The Springfield City Council digested a simple agenda quickly on Monday. The only scent of discord arose from a split vote to transfer funds over a lawsuit. However, that conversation took place in executive session. The public highlights involved revised handicap parking and revival of
SPRINGFIELD—A quiet agenda reached the City Council after a rollicking couple of weeks in February. If anything, what defined the March 11 meeting was what did not happen. The Council did not take action on a new version of a tree ordinance, opioid funding or two street discontinuances.
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
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.
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.
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.
The budget process is always political. This is true whether the context is the hottest set of races Springfield has seen in a decade or not. Yet, on display at the City Council meeting last Monday was proof that chambers had become an area in the city’s political battlefield this cycle.
State money allocated to Springfield via Chapter 90 is nothing new to the City Council. Every year, the body formally accepts the disbursement. In recent years, city officials have paired it with bonding to maximize road repairs. The annual allocation has also been flat.
Despite the big figures involved, the Springfield City Council scampered through its regular February meeting uneventfully. But with looming costs for current and future retirees, the meeting was a sobering reminder of Springfield’s future fiscal challenges.
On Monday, the Springfield City Council authorized participation in Community Choice Energy Aggregation (CCA), a state program that lets communities choose their source of electricity.
Authorization triggers a process that will take time to complete. The Council took other actions that, once their processes reach completion, will have more immediate effect.