Police Chief Retirement Planned, Next Steps for City
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TONIGHT Periods of Snow. Low of 29. Search for The Westfield News The Westfield IFESearchRESEMB for The WestfieldLES News TODAY IN WESTFIELD News “L Westfield350.com The Westfield News A NOVEL MORE HISTORY: IME IS THE ONLY Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns OFTEN THAN“T NOVE L S WEATHER 1917 - Fort Meadow RESEMBCRITICLE L IFEWITHOUT.” TONIGHT Street School dedicated. AMBITION.” Partly Cloudy. Search– Ge forO TheRJOHNG EWestfield SA STEINBECKND News Westfield350.comLow of 55. Thewww.thewestfieldnews.com WestfieldNews Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns “TIME IS THE ONLY WEATHERVOL. 86 NO. 151 TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 CRITIC 75WITHOUT cents VOL. 87 NO. 40 75 Cents TONIGHT SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 AMBITION.” Partly Cloudy. JOHN STEINBECK Low of 55. www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL.WRAFT 86 NO. 151 TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 Police chief 75 cents celebrating first retirement anniversary By DAN DESROCHERS planned, next Correspondent WESTFIELD—The resident-led advocacy group Westfield Residents Advocating For Themselves (WRAFT) is celebrating their one-year anniversary next weekend and are inviting resi- steps for city dents to join. By DAN DESROCHERS WRAFT is cel- Correspondent ebrating the anni- WESTFIELD—The city is starting its efforts now to versary on Town of Southwick Building Inspector Art Lawler. (Photo replace Police Chief John Camerota, with his retirement Thursday, Feb. courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick) expected in June next year. 22, starting at 2 Camerota is expected to retire from p.m. at the the top position in the police depart- Skyline Trading ment by June 21, 2019, which was Company on Elm New permitting explained during a Police Commission Street. At the meeting earlier this week. The city event, organizers now has the next 16 or so months to will continue to system set to launch determine how to replace Camerota try and get blood and with whom he would be replaced. By GREG FITZPATRICK According to Westfield Personnel testing and health Correspondent monitoring for Director Jane Sakiewitz, how the city SOUTHWICK – Town of Southwick Building Inspector replaces the police chief is yet to be residents, and Art Lawler announced this week that the town’s new e-per- will have a determined. However, there are a mitting program will officially launch on February 20. couple of steps that are clear in the “pledge to act” In March of 2017, the town signed a contract for the new related to this for process. permitting system with Full Circle Technologies, a company First, the Police Commission is the elected officials to sign. in Boston who assists municipalities with permitting pro- “We wanted to celebrate and commemorate the work that appointing authority. cesses. “It is not a civil service position, so Westfield Police we’ve done and the work that’s ongoing,” WRAFT founder The new system that Southwick is using is called Permit Kristen Mello said. the Police Commission is the hiring Chief John Eyes. It’s a modern permitting system which is strictly online authority,” she said. Camerota She said that the effort will be put forth to try and get site and keeps all existing information auto-filled, so reoccurring involvement for the blood testing and health monitoring, So, Sakiewitz said that it will be the applicants will have a more efficient time applying for future commission’s decision on how the candidates would be which they are seeking through the Massachusetts permits. Department of Public Health (MDPH) and the Agency for assessed and how one would be chosen to succeed Camerota. With the new system being computer based, neither appli- Sakiewitz said that this could include interviews, as well as Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR). cants nor Town of Southwick employees will have to deal The requests are due to the contamination of city water other assessments, such as an examination. with the copious amounts of paper copies that can go along The city would also be expected to post and advertise the with perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), notably PFOA and with other permit processes. PFOS. This contamination caused two city wells to be taken open position, as part of the standard protocol followed for Before the system launches on February 20 and is open for other vacant city positions. offline in December 2015, after the Environmental Protection the public to use, Lawler has been introducing the Permit Agency lowered the lifetime advisory limits of PFOA and However, Sakiewitz said that the city could seek an exten- Eyes system to every department in the Town. sion for the current chief past the June deadline, which is PFOS in drinking water and the two wells were above that Now that employees at the town hall have tested the system number. Camerota’s 65th birthday. several times, Lawler felt that it’s an appropriate time to take Municipal police officers are required to retire at age 65, “There’s things we can do with our doctors, we need to the next step. know how much is in us, how much is in our kids,” Mello according to Camerota. “People are getting comfortable with it,” said Lawler. “I Camerota however, expects to retire then. said. “We can make choices but we need accurate data.” wanted to get it out there for the townspeople to use it.” Mello also commented on the recent lawsuit that the city Regarding Camerota’s experience, he has served for 20 Lawler also added that employees in the town hall will have years as the Westfield Police Chief, and served for the depart- had put forth against three manufacturers of firefighting a messaging option in the Permit Eyes system that will allow foam, which is a suspected source of contamination. ment for 41 total years so far. them to communicate with one another about any comments His career started in 1976 when he was a civilian dispatch- Mello said that they “are very encouraged by the action or questions they may have. taken by [Mayor Brian Sullivan] and the law department” er. He then became a reserve officer in 1978, then full-time in When the permitting system is launched on February 20, 1980. and acknowledged that it may take a long time for the law- the public will go on the Town of Southwick website and suit to resolve. However, she said that what WRAFT and After moving up the police ranks, Camerota became chief there will be a link on the homepage that will lead the person in 1998, following the retirement of Ben Surprise. residents “need right now is their advocacy.” to the application for the permit. WGBY’s Connecting Point Expands to Five Nights SPRINGFIELD — Get ready for three dynamic women to the The PBS NewsHour. deliver the top world, national, and local stories to you each “It’s an honor to join the weekday lineup of quality journalism day of the week starting this month on public television station on WGBY,” Saldo says. “Like our PBS counterpart, The WGBY. NewsHour, we make it a priority to devote much more time to With a fresh look and new time slot, WGBY’s Connecting topics and issues. We work in minutes, not seconds or charac- Point expands from three nights per week to five beginning ters.” Monday, Feb. 19. New show host Carrie Saldo will present Indeed, the expansion of Connecting Point (CP) was moti- insightful western New England stories following first Katty vated by the notion that public media can delve deeper into Kay on BBC World News America and then Judy Woodruff on issues than commercial alternatives. “This is our mission,” says WGBY General Manager Anthony V. Hayes. “The expansion of Connecting Point illustrates our commitment to the people of western New England, helping them make informed decisions about their lives and futures. I am confident that Carrie Saldo, along with the entire CP team, will bring our region the best and most important stories.” IN THE TRADITION OF TRUST As PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger put it, public televi- sion serves “our modern democracy with trusted, independent Host Carrie Saldo and correspondent Carolee McGrath on journalism. “ set of WGBY’s production of Connecting Point. (Photo cour- “In a media world where profits drive decisions,” she tesy WGBY) explained, “public media stands alone in its singular focus on the American public and not the bottom line.” For Connecting Point Executive Producer Tony Dunne, that says. “Reporting facts is important, but what’s even more distinction drives his fresh new team to deliver that same qual- important are the ‘hows,’ the ‘wheres,’ and the ‘whys’ of any ity journalism locally. given issue — and learning the steps that can be taken moving Hosts and production staff of WGBY’s Connecting Point “We dive deep past the surface, beyond the 30-second sound forward. That’s how you grow, and that is the kind of report- assemble on the new set. (Photo courtesy of WGBY) bites and headlines that dominate the local media landscape,” he ing and storytelling I think our audience wants.” PAGE 2 - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 WWW.THEWESTFIELDNEWS.COM THE WESTFIELD NEWS 1669 1770 1775 1775 1792 1783 1741 1780 1810 WESTFIELD SOUTHWICK HUNTINGTON GRANVILLE RUSSELL CHESTER BLANDFORD MONTGOMERY TOLLAND AROUND TOWN Submit your Around Town News to [email protected] Savannah Myers, of Westfield High School, Veterans Town Hall Meeting at the Westfield Senior Center signs letter-of-intent at ‘Teacher The VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and the City of Westfield Veterans Department will host a Veterans Town Hall at the Westfield Senior Center, 45 Noble Street on Signing Day,’ Marian University Thursday, February 22 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The veteran com- The Klipsch Educators College, Marian University has developed a unique way to munity is invited to learn firsthand about Veterans Administration celebrate high school seniors interested in pursuing the profession of teaching.