The Springfield City Council met for its first regular meeting in several weeks. The meeting also had to incorporate agenda items from a hearings meeting after it failed to go forward as planned. A few items, including homeless program funding and supplemental budget requests received scrutiny.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has selected a top finance official in the Office of Community Development to lead the city’s overall finances. Cathy Buono was among three individuals a screening committee had forwarded to the mayor. She officially took over as chief administrative & financial officer Monday.
Springfield faces a string of vacancies and turnover atop several city agencies. Just this month, the heads of the Elder Affairs, Police, School and Veterans Services departments have announced their retirements. One major office may have informally kicked off this transition last year, but it could see an appointment soon: a successor to former Chief Administrative & Financial Officer T.J. Plante.
Springfield City Councilors grilled public works czar Chris Cignoli about poor plowing after this month’s snowstorms. While city lawmakers and residents raised complaints about inadequate snow removal and dangerous conditions, the options for to make improvements next time were less than apparent. Perhaps adding to
One could not chuck a rock in Springfield without hitting someone praising Mayor Domenic Sarno for choosing Lawrence Akers to be the next Police Superintendent. The incumbent super Cheryl Clapprood praised the choice. Longtime frenemy Michael Fenton, now City Council President, hailed Akers. Even frequent Sarno critics the Bishop Talbert Swan and at-large councilor Tracye Whitfield feted the move.
SPRINGFIELD—The City Council’s first meeting of 2024 quickly morphed into an opportunity for councilors to quench their inquisitive thirst for a wide range of departmental libations. Although in attendance for fairly mundane items, department representatives faced a barrage of questions. In at least case, a police gang suppression grant, it was councilors first chance to raise the record homicide count last year.
SPRINGFIELD—Mayor Domenic Sarno began his six term of office Monday alongside the City Council with promises to deliver essentially what he campaigned on: the status quo. His less than 20 minute address thanked family, friends and supporter and list many of his accomplishments in prior terms. Nearly all of the City Council took the oath just before Sarno did.
The event was small.
The election dominated 2023 in Springfield in a way that elections rarely have. Only the rise of ward representation stands as a fair comparison. But while 2009, as an election year, changed Springfield, 2023 revealed and not necessarily in ways that should flatter the city.
On the state and national levels, there was impact on the city. Yet, it was somewhat less when compared to other years.
At 28, that means Jesse Lederman has been active in city politics since he was a teenager. That makes his exit after three terms notable less because he was leaving so soon, but that the Council was not even his first act. By his 2017 election, Lederman had already run once, worked on several campaigns and become a prominent figure in Springfield environmental activism battling the biomass plant.
As the 2023 municipal cycle closed, the Springfield-based SuperPAC that played a big—or at least pricy—role in its home city’s election made another move out east. A new filing added Haverhill races to Hispanic Latino Leaders Now’s list.