Take My Council, Please: The Time Has Come to Be Blunt…
SPRINGFIELD—With a lighter agenda on Monday compared to recent weeks, the City Council dispensed with a series of financial orders and legislation before the home stretch of the election.
Category Archives: Springfield City Council
Take My Council, Please: Supersize That Permit Review!…
SPRINGFIELD—This week the City Council revisited a troubled revision to a drive-through special permit that had hit the skids earlier this year amid an abutter’s complaints. The item has still not achieved passage amid a sluggish review. Frustratingly, the once-complaining neighbor has been MIA, leaving councilors to straighten things out alone with the applicant.
Take My Council, Please: Mayor’s Post-COVID Budget Passes Unscathed…
SPRINGFIELD—Despite roughly two hours of often passionate debate, the City Council here unanimously approved Mayor Domenico Sarno’s budget for fiscal year 2022 without cuts. With some help from the American Rescue Plan, the $756 million spending plan largely peels city government off the floor after going into a defensive fiscal crouch during the coronavirus pandemic.
Take My Council, Please: Will the Sequels Be Better Than the Originals…?
SPRINGFIELD—Aside from a one-liner admonishing a permit-seeker’s counsel to not interrupt the Council president, the sequels to a few permit hearings last Monday were no better than the originals in the preceding weeks.
Take My Council, Please: Turning into Pumpkins after 10pm…
SPRINGFIELD—At its June 7 meeting last Monday, the City Council cut itself off. After some members had spent a third of their day in Council Zoom meetings—the body remains virtual for now—councilors agreed to execute the 10pm drop-dead rule.
Springfield to Have One Ballot Lap in 2021, Ward 1 Candidates Waltzing in…
Barring any signatures challenges, the midterm ballot in Springfield looks ready to go and two prominent open races will want for competition. Moreover, the field will be thin enough to avoid the need for a preliminary. Still, a full complement of contenders will challenge at-large councilors and half of the ward Council seats will have races.
Take My Council, Please: Time for Encore Performances…
SPRINGFIELD—In what may have become a pattern, the City Council here held a second regular meeting in sequential weeks. This occurred in March, too. Its May 10 meeting consisted of financial orders and leftovers from the prior week. Thus, the meeting sped along an unusual
Take My Council, Please: Consider the Wards of the City…
SPRINGFIELD—The wards were the highlight of Monday’s City Council virtual meeting. Early on, the Council considered a crush of utility petitions that received an unusual amount of scrutiny. Oddly most of these items happened to fall within Ward 2. Its councilor, Michael Fenton, raised the
Take My Council, Please: Have You Had Your Legislative Break Today?…
SPRINGFIELD—The City Council considered and passed a plethora of legislation at its Monday meeting this week. Action commenced on a pair of historic districts—each were at different stages of passage. The ordinance banning the sale of non-shelter animals at pet stores also passed the Council.
Take My Council, Please: Historic Preservation, a Gothic Experience…
SPRINGFIELD—Rare are week after week regular Monday meetings of the City Council here. Normally, the next meeting after a regular session is for permits and one did appear on the agenda. Yet, this week, there was another regulation session with its own clutch of legislation