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Tag Archives: Tracye Whitfield

Springfield City Council

Take My Council, Please: The (Off-)Center of Power Holds on Police Commission…

SPRINGFIELD—Mayor Domenic Sarno and the City Council averted a political crisis Monday by agreeing to sunset what now amounts to suspensions of key parts of the Police Commission ordinance. The change ostensibly arose to ensure Deputy Police Chief Lawrence Akers, who would be the city’s first Black police leader, will have the same powers his four predecessors had.

However, the pair of ordinances, which reallocate most of the Police Commission’s power other than to mete out discipline, prompted sharp pushback.

Springfield City Council

Fenton Doles out Committee Slots for the 2024 Council Year…

UPDATED

Newly (re-)installed Springfield City Council President Michael Fenton has released committee assignments for the body’s 2024 session. Aside from accounting for new members, the allocation of seats and chairs was not a radical departure from 2023. Still, the choices reflect the balance and tone Fenton is trying to strike with his return to the dais.

Springfield

Take My Council, Please: A Most Deliberative Body in the New Year…

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.

Sarno inauguration.

Briefings: Sixth Term Plans Remain Foggy as Springfield Places Crown on Sarno Again…

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.

Melvin Edwards Kim Driscoll Jesse Lederman

Where the Springfield City Council Went While Following the Lederman…

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.