At-large incumbency. (still via YouTube/Focus Springfield)

Springfield City Council and School Committee hopefuls plied their political wares last week during an outdoor forum. Focus Springfield and White Lion Brewing organized and staged the event in the “Pridelands” beer garden, across Main Street from the brewer’s taproom in Tower Square. It may be the only televised event for the races with a preliminary on September 9.

At least one candidate for each contested race attended, along with a few incumbents who face no opposition for reelection. With some exceptions, the questions largely had citywide salience. Although Focus Springfield staff drew questions at random, recurring themes were retaining younger workers, especially professionals and securing better payment in-lieu-of taxes (PILOT) agreements with the city’s nonprofit landowners.

“Some of the bigger nonprofits are making a lot of money, and that’s okay for them to,” said Ward 8 City Councilor Zaida Govan, responding to a question about renegotiating PILOT agreements. “But they should also be able to reciprocate and pay into our city for our city resources.”

Among the candidates who received the PILOT question, there was broad agreement that the city needed to work harder to reach pacts with large nonprofit owners. However, there were some nuances. Candidates for Ward 4’s Council seat, for example, had different approaches.

Kenneth Barnett, a former president of the Bay Area Neighborhood Council, suggested that schools like American International College—which is in Ward 4—could give scholarships or the like. Willy Naylor, said any approach the city considers must account for how different organizations already affect the community.

“I would also consider each entity, each organization because you have faith-based entities as well, and they often give more to the community than what money can pay for,” he said.

The August 27 event took place just under two weeks before the September 9 prelim. Two Council seats—one in Ward 4 and one in Ward 6—and a School Committee Seat—for Ward 6 and 7—have enough candidates to require a preliminary.

Groups of Council and School Committee candidates shared the stage. Focus Springfield host G. Michael Dobbs, formerly of The Reminder, moderated the event. Dobbs asked every candidate why they were running. Steve Cary, the public access broadcaster’s executive director, randomly pulled numbers corresponding to questions. Each group received two random questions.

Ward Incumbent unopposed. (still via YouTube/Focus Springfield)

Dobbs said early on that scheduling conflicts were responsible for some candidates’ nonattendance.

Govan appeared alongside Ward 2 City Councilor and Council President Michael Fenton. He noted the history of the PILOT agreements in Springfield and the difficulty in reaching them as they are entirely voluntary.

Neither Fenton nor Govan face opposition. They, along with Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards, are the three ward councilors without an opponent.

Wards 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 have contested Council races. The incumbent councilors for Ward 6 and Ward 7, Councilor Victor Davila and Timothy Allen respectively, did attend. One of Davila’s challengers, Mary Johnson, was present. Another, Charles Whitaker-Battle did not. Allen’s opponent, Gerald Martin, also did not attend.

In the Council races for Wards 1, 4 and 5, the challengers all appeared, but the incumbents did not. Joesiah Gonzalez, the outgoing School Committee member for Wards 1 and 3, is challenging Ward 1 Councilor Maria Perez. Realtor Ed Nunez is challenging Ward 5 Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce. Barnett, Naylor and Beverly Savage are challenging Ward 4 Councilor Malo Brown.

At-large incumbents Sean Curran, Jose Delgado and Tracye Whitfield were part of the first panel. They each suggested they were seeking reelection because they still had work to do.

“I know I want to run again because I’m making a huge impact on the city of Springfield,” Whitfield said. “I care about this community.”

Delgado pointed to the work he had done in this term, his first on the Council. He chairs the Audit Committee, and noted his work on digital access and broadening employment opportunities with the city. Asked about the quality and quantity of city services, he noted that the city was losing a lot of good employees.

“A lot of people point to residency,” he said. “I believe we have enough talent in the city to fill a lot of our jobs, but we need to make sure that those folks are getting opportunities.”

“We lose a lot of people due to bad managers. So, what are we doing with bad managers and making sure that we’re retaining our talent in the city of Springfield?” Delgado added.

All at-large challengers, Nicole Coakley, Justin Hurst and Juan “Jay” Latorre, participated as well. Hurst is making a comeback bid to the Council after he left the body to pursue an unsuccessful mayoral bid.

RETVRN? (WMP&I)

“Unfortunately, we fell a little short, but I knew I had a lot to continue to give back to the city of Springfield,” Hurst said of jumping back into the fray.

Both Coakley and Latorre have sought Council seats before. Latorre said he was running again because voters still feel disconnected from City Hall. Coakley framed her bid as a means of ensuring the city does what is right by its residents.

Gonzalez’s appearance during the segment on Ward 1 notably came weeks after his opponent, Maria Perez, sued him and her former employer for defamation. Gonzalez had been quiet for a couple of weeks, but has since begun campaigning again.

Neither the lawsuit nor the allegations came up in his answers, and the structure of the forum left little room for a direct ask. He did attack Perez’s record, if indirectly, by claiming that publicity about progress in the ward overstated its situation. Gonzalez said infrastructure investment was a top priority.

During the Ward 6 segment, Davila and Johnson differed a bit. Johnson said the old ideas were not working and directly challenged Davila’s assertion about progress on things like litter. For his part, Davila highlighted his commitment to give back to the city. His record, he argued, was proof of that.

Davila and Johnson did agree on the need for PILOT reform, however. Davila, the incumbent, chairs a committee looking at how the city can get more revenue out of the agreements. He noted that he had suggested President Fenton establish the panel.

Johnson concurred with the urgency. “This is something we need to be talking about yesterday,” she said.

During the School Committee segment, at-large incumbent Denise Hurst and LaTonia Monroe Naylor appeared, but their challenger, Michele Pepe, did not. Hurst and Naylor praised each other’s work  on the Committee and said there was still work ahead.

At-large and in charge (of schools). (still via YouTube/Focus Springfield)

Hurst pointed to the need to support the new superintendent, Sonia Dinnall.

“I think that we’re in the midst of a transition and having a brand new superintendent and it was really important to me to stay on through that transition and to ensure that our new leadership had a stable voice beside her,” Hurst said.

Among the Committee’s district seats, each of which represents two wards, the race for the seat for Ward 1 and 3’s seat has a single candidate, Gumersindo Gomez, Jr. The other three seats have contests. However, only the panel for the Ward 6 and 7 Committee race featured the entire field.

Ward 6 and 7 School Committee member Chris Collins faces challenges from Rosa Valentin and Stephen Carosello. All praised Dinnall, even Collins, who had not voted for her selection. He said she has risen to the challenge.

Elsewhere, Giselle Gaines is challenging Barbara Gresham, the Committee member for Ward 4 and 5. Ayanna Crawford has launched another challenge against Peter Murphy, the member for Ward 2 and 8.

By chance, the School Committee portion of the forum addressed the pall Washington is casting across the country. All district candidate panels received the question about what Committee members whould do if Donald Trump and Republicans cut funding for school meals. There was hope either that that would not happen or that the state would make good on a promise to backfill the funding.

“Hungry students don’t learn,” Collin said. “Hopefully the state is going to step up, and they said that they’re going to. But if they don’t, we’re going to have to get creative.”

No candidate put forward a specific solution should that happen. However, they all expressed resolve to ensure the program endured.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that we will have food for our children,” Crawford said during her appearance.