Town Administrator Speaks to Westfield Rotary Club
Submitted by Dr. D. Michael Hart
Westfield Township Administrator Jim Gildea spoke to the Rotary Club of Westfield via Zoom at their regular weekly meeting held on Tuesday, May 4th. Jim grew up in Westfield, and graduated from Westfield High School in 1988. His parents owned two stores in town: his dad owned Celtic Imports, Ltd., and his mom owned Juxtapose Gallery. Jim earned a BS from U. Vermont in Small Business Management, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Kean University.
Westfield has a different form of Government than most towns in NJ. The Council has 9 members. There are 4 Wards which each elect 2 councilmen, plus a Mayor which is elected by a town wide election. No one on the Council is compensated, they are all volunteers. The Council makes the policy and the administrator implements it. He has 15 departments which report to him, including: Fire Dept; Police Dept; Town Clerk; Tax Collector; Court Administrator; Library; Town Engineer; and the Recreation Dept. Jim is especially fond of the Recreation Dept. because that is where he started in town government, first as a life guard at the town pool, then spending 7 years in that department full time after college. He started as the Town Administrator in 2001. Jim also has the HR responsibilities for the Township, which include negotiating with the 6 unions or bargaining units representing the township workers.
Jim answered a number of questions, which included paving the roads. Westfield has 100 miles of roads, but only has the budget to pave about 5 miles per year. The old roads lasted about 20 years, but the newer materials which are more ecofriendly, only last 10 to 12 years, and need to be replaced more frequently. However, Jim struck a deal with the utility companies serving Westfield that if they dug up a street, they would pave the entire street, curb to curb, and the entire length. This policy saves Westfield substantial tax revenues and allows the acceleration for the paving implementation- to the point where the town is now having 20 miles of roads paved every year, instead of 5. Within a few years we should be back up to having a high compliance of paved roads.
Jim remembers 1994 when the Rotary club purchased a big screen TV for the Recreation Department Teen Center located at the Town Hall basement. The goal was to give teens a place to go after school, rather than having them hanging around on street corners. The Rotary Club has a long history of helping the town with service projects and providing scholarships to the high school students. The club will be celebrating it’s 100-year anniversary this year.
The Rotary Club members asked Jim if there is anything we can do to help the town, and he said there may be a planting coming up by Rutgers to put in a rain forest at Tamaques Park for which they may need volunteers. The Rotary Club has been actively planting trees every year in town. They planted 20 trees at Jefferson School with the help of the Rotary Early Act Club students, and 40 trees on Dudley Court. Trees are good for the environment, the leaves filter out heavy metal air pollution, they remove carbon from the air (reducing Global Warming), each tree produces enough oxygen for two people, most trees live 100 years, with oak trees living 300 years. In addition, the trees make Westfield more attractive, increasing property values.
The Rotary Club of Westfield meets the first three Tuesdays of the month at noon by Zoom. Guests are always welcome. Rotary is a coed service and business networking club. Successful business people who want to give something back to the community. Current projects are to help feed the hungry, help provide supplies and clothing to homeless Veterans, planting trees, scholarships and community grants. Website: www.westfieldrotary.com For Information please email Secretary Dr. D. Michael Hart at drmhart@yahoo.com.
