It was not until four years into the Control Board that the legislature created the supra-departmental position of Chief Administrative & Financial Officer. Timothy “T.J.” Plante is not the first formal CAFO, but he held the position for over a decade after years in the city finance department.
This is a developing story. One of the few remaining Springfield financial officials who date to the Control Board era is leaving city service at the end of the week. Chief Administrative & Financial Officer Timothy “T.J.” Plante has worked for the city of Springfield
SPRINGFIELD—Ward 5 voters from Pine Point to 16 Acres are about to chose a new city councilor in the city’s first ever special Council election. The election arrives three months after Marcus Williams’s shock resignation.
The ballot for Springfield’s first City Council special election since ward representation returned has now closed. All seven of the original aspirants for the empty Ward 5 Council seat have returned their papers for the race.
When word got around that now-former Ward 5 City Councilor Marcus Williams was resigning, councilors winced at what lay ahead. Last year, they had to appoint a replacement for Senator Adam Gomez after he resigned his Ward 1 seat.
Little did anybody in City Hall realize, councilors’ role in filling vacant ward seats no longer existed.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively settled a lingering question. Who really controls the government of the city of Springfield? The justices of the commonwealth’s highest court clearly, decisively and unanimously found in favor of the separation of powers. The City Council shares that power.
The highest court in the land—of Massachusetts at least—will hear and likely resolve one of the most vexing controversies in the City of Homes. On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Court accepted direct review of Hampden Superior Court Judge Francis Flannery’s ruling that Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno must appoint the Police Commission.
Flux is returning to the Springfield City Clerk’s office after the current clerk, Tasheena Davis, tendered her resignation effective June 1. Mayor Domenic Sarno, in a press release, announced that Davis would return to her former employ, the city Law Department. More controversially, Sarno has
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
A Mayor Called Sue(d) is an occasional series on litigation over the Springfield Police Commission and executive power in the city. UPDATED 4/17/21 11:50AM: To note Sarno told other media he intends to appeal. A Hampden Superior Court judge dealt a massive blow to Springfield