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Category Archives: Springfield City Council

Take My Council, Please: Laws & Ballot Order…

SPRINGFIELD—The City Council here rejected a Police supervisors labor pact Monday, primarily due to a provision that limits when officers can face discipline. The offending clause is not new. However, in the aftermath of this summer’s social justice protests, the were fears that some officers

Take My Council, Please: New & Old Hazards in the Fairway…

SPRINGFIELD—On Monday, the City Council dispensed with a financial order left over from the last meeting and passed first step to reform an ordinance that regulates tax breaks in the city. Being the last meeting before an election, the Council also formally set the city’s

Take My Council, Please: After the Primaries of Summer Have Gone…

SPRINGFIELD—The City Council virtually returned from August’s semi-recess Monday to find a massive pile of fresh items on the floor requiring attention. The vast majority were financial, but several were also complex. Others fell under the Community Preservation Act (CPA) demanding more scrutiny than the

Take My Council, Please: A Horse Is a Horse, of Course of Course…

SPRINGFIELD—Horses are in the streets. Fireworks are flying through the air—and more than a few houses. Mayoral chicanery is afoot on the Police Commission and Council unanimity reigns on steps to produce racial progress. Such was the nearly five-hour virtual meeting Monday. The remote nature

Briefings: Council Preparing to Cross Court Square over Police Panel?…

After years of stalemate, movement on the Springfield Police Commission could be imminent. Fifteen years ago, the Finance Control Board discarded the body and concentrated its powers a sole police commissioner. Amid community distrust about internal oversight and a string of scandals at Pearl Street

Take My Council, Please: The Calm before the Fiscal Storm…

SPRINGFIELD—A relatively straightforward Council agenda experienced some delays due technical difficulties rather than legislative loquaciousness. For example, the meeting paused briefly as one councilor’s connection to Zoom was severed. Then there were the pauses between recognition of councilors. Overall, though, the meeting proceeded with little

Take My Council, Please: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom…into the Unknown…

SPRINGFIELD—As the economic devastation from the COVID-19 outbreak sets in, city councilors here met—remotely—for the first time since public health restrictions made its traditional gatherings impractical. Freed of some open meeting law requirements by Governor Charlie Baker’s executive orders, the body met via the web