of a two-hour City Council meeting on Jan. 16, a motion was made by Councilors James Adams, Brent Bean, John Beltrandi, Michael Burns, Cindy Harris and William Onyski to review and discuss the financial health and spending procedure of the Water Resource Department, with a request to refer the matter to the Finance Committee, Auditor, Mayor, Treasurer/Collector, Water Department and Water Commission.
Adams brought out the motion, saying that he and several other councilors attended the Water Department meeting last week, which he called an “eye-opener.”
“They’re looking at a 30 percent increase that doesn’t count bonds. We need to look at what went wrong. It has to be raised, because they can’t pay their bills. We weren’t told what went wrong, we were just told they’re out of money. We need a detailed plan moving forward before raising [rates] 30 percent,” Adams said.
