After a seven-year interregnum, Ward 2 City Councilor Michael Fenton is poised to resume the role of Council President in 2024. Fenton, who joined the Council in 2010, served three one-year terms from 2014 to 2016.
With the Springfield mayoral race a hot mess and the at-large Council an huge large field of qualified hopefuls, the ward races offer a calm respite. The incumbents in both Ward 4 and 6 face challengers. In Ward 4 on Tuesday, incumbent Malo Brown will face off against Kareem Kibodya, a former policy and political staffer.
The Springfield City Council met for a quickie meeting Monday night, largely to approve financial items. Nothing on the agenda yielded controversy. Even the authorization of a lease longer than three years—for a piece of fire equipment—prompted more whimsy than dry analysis.
The Springfield City Council returned from its preliminary hiatus last Monday to a smattering of financial whatnot typical after such absences. It was the first full meeting since Council members Justin Hurst, an at-large councilor, Jesse Lederman, the body’s president appeared on last week’s mayoral ballot, challenging incumbent Domenic Sarno.
It was not until four years into the Control Board that the legislature created the supra-departmental position of Chief Administrative & Financial Officer. Timothy “T.J.” Plante is not the first formal CAFO, but he held the position for over a decade after years in the city finance department.
It was just a line in The Republican’s election profile of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, but it was a reminder of one of his longest-running falsities. Sarno still “maintains the court order gave the commission power only over discipline, and not as an overall supervisory body.”
SPRINGFIELD—In the waning weeks of the preliminary campaign here, candidates for the five at-large City Council seats face a big challenge: standing out. Two Council retirements and a competitive mayoral race has yielded a historic 20 candidates for the September 12 at-large preliminary.
With $3 million on offer this year, the Springfield Community Preservation Committee (CPC) has released its recommendations for fiscal year 2024. The nine-member CPC reviews proposals for funds the city raises from a property tax surcharge and state disbursements.
Over $21 million in bonding was before the Springfield City Council last Monday, weeks after Mayor Domenic Sarno successfully pushed his budget through. Nearly all of these were normal capital projects that do not belong in the budget anyway.
On June 20, for the first time since the shroud of the coronavirus fell upon Springfield, city councilors confronted Mayor Domenic Sarno, faccie e faccie, in chambers as he presented his budget for new fiscal year.