In its last meeting of 2022, the Springfield City Council tackled a tight, straightforward agenda with few fireworks. The items were almost all financial, save an ordinance to raise the pay of councilors, school committee members and the mayor.
This week Springfield City Council President Marcus Williams released his committee assignments for the municipal legislature. It comes days after beginning his second year atop the Council and his fourth term as the Ward 5 Councilor.
Anybody looking for drama in the midterm elections in Springfield last week only found disappointment. No incumbent seeking reelection lost their race despite several facing not-a-joke challengers.
SPRINGFIELD—With no prelim of its own this year, the general election for municipal races in Springfield is taking off after all other Western Mass preliminaries conclude. The lack of a preliminary here has not happened in two decades.
Overwhelmed first by hot vax summer and then the coronavirus encore, municipal elections in the region have not exactly take center stage. Into this relative quiet, the Western Mass Area Labor Federation, the umbrella group for labor in the Pioneer Valley, has announced its preferences in some of the most important contests.
SPRINGFIELD—The wards were the highlight of Monday’s City Council virtual meeting. Early on, the Council considered a crush of utility petitions that received an unusual amount of scrutiny. Oddly most of these items happened to fall within Ward 2. Its councilor, Michael Fenton, raised the
SPRINGFIELD—The City Council considered and passed a plethora of legislation at its Monday meeting this week. Action commenced on a pair of historic districts—each were at different stages of passage. The ordinance banning the sale of non-shelter animals at pet stores also passed the Council.
SPRINGFIELD—Beyond selecting a new colleague, the City Council’s Monday night remained within the normal. Still, there were a few standout items. The Council approved the first components of the city’s new master plan for downtown, namely around MGM and the MassMutual Center. A discernable vision
SPRINGFIELD—Facing a once-in-a-lifetime decision thanks to a quirk in the city charter, the City Council selected a new councilor to replace Adam Gomez who resigned last month. Monday evening, Councilors chose Gumersindo Gomez, a noted veterans activist and father of the senator, to serve out
SPRINGFIELD—For the first time in many years, the result of the year-end vote to nominate the next Council President was not a foregone conclusion. No contender had previously declared sufficient votes to be president in 2021. After their regular meeting, Councilors ultimately chose their colleague