SPRINGFIELD—In a victory for organized labor, the City Council unanimously approved an arbitration award, securing a contract between the city and it’s the International Brother Hood of Police Officers, Local 364 through July 2016. Despite fears that the mayor’s office was maneuvering to kill the
UPDATED 3/3/14 6:03PM: To reflect additional reporting on alleged efforts by the mayor’s office to defeat the arbitration award. Not even a week after its release, the finding of the Joint Labor Management Committee award will go before the City Council where its fate may
This post is the first in a series on the debate over Management of the Police Department in Springfield. SPRINGFIELD—At a rescheduled committee meeting residents pled their case for a return of the Police Commission while a few representatives from Mayor Domenic Sarno’s administration vehemently
SPRINGFIELD—Eliciting boos from the gallery for hesitating on one issue, the City Council moved a matter to committee, while finally making progress on another Monday night. Nevertheless, the issue set the stage for what may be many confrontations between the mayor and the Council in
SPRINGFIELD—Earlier this month, City Council President Mike Fenton had urged residents to apply for four ad hoc committees he was forming, prompting a flood of applications into the Council office. The response exceeded expectations, leading Fenton to regret Monday night that he had “turn down” many people who had
SPRINGFIELD—The new City Council President moved quickly only a day after his election to appoint committees for the Council’s 2014 term. Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton shuffled the seats on the Council’s committee Tuesday and announced the formation of two policy-centric proactive committees, which will
SPRINGFIELD—For the first time in over a decade, Domenic Sarno was not taking an oath in an even year January. In the middle of the city’s first four-year mayoral term, he along with a packed Council chamber of family, friends, elected officials and city department
This is a fourth post analyzing the election results of the 2013 election. As much as the elections at-large and in Ward 8 last month in Springfield captured attention because of their upsets, in a lot of ways the lessons derived from them tell some
SPRINGFIELD—With a burst of legislation and a handful of grants, the City Council here closed out the year and, for that matter, itself with the last bit of business before the new year and the new Council is sworn. After some deliberation on a new
UPDATED 9:41PM: For grammar and minor edits. This is the third post in a series analyzing the results of the 2013 election. SPRINGFIELD—In retrospect, at-large Councilor Jimmy Ferrera may owe his political career to chance. When former State Senator and later clerk of courts Brian