Mahoney laboring for Springfield no more. (still via YouTube/Focus Springfield)

Springfield City Hall is seeing a leadership change at the top—of the human resources department. William Mahoney, long the city’s Human Resources/Labor Relations Director, has retired. His last day was September 30. Mahoney came to 36 Court Street at the twilight of the Control Board era and his exit marks a further break from that time. That was, to a point, embodied in his successor.

Chief Administrative & Financial Officer Cathy Buono, who appoints several top department heads subject to mayoral approval, named Mayor Domenic Sarno’s chief of staff William Baker HR Director. As Sarno’s top aide, Baker would have supervised the entire administration to an extent. Yet, leading the city’s human resources office is an entirely different endeavor. That will raise questions about whether Sarno is trying to sprinkle loyalists into the city bureaucracy.

“I want to thank Mayor Sarno for his continued belief, trust and confidence in my abilities.  I also want to thank CAFO Cathy Buono for her leadership and support too,” Baker said in a statement the mayor’s office released.

Baker served on the Personnel Review Committee, an internal body that monitors the city workforce. He pointed to this and his time in the mayor’s office as preparation for the role leading HR. The mayor’s release also noted that Baker has a master’s degree in public administration from American International College.

“I am looking forward to working with the dedicated staff in our HR Office as we continue to work together with all of our municipal departments for the betterment of all our employees, residents and businesses,” Baker continued.

The statement the mayor’s office released on Facebook and on the city’s website did not include any comment from Mahoney. Sarno, in the statement, said little about his human resources head of 17 years other than to wish him a happy retirement. WMP&I could not reach Mahoney as of posting time. His city email account auto-responded, announcing he had left city service Wednesday.

Technically, Mahoney wore two hats as director of both the Personnel Department—HR’s formal name—and the Labor Relations Department. The Control Board gave him both roles in 2009, shortly before the panel dissolved. Both departments had cameos in the various dramas that preceded the Control Board’s establishment in 2004. Consequently, the panel rewrote both departments’ statutes during its tenure. In 2008, the legislature placed both departments under the purview of the CAFO.

The Control Board in 2007 when Charles Ryan was still mayor. It revised the laws governing the city’s human resources and labor offices before Beacon Hill ordered them to report to the CAFO. (WMP&I)

A no-nonsense labor attorney and onetime Ludlow town official, Mahoney had managed the city’s workforce through several challenges and modernizations. He would have managed through countless federal changes, largely in the tax code, and executed policies during the pandemic. As the head of HR, he also played key roles in employee investigations, including some members of Sarno’s own staff.

As the city’s chief labor counsel, he led the city through complex contract negotiations with employee unions. At the urging of the City Council, Mahoney oversaw negotiations that subjected unionized city employees, including police officers and firefighters, to the Residency Ordinance. That and a broader, and fairly successful, push to enforce that law, despite himself being a Ludlow resident, will be among his most prominent legacies.

Mahoney also would have led the police contract negotiations that implemented the consent decree with the US Justice Department.

Having Baker in that role will be a considerable shift. In the first place, it is not clear whether he is inheriting all of Mahoney’s mandate. Ordinance still establishes the Personnel and Labor Relations departments—and their heads—separately. The Labor Relations Director does not need to be an attorney according to the municipal code. Therefore, Baker could wear both hats, too.

The 2008 state law that created the CAFO also gives him or her the authority to appoint the Labor Relations Director. Therefore, it would be within CAFO Buono’s discretion—again, subject to mayoral approval—to give Baker both roles as well. It is not clear who will be the city’s top labor attorney now, however. Buono did not respond to an email requesting clarification.

Will Baker have human capital ideas? (via Springfield City Hall)

Baker also does not come into the role with a background as a human resources professional or having climbed the bureaucratic ladder. The Control Board tended to look outside the city workforce for top jobs. Longtime former CAFO Timothy Plante would both look outside the city and cultivate talent within the departments within his ambit. The latter is a common course for many other city departments.

By contrast, Baker came to Sarno’s office in 2012 after working as an aide to then-State Rep Sean Curran for six years. He served as the mayor’s constituent services director until 2019 when Sarno promoted him to Communications Director. Baker replaced Marian Sullivan who left City Hall under a cloud. In 2024, Sarno appointed his then-chief of staff Thomas Ashe to Executive Director of Parks, Recreation & Buildings. Baker became the mayor’s new chief of staff.

“From his time as my Constituent Services Director where he would always go above and beyond for our residents, to working through COVID-19 as my Communications Director when he was instrumental in coordinating my administration’s weekly COVID-19 briefings with Health and Human Services and our hospitals, he has been my ‘behind the scenes’ guy for some time, someone that I can always count on,” Sarno said in his statement Thursday.

Elevating Baker to lead human resources echoes Ashe’s appointment to Parks. Both are Sarno stalwarts slotted into positions that had longtime leaders with deep experience in their fields. One key difference from Ashe at Parks was that his predecessor, Patrick Sullivan, did not immediately depart. He remained for a time, closing out some legacy initiatives and was available to assist Ashe. Sullivan all but gave Ashe his blessing, too.

There was no indication of the same with Mahoney, whose exit notably came the day before the announcement.

The transitions will cascade into the mayor’s office as well. Sarno elevated his current Communications Director, Molly Shea, to chief of staff. Rose McCaffrey, a mayoral aide and a deputy communications director, will become Comms Director. Shea joined the mayor’s office as a mayoral aide in 2019. McCaffrey first signed onto to Sarno’s staff in 2024.