SPRINGFIELD—Marking a continuation of ward councilors’ hold of the Council presidency, Ward 8 Councilor Orlando Ramos took the oath as President Monday morning. In a modest ceremony before friends, family and City Hall denizens, the Council formally voted to install him to succeed Ward 2
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
SPRINGFIELD—Every schoolchild in America hears about separations of powers and checks and balance. They exist on all levels of government. In Massachusetts’s third largest city, however, another phrase wins out: “Plan A,” often shorthanded as strong-mayor. The city charter and other state laws do endow
UPDATED 8:35PM: The Republican reports that Sarno has vetoed the ordinance. Tells paper on his flip-flop from 2007, “Quite frankly you learn that campaigning is much different than governing.” SPRINGFIELD—Edging closer to its second major rebuke of Mayor Domenic Sarno this year, the City Council
SPRINGFIELD—City Councilors here turned back an already-expired labor pact covering only ten employee in the latest battle over the issue of residency for city employees. The pact covered a four-year period ending this past June. That outstanding gap has been an impediment to future labor
SPRINGFIELD—With its annual review of the city budget looming ahead, the City Council flexed its muscles Monday night turning back or sending to committee several financial orders. It may be too early to assume the Council will cut Mayor Domenic Sarno’s $616 million budget, but
SPRINGFIELD—In a somewhat wonky meeting on a dreary May Monday, the City Council considered a host of financial measures from grants to appropriations to bonding. While most sailed through the body, there were speed bumps, which may presage a rockier path for Mayor Domenic Sarno’s
SPRINGFIELD—MGM Resorts International’s charm offensive has entered its next phase as its whittled down casino project faces scrutiny from city and Massachusetts gaming officials. Some local officials, like Mayor Domenic Sarno, mouth both robust scrutiny and sticky-sweet support for the project. Yet, MGM could encounter a
SPRINGFIELD—In a quiet meeting Monday the City Council mostly handled bookkeeping issues, a welcome respite from the more tempestuous gatherings of September. However, there was a vigorous debate about a retail project at a major intersection for traffic—and the divisions within the city. Aside from
SPRINGFIELD—After an arduous two-part, nearly three hour special convocation of the City Council, there was some substantive action to show for it. Overall however, everything seemed to become an exclamation point on deterioration of both the Council’s own statutory authority and the body’s relationship with the