The newly seated Springfield City Council has elected as its president Jose Tosado, a veteran councilor who secured the necessary votes weeks ago. Tosado, in turn, has announced his committee assignments, with some interesting picks.
Among the plum positions handed out: Tim Rooke was named chairman of the Finance Committee, where he can be expected to run a tight ship, while Tim Allen (Ward 7) will chair the Planning and Economic Development Committee. While Allen is new to the Council, his years of experience as an executive at MassMutual make him a promising choice for this important committee. (Allen will also chair the Special Permit Committee, another important body, and one that requires the ability to work both with business owners and the neighborhood groups who often feel their voices are ignored.) Tommy Ashe, the long-time School Committee member who has now made the leap to the Council, will lead the Public Health & Safety Committee.
Other new councilors to win chairmanships include Melvin Edwards (Ward 3), who will lead the Committee on State & Federal Government (a logical choice, given Edwards’ long career with the state Dept. of Mental Retardation), and E. Henry Twiggs (Ward 4), who will chair the Civil Rights and Race Committee. In the past, the civil rights committee has mostly lain dormant until Election Day approaches, or a particular councilor decides to exploit it for some press coverage; here’s hoping Twiggs injects some sincere interest and energy into the committee and its work.
Tosado also made appointments to several “special” committees, each of which has a chair but no other members. They include committees on the elderly, chaired by Ward 5’s Clodo Concepcion; on “Green City Initiatives,” led by at-large Councilor Jimmy Ferrera; and on City Council Rules and Orders, led by at-large Councilor Kateri Walsh. (It will come as absolutely no surprise to any City Council junkie that Rooke already has multiple ideas for new Council rules.)
For a full list of assignments, as well as contact information for the councilors, go to the City Council's web page.
While the transfer of power in the City Council was—for public consumption, at least—a peaceful affair, that was not the case when the School Committee held its organizational meeting for the new term, where Antonette Pepe made it clear that she’s not a woman to go down without a fight. Last month, Pepe went public with an accusation that Mayor (and School Committee Chairman) Domenic Sarno, after initially pledging to support her bid to be the committee’s new vice chair, subsequently told her she’d only have his vote if she agreed to give her unquestioning support to Superintendent Alan Ingram, and if she stopped questioning the Sarno administration’s controversial decision to move the School Department into the old federal building on Main Street without seeking competitive bids. Sarno has denied Pepe’s claim.
Whatever support Pepe’s candidacy had then dried up, and yesterday, the Committee selected newcomer Norman Roldan as its vice chair, with Pepe casting the sole “no” vote. Instead, she threw her support to Chris Collins, who had also previously sought the position, and who has also criticized the School Department move.
