The Blink and You Missed It Mayoralty of Joann Neylan

On the same day that the country got a U.S. senator for four months, Westfield got a mayor for roughly 15 minutes.

Councilwoman Joann Neylan briefly seized control of the reins of town government Tuesday night, when the absence of two people let executive power fall into her hands. Mayor Andy Skibitsky and Councilman Mark Ciarrocca's absence from the Council's agenda review session at 7:45 p.m. let Neylan, the town's alternate acting mayor become Westfield's chief executive. This is the second Neylan Administration in Westfield history, with her holding power in June 2009 for roughly 20 minutes.

Neylan followed in the footsteps of some of her national colleagues who have short stints in office by sticking to business. Sen. Carte Goodwin (D-West Vir.) kicked off his four month Senate term Tuesday with a vote to extend unemployment benefits, former Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.) voted for health care bills in his five month stint and Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) has pledged to use his 16 months to fit in a full six year term.

Neylan's second stint as mayor featured the acting chief executive presiding over a meeting to review the agenda for the public session, along with receiving a briefing of the whereabouts on absent council members. Neylan also conferred with Councilwoman Vicki Kimmins on the evening's invocation and dealt with an emergency situation involving the conference room clock being two hours slow. The only policy pronouncement of the Neylan Administration was the acting mayor announcing her desire to see rain to end the drought.

Neylan's second stint atop Westfield differed a bit from her first administration. During the 2009 Neylan mayoralty, the acting mayor presided over a routine Council workshop meeting, was briefed on finance and land use issues and oversaw emergency officials dealing with a limping and potentially humpbacked raccoon controlling part of the town hall parking lot. In what is becoming a theme for Neylan Administrations, rain played a role with a sudden thunderstorm causing youth baseball teams to flee for shelter.

Neylan has performed other mayoral functions in the role of alternate acting mayor over the past several years. These included presiding over the town Easter Egg Hunt, conducting a wedding and welcoming the crown princess of Serbia to Westfield.

Neylan, who will be running the Pizza Race alongside Ciarrocca and Councilman Jim Foerst on Wednesday, saw her administration end before she could take her star turn on the dais in front of the cameras. Skibitsky returned to town hall to peacefully regain control of town government in time to gavel the session in.