The Springfield City Council is wading once more into the fraught waters of their own salaries. A bill appearing on Monday’s agenda would raise the annual salary for councilors, the mayor and members of the School Committee. However, the increase would not be immediate.
The attempt to gut the Police Commission was part of a broader legislative package that would facilitate Lawrence Akers’s appointment as superintendent. Another piece was a home rule petition to let him remain a cop beyond the state’s mandatory retirement age of 65 and cap his pension. That bill, too, went to the rewrite desk. Now the original language could make a return.
The recent row over the nature and powers of the Springfield Police Commission and the superintendent of the Police Department has reached a conclusion for now. On Tuesday, the City Council made the final changes in ordinance, as part of a compromise with Mayor Domenic
The Springfield City Council’s review of legislation to clear the way for Deputy Chief Lawrence Akers to become Police Superintendent had its surprises. One of the biggest surprises was for Akers himself, who thought the home rule petition on his behalf would just let him serve until 70.