Mayor Cook,
I’m writing to wholeheartedly support and encourage the “FIT” candidates for Westfield City Council. Those candidates include: Bob Beaudry (District 2), Dan McKinney (District 4), Brian Ferguson (District 5), Barry Jones (At-Large) and Ron Thomas (At-Large). These candidates represent a much needed, fresh reboot to Westfield politics. My reasoning follows.
While I consider you a friend, I’m concerned about Westfield’s present compass heading vis-à-vis spending and the soccer arena. When I testified in October 2014 about this matter at the city council meeting, I was told there was urgency – “You’re not a developer, you don’t understand. We must break ground before the ground freezes.” Applying a bit of common sense, I asked for a measly two-week delay so the city could publish the requisite paperwork, budgets, planning documents, financing plans, zoning materials, etc., thus putting the residents’ minds at ease.
My request, while I’m just one guy and no one certainly had to abide by my request, was summarily dismissed as child’s play and fodder. Well, here we are, April 13, 2015, and we haven’t broken ground nor have we seen the “full picture” document set from the City of Westfield. Not fair, Mayor.
So, Mayor Cook, here’s my offer: If you’ll provide all the paperwork related to the soccer stadium, I’ll gladly donate, at no cost to the City of Westfield, my firm’s services to publish them on the web. This will enable you to bask the sunlight of confidence that you’ve gone above and beyond with full disclosure and that there’s nothing more to share. Let’s call this “Option A”.
Or, “Option B”, keep all the documents from daylight and validate my position that it’s time for a reboot in Westfield politics and support the candidates I mentioned above.
I eagerly await your response, Mayor.
Ron Brumbarger