Overdue. (WMP&I and Google images)

Last Monday, the Springfield City Councilors chewed over an unusual batch of appointments to the Water & Sewer Commission: all of them. Before the body at its regular meeting were confirmations for all three members of the body. While the Commission continued to function despite the lapse of two commissioners’ terms, the episode was a reminder of the slapdash way Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office handles the appointment of boards and commissions.

The expiration of appointments was not the only issue councilors raised with commissioners and Water & Sewer’s executive director, Josh Schimmel. However, the expiration of terms did provoke discussion about the process of appointment and how such a long lapse could have occurred in a key city board.

“If we have commissioners out of term, only God knows what is happening with the other boards and commissions throughout the city,” General Government Committee Chair Victor Davila said.

City Councilors Zaida Govan, Brian Santaniello, Kateri Walsh and Tracye Whitfield attended the meeting virtually. Ward 1 Councilor Maria Perez was absent.

Davila, who represents Ward 6, raised the expirations during his report committee. It was one of several committee reports the Council received at the top of the meeting. Among these were fairly routine updates from the Environment & Sustainability, Finance, Health & Human Services, Maintenance & Development, Planning & Economic Development and Public Safety.

There some notable details from these. Finance Committee Chair Timothy Allen said the state had advised the city to submit for reimbursement for programs that Donald Trump’s administration had purported to cancel. It was later explained that Attorney General Andrea Campbell is suing Trump and his Education Secretary to recoup the funds, which the commonwealth will later distribute to municipalities.

Another Trump tidbit came up after Public Safety Chair Lavar Click-Bruce completed his report. While principally a check-in with the Fire and Police departments, at-large Councilor Whitfield remarked that Pearl Street has also updated councilors about its interactions with Immigration & Customs Enforcement.

Pearl Street says it is complying with the Welcoming Communities Trust ordinance. (WMP&I)

While ICE has never had a great reputation, its abductions of immigrants the agency never even bothered to notify has invited fresh scorn. During the last Trump go-round, the City Council passed the Welcoming Communities Trust ordinance, which bars the Police Department from inquiring about immigration status when interacting with the public or otherwise assist ICE absent a legal mandate. Massachusetts law already bars police from enforcing civil detainers from ICE

Whitfield said police representatives have assured advocates that cops receive training on the ordinance and brass address noncompliance.

Yet, Davila’s announcement of the Water & Sewer probably also drew attention. As is common when commissioner confirmations come up, Councilors peppered the nominees and Schimmel with questions about water quality and bills. However, the lapse in terms also speaks to a longstanding spat between the mayor and Council.

Unlike most boards and commissions, Water & Sewer commissioners must receive Council confirmation. The body is a creation of state law and is actually a corporate entity distinct from the city. It is subject to a specific chapter of Massachusetts General Law. It specifies that the three members of the Commission serve staggered three year terms. However, incumbents can serve until their successors are appointed and confirmed.

As councilors learned, only Commissioner Vanessa Otero was still serving a valid term. Before the Council was a vote on her starting a new three-year term beginning July 1, 2025. Her current term does not end until June 30.

However, Commissioners Dan Rodriguez and Matt Donnellan’s terms ended on June 30 in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Therefore, their new terms will expire in 2026 and 2027, also respectively. Rodriguez explained how the process normally works when their terms approach expiration.

“We tend to notify the mayor’s office because the mayor’s office selects a commissioner,” he told the Council. “So we we notify the mayor’s office as we get closer to our deadlines and then we request to be on the council schedule.”

Water & Sewer Exec Josh Schimmel at Monday’s meeting. (via YouTube/Focus Springfield)

Schimmel suggested that the roots of the snafu came about when William Leonard retired from the Commission. The Council confirmed Donnellan to the Commission in the fall of 2022.

Councilors took pains to say they did not hold the commissioner or Schimmel responsible for the debacle. Nobody appeared to question their qualifications or dedication either. Indeed, all but Rodriguez received a unanimous vote—Davila dissented on Rodriguez’s confirmation.

Nevertheless, the process drew jeers from multiple councilors. Whitfield’s comments were typical of the critiques.

“I just think it’s unfair that other people do not have the opportunity to submit resumes or express interested in being a commissioner,” she said.

Indeed, the rather small universe from which the mayor draws candidates for boards and commissioners has bothered residents and councilors for years. Yet, the fact that these terms lapsed entirely grates just as hard. Councilors have complained for years the mayor frequently fails to appoint anybody to many of the city’s panels.

That his office ostensibly waits around for notice from the bodies themselves is itself damning. The terms of members of municipal boards is no secret. The City Clerk keeps specific records of all officials’ terms of office.

Beyond Water & Sewer, early items included the February Revenue & Expenditures report. Acting Comptroller Steve Lonergan said spending and revenue were on target for that time of the year.

Councilors greenlighted several street access requests from Eversource. The utility’s representative committed to greater communication with the city before such work begins. Ward 4 Councilor Malo Brown, who chairs the Maintenance & Development Committee said in his report that Eversource would deliver such notice early enough to post for public review before work begins.

The permits passed without dissent.

The Council unanimously granted final passage to an ordinance that codifies current practices for licensing pawn shops. An extension of the moratorium on new pawn shops should be before the Council in the coming months.

The body also accepted small grants for the Elder Affairs and Health & Human Services department and approved payment of $10,807 in police department bills from last fiscal year.

Cignoli had good Chapter 90 news. (still via Focus Springfield)

Public Works czar Chris Cignoli presented a pair of items relating to Chapter 90 roadwork grants. As he explained, Chapter 90 is the commonwealth’s annual grant of funding to municipalities for road construction. However, for many years now, the state had not raised the annual appropriation, which effectively left cities and towns with less money when accounting for inflation.

The first item was an additional $807,834 for this fiscal year, which ends on June 30. However, for fiscal year 2026, the city will receive $5,035,406, which is substantially more than the city’s usual $3.6 million. The funding increase is part of an initiative Governor Maura Healey has put forward using the Fair Share Amendment, also known as the Millionaire’s Tax. Healey’s plan would raise the annual appropriation to $300 million from $200 million a year for the next five years.

Baseline Chapter 90 funds have not changed in years, but there have been special supplements over the years. By contrast, this will actually raise the main grant to municipalities.

Both grants received approval without dissent.

Councilors approved the transfer of land near Emerson Wight park to the Board of Park Commissioners. It also approved the Public Health Nurses contract. The agreement briefly hit the skids after the Council learned that there was currently nobody in the bargaining unit. Still, the pact had received approval before its last member left her job. Therefore, the city could still execute the labor pact.

The Council approved a few additional changes to the city’s solid waste ordinance and underlying rules. The ordinances will require a second vote. The rules do not. The updates were largely technical, though Cignoli said that one notable change was requiring separate trash barrels (and bills) for accessory dwelling units built under a new state law that legalizes them statewide.

The meeting concluded with a resolution that panned recent spikes in electric bills.

On a practical level, the Water & Sewer Commission imbroglio amounted to little substantively. Commissioners can serve beyond their terms and so the Commission never missed a beat.

(WMP&I)

It would be troubling if the mayor tried to bypass the Council by just never submitting nominations—even the incumbents—to the Council. That is not what happened here. Rather, it is something lamer. Sarno’s office was not paying attention.

As the vote showed, nobody would have objected to him just reappointing the incumbents. But what if there were vacancy? Then, a public call for interest would be in line. To Whitfield’s point, however, such a thing seems entirely unlikely and therein lies the problem.