SPRINGFIELD—Amid a flurry of financial orders for the closing fiscal year, the City Council acted on several items Monday night, many it had considered recently. Most notably, it advanced the chief diversity office (CDO) ordinance to the mayor, prompting executive freak out. The stated reason
SPRINGFIELD—The City Council’s first February meeting, lasting about four hours, made up for the meager agenda at the last regular meeting. The stage was set for breaking the logjam on the district fire chiefs. A solar farm tax deal advanced. The body confirmed Auditor Yong
SPRINGFIELD—Its agenda was long and several items dragged, but the City Council’s mid-summer regular meeting largely featured uncontroversial items and housekeeping. Potentially big matters like an MGM request for more time to build its housing units prompted questions, but won acquiescence. Typically hum-drum matters hit
SPRINGFIELD—Last Monday the City Council dispatched two big issues that had been hovering over it for weeks and even months. A revised version of a public safety measure aimed at reassuring undocumented immigrants passed unanimously. Meanwhile, the Council approved the first public safety labor contract
SPRINGFIELD—City councilors called Mayor Domenic Sarno’s bluff and overrode his veto of an ordinance reviving a commission to oversee operations of the city’s police department. The veto had come within hours of the Council’s initial approval of the changes two weeks ago, but Sarno has signaled
Amid the current national climate of community-police relations, Springfield has been relatively lucky. Tensions are often high, but since Melvin Jones, there have been no Charlottes or Tulsas caught on cell phone cameras. Nevertheless, the actions of Gregg Bigda, a Springfield narcotics detective, threaten the
This story is developing. A fuller account of Monday’s meeting will be posted soon. SPRINGFIELD—In a strong rebuke to Mayor Domenic Sarno, the City Council here overrode a veto of a law intended to tighten the rules thatrequire city employees to live in Springfield. The
UPDATED 10:26AM: For grammar & clarity. Touching off a fresh battle in a politically fraught issue, the Springfield City Council voted to strengthen the city’s employee residency ordinance Monday night. As expected, if surprisingly quickly, Mayor Domenic Sarno vetoed the measure the next day and sent
In the past week, there has been good news from Springfield city government. Efforts to improve the quality of life of current city residents have moved forward. Last week Mayor Domenic Sarno opened a new front against illegal dumping and today came the announcement of
UPDATED 10/1/15 2:07AM: To reflect a correction. A previous version of this post credited MGM’s new rendering to us, when in fact it is MGM’s image obtained via the Springfield city website. SPRINGFIELD—The skyline will not undergo any dramatic changes when MGM Springfield opens after design