Springfield won’t have Phil Puccia to kick around anymore. Late last week, the executive director of the city’s Finance Control Board announced that he’ll be leaving his post later this month.
The fervent wishes of some critics notwithstanding, Puccia is not being run from town by a horde of torch-wielding city councilors and union members. He’s leaving to take a job with JP Morgan, after almost three years with the controversial board, which was put in place by the Legislature in 2004 to try to bail out Springfield’s sinking ship.
In his role as the board’s chief staff member—for which he earned $130,000, plus a $10,000 bonus awarded last fall—Puccia became a lightning rod, absorbing the ire of everyone from city pols frustrated by the loss of local control to city workers frustrated by the board’s hard-line stance during contract negotiations. Just a few weeks ago, City Councilor Dom Sarno asked Chris Gabrieli, incoming chairman of the board, to fire Puccia—a request that had no legs but that gave Sarno a few moments in the media spotlight, as he runs for mayor this fall.
While Puccia has served—often unfairly—as the whipping boy for every moment of discomfort in the city’s struggles to get back on its feet, he is not without his fans, even in political circles. In last week’s announcement of Puccia’s resignation, Mayor Charlie Ryan praised him for his key role in the city’s recovery.
Tim Rooke has been Puccia’s most consistent supporter on the City Council. Indeed, just a few days before Puccia’s announcement, Rooke criticized Sarno’s call for the executive director to be fired. “I think that is so terribly misdirected. It would absolutely cripple the city if Phil Puccia was to be terminated,” said Rooke, who dismissed Sarno’s request as political posturing. In fact, Rooke suggests the city might be best run by a combination of a strong mayor and a city manager position—although, he adds, that plan would only work if the two positions were filled with capable people who could work together in the manner Ryan and Puccia have.
