I have lived in Westfield 55 years and David Contract is by far the best councilman I have ever had. It would be a great loss to the town if he is not re-elected as the Ward 3 councilman.
David has all the skills important to being an effective councilman. He is a great listener and is gifted at recognizing things that need to be changed and devising methods of solving the problems. David ran for office identifying some of the needed changes: increasing communication with Westfield citizens, improving road repair, implementing sustainable solutions, better financial management, and adding services for seniors. David has effectively addressed all of these issues.
As soon as he took office in January 2018, he implemented regular email updates to Ward 3 residents describing the issues the council was considering and the actions they were taking. As soon as the Covid-19 pandemic struck, he started sharing nearly daily information about the virus, health and safety protocols, and other information that has been invaluable in helping all of us navigate this challenge.
Also, when he becomes aware of any problem in Ward 3, he goes to talk to the people and visits the location to gather the needed information to address the problem, acts to resolve it, and notifies the residents about the action taken. The most recent issue has been the elimination of the crossing guards on Central Avenue. David immediately followed up, recognized the need, and was able to work with other councilpersons and town officials to restore at least one crossing guard position within days.
David has also acted on many other areas to make things better in Westfield. He chairs the Public Works Committee which has overseen repaving of 47 miles of roads, three times more than the four years prior, and he helped to pass ordinances that got utilities to pay for half of this paving at no cost to taxpayers! David has also served as vice chair and member of the town’s Finance Committee, and he’s developed budgets that have reduced municipal tax increases by 44 percent versus the prior four years, while maintaining a robust surplus and the town’s AAA bond rating.
He rejuvenated the town’s green team, which only focused on park clean-ups before his taking office, and vastly improved the town’s sustainability efforts including among other things launching 11 new recycling programs at the conservation center, and installing six EV chargers downtown at no cost to taxpayers. As for seniors’ needs, David created Lifelong Westfield that has implemented multiple programs for seniors including health, wellness and safety seminars, weekly emails and ongoing newsletters, discussion groups, and most importantly, organizing volunteers to help seniors secure needed products during the pandemic.
The only time I ever heard from my prior councilmen was at election time and then only received a very limited insight into what they had accomplished. David is far different and better. He’s unique and should be reelected to help continue driving Westfield forward.
