City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Thank you for coming today. It's Wednesday, May 20th, and we've got the Committee of the Whole. I want to acknowledge my colleagues in the City Council who are here in the chambers, Councilor Santanello, Councilor Martin, Govan, and Click Bruce. Also, we have online Councilors Hurst and Davila. Hoping I'm not missing anybody. Give me a second here. All right. Yeah, got some volume issues here. Perfect. How we doing? Everybody's good? We're ready? Also walking in, Councilor Walsh. So today we have the Committee of the Whole. and we're gonna be going over departmental budget hearings. We have 12 departments here today, so we're gonna try to get this going on quicker. So without further ado, I'd like to kick it off with number one, Veterans Services. Let's go, Joe. Please state your name and address for the record, sir.

Joe DeCaro, 46 Carol Ann Street. First off, Mr. President, thank you and City Council for having us here today. I will be presenting the fiscal year 2027 budget for the Veteran Services Department. I'd like to take a few moments to go over some 2026 highlights. We continue to expand our outreach efforts for the purpose of informing our constituents of the benefits available to veterans and their spouses. Dedicated staff assisted veterans and other qualifying clients with applying for alternate sources of income, which have ultimately resulted in a 7% decrease in Chapter 115 caseload. Continuing to strengthen direct support services with DD 214 access, housing access, HUD-VASH applications, and emergency funding, emergency financial assistance, along with employment for our unemployed veterans. Homeless veterans were placed into homeless shelters and transitional housing while awaiting permanent housing solutions, and we assisted 11 veterans last fiscal year of 2026 with finding permanent housing. As a continuing effort to strengthen our community and provide remembrance, We're one of the few communities that have a Veterans Day parade. We also hold our Memorial Day ceremony along with Vietnam Veterans Day and other smaller ceremonies throughout the city. With support from the Springfield Veterans Activities Committee and the Parks Department, we applied for a grant to hopefully pay for a Global War on Terrorism monument that we hope to erect over across the street from Symphony Hall at Veterans Way. fiscal year 2026 summertime last year we assisted one veteran with paid for a new roof to be placed on his home and just before the cold weather kicked off this year we're able to provide to veterans with new heating systems that have broken down right before the cold weather kicked in so that was good for us as well. Also good for the other veteran. Our fiscal year 2027 proposed recommended budget is $1,683,796. This budget allows us to maintain our current staffing and core veteran services. 24 of that proposed budget is for support six full-time employees who are dedicated to maintaining the operational business and continuing to meet the growing needs of Springfield's veterans. Nearly 76% of our requested budget has a direct impact toward our veterans, and this is assisting them with burial cost, medical and dental reimbursement, co-pays for doctor's appointments, and as I mentioned before, allowing us to pay for roofs and boiler systems and whatnot. And before I move any forward, with one last part of our 2026 budget, there's some things I'd like to give out to some folks here. And I mean, this is from the top of the administration all the way down to the bottom. It extends from, you know, the mayor's office, city council, Kathy and her finance team, Commissioner Colton, their unwavering support, your guys' unwavering support. I mean, it's unrivaled. I hear the struggles that other communities have. regarding their administration and getting funding. And that's never been an issue for the eight years that I've been with the city of Springfield. So I want to thank you guys for that. And my dedicated staff, I mean, my deputy, my case managers, and my admin assistant, Their efforts have allowed us to move, our department to move forward in a way that it's needed to be, in a way that it needs to go. I sat down, my wish list item last year at the budget was to have a claim specialist to file VA claims, so with the federal government. It's something that this office has never had in its existence. And last summer I had an open meeting case manager position in the office. And when it came across Kathy's desk, she had talked about the claim specialist position I wanted to incorporate. So I sat down with Kathy and we discussed ways to improve efficiency within the office, and also what the future goals of the office were moving forward, what we projected. And a lot of the Vietnam veterans that came, they didn't have service-connected disabilities. They weren't getting paid by the federal government on a monthly basis. And it's been said a million times, and it's true, they paved the way for future veterans. The need for Chapter 115, that supplemental income, is always going to be there. We're always going to have veterans that are in between jobs and just looking to get back on their feet. We're going to have the low-income retired veterans and spouses as well. But we also need to focus on the future. My staff, they're picking up the caseload. I promise you they're not overworked. They're going to tell you they are, but they're lying. But, you know, moving forward, if we can get a claim specialist in the office to file these VA claims, 100% service connected, that's $4,000 of income in their pockets to a Springfield resident every single month. That money is then being dispersed back into the community. So, I mean, it's nothing but benefits. So with the help of Kathy and the rest of the administration, we're able to do that. We took one of our case manager positions. We're able to transition it over to a claim specialist, and the person started yesterday, second day in the office today. So moving forward, it's going to be huge for the city. All the other communities are doing it as well, but truth of the matter is they will turn away – Some will. They'll turn away veterans because they're not from their town or city. That's it. Like I said, that's a new trend moving forward. It's going to keep our office sustainable. That's our budget. I'm open to any questions you guys have.

That was quick. Thank you, Joe. Councilor Sancinello.

And I just want to state for the record that we've had tremendous leadership, including yourself, Dan Walsh, which we have a tremendous history of helping veterans and they know where to go. When it comes to the home care services that might be available to veterans or their spouses, do they start with your office or do they go to Leeds? They can. So there's a lot that our office can't do.

City Council, there are numerous people on the City Council have said numerous times that we just want to give you money. The truth of the matter is we implement a state law, so we're limited by what the state allows us to do. When it comes to aid and attendance at a home, there's nothing our office can do. We can set them toward organizations like Stavros to help out with any type of home aid. There's also aid and attendance through the VA, and that's what a claim specialist will also allow us to do. Right now, we're not accredited to file any VA applications at all. whether it's for aid and attendance or not. So we send them elsewhere. So having a claim specialist, somebody accredited in our office to file these claims and these applications, we're not going to have to send them somewhere else to apply for it. They can come to our office and apply for the federal benefits that they're entitled to. But yeah, so some of them will have to go through the VA, up in Leeds or Bond Street, yes.

Second part of the question to the chair, when they go for... Disability. And many are entitled to that. But a lot of veterans don't know where to go. So all these years they go without the disability that they're entitled to. Do you have to be a Springfield resident to go for the veterans? Or can they go to your office and then you can...

either work on that case or, how does that work? For Chapter 115, the state program, the supplemental income, you have to apply within the town that you reside. It doesn't matter if you live in Springfield or East Lawn Meadow, Chickabee, Boston. If your income's a certain amount, Chapter 115 can only pay a certain amount. We get capped out. But the reason for it is the money originally comes out of the city's budget, so that's why they want you to apply for the town that you reside. Regarding a VA claim or a disability claim, we're not going to turn anybody away. If you're from Connecticut, we'll file your claim for you. It doesn't matter to us.

Fantastic. To the chair, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, thank you very much. Madam President. Thank you.

Before I move on, I want to acknowledge Councilor Brown is online, as well as Council President Whitfield is here, who will be taking over shortly. Who do I have next? I'm going to go with Jerry first, and then Councilor Govan. Councilor Martin, excuse me. I've got to stop calling you guys by your first name.

No, I just want to say thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Department Head DeCaro. I just wanted to say You know, when I first met with the department head, DeCaro, I was very limited in my knowledge of what the Department of Veterans Affairs really does and how important that work is. And I know the department head, DeCaro, he's a very hardworking man, and he does a lot for his staff and his department. So I will be supporting your budget 100%. And congratulations on another successful year. Thank you. Thank you, Counselor. Counselor, go on.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. And I know I always say this, but Veterans Service is one of my favorite departments, only because of who you serve and why you serve them. I have three brothers who are veterans, so it has a really special place in my heart. And you do great work. You know, the other day, I think I was here, and someone walked in. I didn't know if he was a veteran, but I assumed. So I just knocked on your door, because he was looking for the bathroom. I said, oh. Maybe Joe can help. And you did. And you brought him right downstairs. And it wasn't one of your staff that did it, but you did it. So I thought that was very important. So I'm proud of having you guys in our city. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilor Brown.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. First, I want to thank the veterans and all the veterans. My father is a retired veteran, grandfather a veteran. grandmother. So I really want to thank you for your service. I apologize. I'm not in person there. I'm up here at the House of Representatives fighting for funding for you guys. So anything I can do on a state level that will help you on a city level, just give me a call. I can definitely help bridge the gap a little easier. So just I definitely want to thank you for all your service.

Thank you, Councillor. Perfect. Councillor Walsh.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Obviously, it's one of my favorite departments, too. Councillor Santanello, thank you for remembering Danny and all he did for veterans. He spent 15 years in that office helping out his fellow veterans. Joe, I think we all know that each department had to take cuts. What did you have to do?

Cut-wise? for couples.

And thank you for the great job you do and always answering the phone.

I don't want to be the one that doesn't answer the phone.

No, it's usually you.

So some of it was, you know, rental equipment seminars. Some of the seminars, if we're able to do them online, we're going that route instead to where it saves money. but there are some that need to be in person, you know, so we will continue to do those. Office supplies is another one. In-state office supplies, and we can cut corners, use that pen until the ink goes out, you know, be more resourceful when it comes to the paper printing and whatnot, you know, scanning. Yeah, patriotic functions. We're able to reduce the patriotic functions with the... With the amount of the reefs that we receive, Springfield Veterans Activities Committee can pay for some of those reefs as well. And then the ordinary benefits. So from ordinary benefits to fuel, the doctor bill, medical, hospital, dental, like the bottom portion of that, those are the benefits that we pay out to the veterans. So it does fluctuate a lot. So hopefully with the transition going into filing VA claims, it's going to lessen the load on those line items.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Well, thank you, Councilor Walsh. I just wanted to add, I've known Joe for a number of years now. Appreciate everything you've done even before you came into this role. Remember planting flags with you at the Springfield Cemetery. So you've been doing a great job. Your enthusiasm for the role and everything that you're doing is going to really impact the department and continue moving forward. So great choice. And yeah, definitely be supportive. Thank you. Anybody else? You want to say some words? All right. I'm going to turn it over to our City Council President, President Whitfield.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nope. I wanted to say something to you. But first I wanted to say, excuse my tardiness, I love your department, but all of the departments are my favorite. Just want to say that publicly.

If you had to pick a child.

My dad was a veteran. My uncle's Our veterans, my son's a veteran now, so I just really appreciate your service and the work that you do. Thank you. And thank you for always inviting us to your events. You always make sure we get those emails. Unfortunately, sometimes they're during the day when some of us are working, so can't make it all the time, but I definitely just wanted to say we appreciate the invite, and thank you for your service. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. You're welcome. That's it. Okay. Thank you. Any other counselors? All right. Seeing no, we will have TJO next. Just want to, again, say forgive me for my tardiness. Counselors, please state your name and address for the record.

Hi, my name is Heather Cahillane, 627 Cottage Street. I'm the executive director at Thomas J. O'Connor. For fiscal year 2027, we have presented a level-funded $2.2 million budget. This budget includes funding for 20 full-time employees and one part-time employee. We are grateful for continued financial support and partnership from the communities of Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke, as well as from the Foundation for TJO Animals. About 56% of our budget is allocated to salaries. The remaining 44% consists largely of fixed costs outside of our control, things like electricity, the building rental, property taxes, water, sewer. Our additional line items also carry many fixed expenses such as membership fees for professional organizations, licensing for the shelter software, and costs such as that. We anticipate approximately $131,000 in salary support from the Foundation for TGO Animals, as well as additional support from them for medical care and costs. The budget request in front of you will allow us to continue to provide the level of service that our residents have come to rely on.

Thank you so much. Any questions from counselors? Counselor Walsh, can you please mute your mic? Any questions or comments from counselors? Oh, you did? Okay. You can unmute then. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. It's very true that people love veterans, but they also love dogs. I think I get more mail about animals than I do about anything else when there's ever an issue. So you are in a department that is well thought of. But you're regionals, correct? Yes. So can you tell us about the support from the region, and are you getting what you need?

Yes, so we actually just entered into a new multi-year contract with Chicopee and Holyoke, so they provide financial support. We have good relationships with people in those communities and service them as well.

Is there anybody that isn't contributing in the region? Because that was an issue at prior years.

No, the law department and the commissioner were able to work on a new contract and to get appropriate funding. Thank you.

Any other councillors? All right. Councillor Gavanna?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you, Madam President. And thank you for your report. How many staff do you have on board?

How many staff do I have? I have 20 full-time and one part-time.

Okay. And it's appropriate to meet your needs there?

We make it work.

I know, don't ask for any more.

I would say if you compared us to similar organizations, organizations of a similar size, we have less staff, but we make it work. We use a lot of volunteers.

Good, yeah. Yeah, I used to volunteer for TJO. I know I asked, and Kathy, I don't know if Kathy can ask. I'll ask her later. So... That department, I think you were looking for a bilingual staff. Were you able to get the bilingual staff?

We have several new ACOs. Awesome. Three of our new ACOs are bilingual as well as an existing one. Excellent.

All right. Thank you. Well, keep up the good work. Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor. All right. Great job. Thank you for your hard work.

Thank you, everyone.

Libraries?

Good evening. Molly Fogarty, library director. I'm here to give you a very brief, I know my commissioner will make sure I brief, overview of the library budget and be happy to answer any questions. The budget that you have before you, level service, is $6,218,167. And that's a little bit over a 2% increase over fiscal 26. That includes our COLAs for two bargaining units and for non-bargaining, and a couple of slight increases in our electricity bill and some of our line items. And this budget funds all of our current positions to staff nine locations. We're open 277 hours per week. And we include the Read Right Now adult literacy program, as well as our e-library, which is available 24-7 for you to use downloading materials and doing research. We are... The budget allows us to be in compliance with all of the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners' standards for public libraries, which makes us eligible for our State Aid to Public Libraries award every year. And the cherry sheet for FY27 estimate is $614,847. And those funds are used to offset the general fund for personnel services and for a variety of other programs for our substitute librarians. It continues to fund our over 200 mobile hotspots that patrons borrow and that are very popular, which are also matched by Library Foundation and state aid to public libraries. It continues to fund our Chromebooks. And we just received from the Digital Commonwealth, we received another almost 100 more that patrons can borrow and use at home. We have 87 FTEs in the general fund and six FTEs in grant funds. A total number of positions, we have about 20 substitute librarians that are funded through state aid. So total, a lot of them are part-time, 10-hour pages, about 126, but FTEs is a total of 93. And... We have, again, we have a very busy library system. We are looking at for fiscal 27, almost 600,000 items that will be borrowed. We're seeing a 30% increase in our visitor count. Over 500,000 people have used our libraries. And our staff have been very busy with outreach and program planning. We had over 55,000 people attend our programs last year. So we're a very busy library system. We continue to... Thank you for all your support and funding our budgets every year and we look forward to fiscal 27 we have Obviously building our new branch library is a really exciting project. We have a new strategic plan that will really focus on programs and services community outreach communication and infrastructure on collaborations with partners and in the city of Springfield, so I don't know if you have any questions that I can answer and Councilor Sancinello.

Madam Chairman, your department falls under my committee, and last year we were privileged, Kateri Walsh and I were privileged to take a tour of the libraries, a very extensive tour. But one of the issues that came up during that was the air conditioning.

Yes.

And for the life of me, I don't understand how you can have air conditioning in schools... that have libraries, but we can't have one for the central branch. I know it's expensive. But it gets very, I'm not telling you something you don't know, it gets very inconvenient in there when it's hot. And it's been hot the last couple of days. What can we do to help you on that?

Well, we have, it's in the city capital plan. We meet with the capital planning committee every year. We update our requests and the air conditioning for the central library is included in that plan. It's quite expensive. The building is over 100 years old. So we do, at this point, we have protocols in place when it gets to a certain point, you know, when there are cooling centers and certain heat and humidity index. So we then have... staff get more breaks. We have air-conditioned areas in the library. The lower level is air-conditioned. Obviously, it would be great to have that building air-conditioned, but it's one of our capital requests.

Thank you so much. One last question. One of the things I'm fascinated with is the great job that you're doing. Yes. It's a way out. And it's been going up over the past several years. And I want to commend you on that because that puts strain and stress on your staff because you're limited. You know what I mean? You only have so many staff people, but you have to serve all those people. And I want to commend you for that.

Well, thank you. We're proud to be serving the residents of Springfield and real supporters of the library. Every neighborhood loves their libraries, as you know. And so we have an amazing staff. When I see all the programs and services that they are able to do, in addition to keeping the open hours throughout the library system, they're out in the community. We have an outreach van that was purchased during the beginning of COVID with ARPA money. That van is out in the community and you'll be seeing it a lot this summer. So if you see the van, just wave.

Councillor Walsh, followed by Councillor Gauvin.

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, Molly, for that great presentation. I wanted to ask you about grants. Are they part of your budget projection, or do you add that later?

We do have, we use state aid to public libraries to offset the general fund, so that helps us maintain our services and programs and staffing. We also have the Springfield Library Foundation, and we receive close to $500,000 a year from them for basic services, library materials. There are a lot of trusts and endowments that are restricted to library materials, so that helps fund our budget. And we have to spend 12% of our operating budget on library materials, so the foundation plays a key role in that.

Has there been a decrease in any of your grants? No, no.

No decrease, no.

And I know that frequently they're on the agenda, so we always support them when we get them. Thank you. So thank you.

Councilor Govan?

Thank you, Madam President. And Molly, the libraries do a great job, and I'm not going to ask what Councillor Centinella asked about putting air conditioners, because we don't have the money. But I'm really glad that it's in the plan. And I'm hoping that you guys are going to be able, I don't know if it's possible, to use the, what are those things called?

Thank you. Somebody said it.

The mini splits where they, it's like an air conditioner and heater or something that's more efficient or something like that. But just thinking about that. Sure. The city will think about that. Sure. And one thing I have to bring up is the hoopla that I love. It's like an audible, if anybody doesn't know, where you could borrow books from the library. You can either listen to them or you can read them. And I think it's a great tool that you guys have. And I'm really glad that you guys have it. And the other one, too, what's the other one called? Not Kindle, no. The CW Mars. The Libby app. The Libby app. The Libby app. So there's two apps that the library has that we can use, and it's really great.

It's great. I mean, people are using it more and more. It's so convenient, and it also saves people a lot of money because it's expensive to download those books.

It is. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you for your support. Thank you, Councilor Govan. Any other councillors? Well, I have to say that I use the library quite often through the Mesa Square C3. So the Mesa Square Library is the one that we visit the most, and we love it. We love the service. Greg and Sarah do an amazing job. Also visit the Central Library, and they partner with, like, Lawyers for Civil Rights, some of the organizations that are part of the coalition that I run. And they love going there. And they said it's so friendly and everything. I wanted to say that. But I also wanted to talk about the goals that's in the budget. It looks like some of them have. So the FY26 year to date is, does the year to date numbers go through the calendar year? I don't know if this is a finance question. For FY26, it looks like some of the goals are cut in half. Or what is the date that you got the year to date numbers for FY26 from? Oh, it goes all the way to December, so half makes sense. I was just about to say, like, what is going on? But, no, it's great numbers, and what I notice in here that I really love is the workforce development numbers that are increasing, and also the youth and juvenile services numbers are increasing in the attendance, so keep up the good work there. The goals have increased, and these are great numbers with great great programs. READ right now is actually over, and FY25 was over the goal that was in there, so these are great programs, and definitely the libraries get a lot of use with community organizations and community events, and that's what we're supposed to be there for, so great job, Molly. Thank you.

Well, thank you, and we couldn't do it without our wonderful staff and also your support, so thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you.

Next, we have elder affairs. Please state your name. No one's given their address, so your name will work and title for the record.

Wow, you want my social security number too? Roy Goodman, 69 Jennings Street.

Can you turn on your mic, Roy?

It's on. Oh, you want me to get closer to it? Roy Goodman, 69 Jennings Street, Springfield, Department of Elder Affairs, 1576 Roosevelt Ave. So good afternoon. City Council. The Department of Affairs general fund budget is $803,000 under the general fund. 67% of that is from our salaries. We have two major line items that come from, which are salaries and professional services. Professional services include contractual obligations that we have, like with our Comcast, our copier and our printer, and then also for our food vendor. We have a contract with a local vendor that provide our meals for our seniors. And the majority of our programs are grant funded. We have three different grants that we service our seniors with. We have our Shine Grant, which does Medicare. We have our CSEP program, which is a job training program for seniors to get them back into the workforce. And our biggest one is our COA, which is the Council on the Aging grant. And that pays for salaries in most of our programs as well. We have educational presentations for our older adults on a regular basis. We have a live and learn series, which we have organizations that come in and provide information on different topics, such as PVTA. They're scheduled to come to discuss transportation needs. We have Eversource. They're scheduled to come in August. And they've been there, I think it was back in October, they were there at our center as well. And they'll discuss the gas and electric bills. We have AARP. They're doing an adapting and transitioning as we age program. They did that with us. We have Walk in Your Shoes. It's a collaboration with the reserve at East Longmeadow. And it's basically for caregivers to see the world of lens of someone that's living with dementia. So that's something that we're looking forward to doing. We've worked with Trinity Health. They discuss healthy living. Bay State New England Ortho, they came in to discuss fall prevention. BBHN, which is the Black Behavioral Health Network, they came in and did a series on opiate crisis and arcane demonstrations. Shiloh Angels Home Care, They came in to discuss benefits of home care and ways to reduce chances of being readmitted to the hospital. The Raymond A. Jordan Center was a site for the Ben Swan documentary that was shown in April and was sponsored by the Springfield Museums and African Hall Committee. We currently have an ongoing collaboration with Gandara Family Resource as we do a grandparents raising grandkids support group. They provide resources to the grandparents and have discussion with the grandparents And that's held twice a month, every second and fourth Monday of the month. We did a collaboration with Springfield Partners Community Action where it was a Veterans Appreciation Week is what they did. They provided free haircuts and free massages to veterans and seniors. And then the following day we did a lunch with a concert at the Ray Jordan Senior Center. We also work with other city departments and have them come in and speak with our seniors We had the Emergency Preparedness Department come in to discuss the 911 Smart App, which allows you to get help faster in an emergency. And we're scheduled to have the Assessor's Office come and speak to our seniors as well. We have special programs and weekly regular programmings. Our special programs, such as we did a holiday concert back in December. It was called Mr. Motown, Meet Mr. Doo-Wop. Thanks to Mr. Irving Lewis and his partner, they came in and did a great concert for our seniors. The luncheon was sponsored by the Blackmen of Greater Springfield, so we thank them as well. We had a stage play reading called The Night We Rode. It was the events of a Teddy Pendergrass, the night he got into the car accident, which was a motor vehicle accident. He was paralyzed from that motor vehicle accident. So that stage play reading, was regarding that, and that was done by a local artist. She lives in Boston, and some of the artists came from New York. Some of the cast members came from New York and Boston and Springfield area, so that was good. We always work with the Putnam High School Students Hospitality and Tourism Group. Whenever we have a special event, like a luncheon, they come help serve our seniors there. We did a collaboration with the Springfield Girls and Boys Club Family Center, which is located on Acorn Street. We had the students come over and do arts and crafts with our seniors. We also did a luncheon during the Black History Month, and they did a dance performance for our seniors. We had our first Women's Day luncheon back in March. It was part of the Women's International Month. And just yesterday, we had the Miss Senior Massachusetts Pageant Club perform for our seniors. They did singing, dancing, and martial arts. And last Friday, we did a health fair. We had over 31 vendors at the center for our health fair. And some of our upcoming events, we have Ms. Ethel Lee. She will be at our center to perform. She's one of the most popular jazz performers in the area. We have our summer kickoffs coming up in July with a live performance from the band Mulatto. They're another very popular band in the area. We have our annual fashion show, which will occur this July. And we always have our regular scheduled programs, such as sewing class, cornhole, hula hoops, pickleball, our moving groove exercise program with Tracy Thomas, which is one of our most well-attended regular schedule programs. We do Tai Chi, crochet, self-defense. We have a clubhouse golf, which is a golf simulator, which is free. We have chair yoga. We have line dancing. We have a women's group. We do a men's group. We have a caregiver support group. We do coffee hour. We do housing help. We do a feature flick Fridays. We do a walking club each Friday as well. So we're always looking to keep our seniors engaged in social activities and for those that are able, the physical activities as well. So hopefully when some of you become of age, you'll come to the senior center as well. So.

So Santanello is going to be first.

Roy, great job. 38 years ago, Councillor Vincent de Monaco and I brought an ordinance before the City Council to create the Department of Elder Affairs, and that was the most important vote that I've taken in the 50 years I've been in political life, and I just want to say that. Eight weeks ago, Kateri Walsh and I were there for a briefing with your entire staff, just not... over at the Ray Jordan Center, but the entire staff. And boy, do we get a great education on what you do and what you provide for the people in this community. So my hat's off to you.

Thank you. Thank you. And I want to mention that Councilor Perez and I were also there. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. That's okay. I apologize. That's okay.

Councilor Brown. That's okay. Mike. Oh, sorry.

That's okay. Thank you, Madam President.

I want to... thank you for all the work you do. Um, your center is right there in my ward. Um, all my aunties and the constituents and the seniors, they always scream your praise. You always do a great work. Um, one thing I've had, um, that, that I hear from a lot of the seniors is, um, when it comes to lunchtime, being able to be provided, uh, ulterior alternate, um, things as far as like they don't have like vegetables and fruits and stuff um added um i would just you know look to try to get up which may be a little later seeing if we can find a way to get that done um you know i know you can't do everything but i want to be able to help you to support you in that getting some of the seniors some vegetables and fruits during their uh during their lunches But as far as everything else, you're doing a fantastic job, and I definitely appreciate you. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. But for our lunch meals, we always try to provide a vegetable and a fruit. I can provide you with our monthly menu so you can see that. So there may be some days if we just have a cold lunch with a sandwich. You may just go with chips, but there will always be some type of fruit or something with that as well. But no, we definitely can always look into it as well. Thank you, though.

Yeah, I'm not sure, but I've been there a couple of times. I've talked to enough people where there wasn't a vegetable option and a fruit option. But I would want to just make sure that's something that can occur regularly.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Roy. Thank you, Councilor Brown. Councilor Click-Bruce, followed by Councilor Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. First and foremost, I want to thank you, Roy, for your presentation. I also want to thank Commissioner Helen Colton-Harris. Good to see and hear all the programs that are going on at the Senior Center. I also want to commend you all and always answer the call when we have community events and making sure that that is an option for our community. So, again, just keep up the good work, and I'm very proud to support this. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Counselor. Counselor Govan?

Thank you, Madam President. And Roy, you're doing a great job both there at the center. I remember the concert that you guys had with Irving Lewis there. I remember one of the seniors came up to me after the concert, and she says, oh, do you know Bad Bunny? Yeah, I said, I know Bad Bunny. I've heard of him, right? She says, can you get me a picture of him? So she asked me, I guess she thought I knew him. But I ordered a picture from Amazon, and I gave it to her, and I just thought that was so cute. So you guys are doing a great job over there. The seniors, I think, are relatively happy for the most part. There's always going to be complaints, but you're doing a great job. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Delgado?

Thank you, Madam President. I feel like every time... come up here i learned something new um in terms of all the activities you guys are doing over there i think i i heard everything the only thing i didn't hear is salsa you guys don't do salsa lessons for the seniors well no it's funny you say that because that's what we're working on now we reached out to a couple of people to try to um do salsa classes at our center so that'd be cool no i i i kid but uh no i i'm not kidding

They do it over at White Lines, so we reach out to the guy who does it at White Lines.

And I'm sure some of them are doing circles around a lot of folks. And one of the things I was just curious, so, like, what's the breakdown of, like, the seniors that are represented in terms of, like, geography in the city, like, section of the city, like? Do we touch all corners of the city in terms of participation with our senior community?

Oh, yes, we do. And like I said, we have the four senior centers in the city. But then we also get people from other communities. Because you don't have to be a Springfield resident to be part of the senior center. So we have people from Longmeadow, Chicopee, Holyoke, Agawam that come to our center on a daily basis.

Wow. Thank you for the work that you're doing. And let me know when the salsa gets added.

Definitely.

Thank you, Councillor Delgado. Councillor Walsh.

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you for appointing me chair of the Elder Affairs Committee this year. Roy, it's been a pleasure to work with you. And, you know, at the Mother's Day luncheon, there were people there from Northampton, so you do attract people from all over. And I want to commend you for the good work you're doing for the seniors and for having such a beautiful facility to do it in. And every time you go in there, you feel welcome, and I think that's very important. for what you do. So I'm very happy to support your budget. And I don't think there's anything you don't do there. Is there some program you're missing? Sounds like you've got everything.

Well, I always challenge my staff to always try to come up with new ideas. And when they don't do it, then I come up with new ideas. So, you know, we always want to try to keep people busy. We always want the doors open for our seniors. And some of these events that we have is not just for seniors, it's for the public as well. So we always want to try to keep the center very busy. You guys paid a lot of money for that center, so we've got to keep it in use.

I know you've done meetings on scams and other things like that to help out the seniors.

Correct.

That's a pleasure working with you.

Thank you. It's a pleasure as well.

Thank you, Councilor Walsh. And I don't see any other hands, but a couple comments from myself. Roy, I want to thank you and Commissioner for always opening the doors to Mesa Square C3. We have hosted our event there for I think it was like seven years. And this past year we went to Sheraton, less work for us, but it didn't feel the same. The space was smaller, things like that. So we really did enjoy our time there. Also, I always begging to get in, but I got a few more years before I can join the senior center. And the reason I want to really join the senior center, and I'm just going to keep it honest, is because one, the gym, I won't have to pay for gym membership anymore. And two, because the program that you have with the family center brings the youth over to eat lunch with the seniors and my granddaughter went and I got some pictures of her sent to me and I asked her about her experience and she was like we got to talk to the older people you know she didn't say seniors or anything but she was very excited to come and tell me how she got to eat lunch with the seniors and have conversations and I think that's very important to bridge our generations and bring them together. So I think that's a wonderful program that you're offering. And I just want to be with my granddaughter every chance I get. So I can't wait to become a senior and eat lunch with them also. I feel like I'm ready. But I have a few more years to go. A few more years to go. But thank you for the work that you all do at the Senior Center. I do get a lot of great compliments about the Senior Center. And just... Thank you. Keep up the good work. All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. And the commissioner of all of these departments, Commissioner Helen Carlton Harris for Health and Human Services.

Thank you very much, Counselor. It is my honor to be here to talk about the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services. As you know, the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services is the Board of Health for the city of Springfield. And as such, we are required to, by Chapter 111 of Massachusetts General Laws, do two things. We have to have environmental health. We have to inspect the restaurants. We have to have nursing services. And so that's important because of what I'm going to say to you, how we have need to make some shifts. We continue to face a nursing shortage and hire two community health workers to help us to be able to do our DOTs, which is direct observational therapy. The city of Springfield has a struggle with tuberculosis cases, and so it's critical that we have individuals who are able to go and see those patients and make sure that they are taking their medication. That is happening, and I am very happy with our staff and our nursing supervisor who came back to the city just to rescue us. Her name is Dominique Taylor. She's in school to become a nurse practitioner, but she came back full-time to make sure that residents in the city of Springfield were taken care of. So the nursing shortage is across the health care industry. I had a meeting with Bay State yesterday. They have the same challenges. Mercy Medical Center, same challenges. So the health care workforce continues to be a challenge. For the first time, we have a full environmental health team, and they have inspected 1,100 food establishment inspections, including restaurants, school, healthcare facilities, residential kitchens. And they have also inspected 165 mobile food trucks. They've been at 40 community events. Farmers markets need to be licensed and inspected as well. So it's important for me to just point out having a full staff for that unit is critically, critically important. Also, our cannabis compliance officer continues to inspect our cannabis operations. They are in there constantly, quarterly. They follow up with noncompliance issues. And so I'm grateful to our cannabis control coordinator who is doing an excellent job. The opioid funding, I'm going to spend a moment just to tell you where that money went, and it's going to be quick. I'm telling you because I get calls about what are you doing with the opioid response funding. So I want to take a minute just to tell you that we have given out 1.66, 1.66, $1,660,000 to the city individuals and organizations. And so $50,000 went to women of color, health equity, CSO, ROCA, MOCA, Follow My Steps, Hispanic American Library, Indian Orchard Citizens Council, Black Behavioral Health Network. Springfield Pride Parade, and Strong Young Minds. Each one of those organizations got $50,000. The Michael J. Dias Foundation got $20,000. The Hampton County Sheriff's Department got $20,000. Travis Best Foundation got $20,000. and Family Against Violence as well. Our main organizations that get funded are Tapestry, New North Citizens Council, and Gandara. We have given out to those individuals. The first year was $460,000. This year it will be $550,000 for Room 2. I just described to you the $650,000 we did in many grants. I am giving you that information. I should also say we funded Wesley United Methodist Church for $50,000 for the winter for their overflow shelter. We have just hired an individual, and I know that Councilor Santanello and Councilor Click-Bruce will be happy to hear this. We have hired an individual whose job it will be to police the city parks and pick up discarded needles. And so we heard this city council when they said, there's a problem with needles in our community. So we have an individual who will be doing that. He will start in two weeks, and his job will also be to do the cold weather outreach as well as the cooling centers. And so we're really very pleased about the work that we're doing in the department. There are other programs, as you know, in our department. I did send out an impact report to each of you, so if you'd like to read that, you can see all of the good work that's going on. And so Health and Human Services budget is $2,353,371.81 for the general fund. It funds 29.1 positions from the general fund. We have 26.7 grant-funded FTEs, making the total 55.8 members of the Department of Health and Human Services. And so this is a level-funded budget. We are able to pivot and make sure our residents have what they need as far as Health and Human Services is concerned. And so I will stop there and ask you if you have any questions for me.

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Helen, first of all, you've been terrific with my committee. Every time I've called you before that committee, you've been there. You're always prepared. You do your homework. It's fantastic to have a department head like you. One of the things that came out of one of the meetings that we were at was that women of color, Black and Latina women have a 20% higher mortality rate when it comes to breast cancer. What can we do within your budget to see if we can stop that and reduce it?

The health and wellness unit that we have works very closely with the community, but I would say to you,

that early detection is important, particularly with black and brown women. And it is because women are diagnosed later. And so once they're diagnosed, the breast cancer is really very prevalent and we lose lives that way. So our health and wellness unit works with the American Cancer Society. We work with community-based organizations. Our job really is to get the information out there that simply says, please, please get tested. Early detection is the key. So thank you for asking the question, Councillor Santanello.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Brown?

I just... Basically, you know, I always have to make a statement when it comes to a commissioner. Um, I don't think anyone would argue that she has to be one of the greatest minds in Springfield. Um, it's always an honor to be around her. Um, unfortunately I'm coming from Boston still, so I can't be in your presence, but up here in Boston, the state house, they, they praise, they praise you a lot. Um, To me, I don't think people understand the gift that we got. You're probably one of my favorite people. If you can't do it, it can't be done. I definitely appreciate your service. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Brown. Councilor Govan, followed by Councilor Walsh.

Thank you, Madam President. And Commissioner, I'm always amazed by the work that you're doing in the department. And you've been doing it for a long time. I remember when we started with the AIDS epidemic, we had some things going on up in Mason Square, which I was a part of. And I wanted to ask, are you fully staffed or do you need staff?

Currently, as I described, we still are struggling with a nursing shortage, also a physician. We've had a physician position posted for a good number of years now. I think it's been since 2022, and we have not been able to attract a physician. Those are concerns. You know, our nurses in our health center, we have a health center which is located at 755 Worthington Street. And again, nursing is a challenge. But as I said earlier, Counselor, and I appreciate the question, it is that way across the nation and certainly in Hampton County. But thank you for asking the question.

Well, I'm hoping that I just saw a whole class of nurses graduate. Maybe they'll come here and, you know, serve our city and doctors. I saw a few doctors graduate, so hopefully we'll get some bites on that. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Counselor. Senator Walsh.

Thank you again, Madam President. Helen, thank you for the great presentation and all the programs you do. Is there something you're not addressing that you're concerned about that you would like to address?

There are crises that we're dealing with in the city, but most of them have to do with infectious diseases and have to do with primary care. And I described to you that that's been difficult to recruit. So if I had any wish, it would be that I can make a pitch to those nursing students and those physicians who just graduate. Public health nursing is an amazing place to be. So I would thank you for asking the question so I could do that pitch. I appreciate it.

It's probably out of your bailiwick, but are you concerned at all about the merger of the two hospitals? Will that impact any of the programming you have?

It will. We have one of our programs, our largest program, as a matter of fact, that's $2 million, comes from the federal government. And right now that contract to provide those services is with Mercy Medical Center. However, I have met with Bay State, and they assure me that they will continue, at least through the contract period, to continue to provide those services. So I don't expect that impact immediately, but certainly in talking with Bay State, the CEO, Peter Banco, he was willing to assure me that we will continue to provide those services at least until the end of the contract.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor. Commissioner, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do in the community. You show up at many events that I'm at. I see you all the time. You're always giving back to anything I ask for. You make a way to make it happen, and the work that you do is amazing. However, I do have a couple questions regarding the opioid response because I get a lot of questions. We didn't know about this funding. Well, I've seen the press release in December, but I don't know how we can get the word out more about these programs for people to apply? That's not the question, that's more of a comment, but the question is Tapestry, Gandara, and New North Citizens Council get the bulk of, that goes to the community centers.

What is it for? One is for community linkages, one is for community outreach, one is for case management. Now, I want you to remember that we did a community survey We asked the community, what are those areas that you want this money to focus on? They gave us the areas, which was the three areas that I just described. We then went out to RFP and we were able to get agencies and organizations to apply. We went through a community review process and I say this all the time, the community supports what it helps to build. We had community members on that review process We looked at the application. Gandara, New North Citizens Council, and Tapestry were the three that was chosen by that committee. We made a three-year commitment to them. The first year was $460,000. They've done an amazing job. The next year is going to be $550,000. Now, I need to say to you that the work that they're doing is not work that is covered by their current, so we're not supplanting funds. These are new initiatives, but we did go through a process with the mini grants, went through a process, sent out the RFPs, individuals were able to apply. I did not say that over the winter months we allocated $5,000 to St. John's, Third Baptist, Open Pantry, the rescue mission, Mount Zion, the Gray House, MLK Family Services, Spring of Hope, and the Community Survival Center. I tell you that is because the goal really is to figure out how we get this money to the community where it is needed the most. Our next initiative will be around the concern that the community said to me as far as when an individual dies from an overdose, there isn't always money to bury that individual. They also said grief counseling for the families going through this. So, Counselor, I appreciate the question, but everything that we do is with a community response, and that is why those three organizations are getting the bulk of the funding.

Yep, and I'm asking you this because we get this question a lot, and it's going to be just like the Shannon Grant. They want to know how are certain organizations getting the funding. And the other question that I have is reporting. So all of these organizations have to report on how they use these funds?

Yes. All of the organizations, I have not met with the many grant individuals, but I have met with each executive director of New North Citizens Council, of Tapestry, as well as Gandara. I sat with them and their team, and yes, they report on a monthly basis. And also, I also will tell you that you can go to the opioid website. This process is very transparent. You can look and see where this money is going. So it's not, you know, but I do meet, I met with all of the executive directors. I have a staff person who meets with them on a monthly basis. They have to give reports. They have to give outcomes. They have to talk about their strategies. I understand, just as you do, Madam President, that the community watches certain pots of money. And I know that this will be one of them. And so I'm real intentional about record keeping. But thank you for the question.

Thank you. The final comment that I'm going to make is I am part of the HCAT community and they did ask for community feedback on opioid funds. Again, I don't know if it's the same pot of money that they were asking for feedback on what the community wants to see from it. I stayed for half of that meeting. And so I know that the community guys, the funding. And so what you're saying is true, but I just want transparency for the community. And that's why I'm asking these questions. Not that I have a distrust, but the community is asking me and it's better to come from you then. me as a secondhand, so I appreciate all the work that you all are doing.

And I have the documentation, and you can come and visit me at any time. I am ready for it because I know it's coming. But let me just say one more thing to you, Madam President. 60% of the money stays with the Commonwealth. 40% goes to cities and towns. Why am I saying that to you? Because everybody's looking at the 40%, and not a whole bunch of people are asking what's happening with that 60%. So that would be my response. I'm happy to talk about the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services, but I think we ought to be also as intentional about what the Commonwealth is doing with that 60%. So thank you.

Thank you. And I think that you're right when you say that. And I think that we have a responsibility as city councilors to partner more with our state delegation. We do have a subcommittee. We can bring them right in and we can ask those questions because that is something that we need to know. And it's probably just like the mayor handles the finances for the city. The governor handles the finances for the state. So the legislators that are local to us can give us as much information as possible. But we need to hold all accountable from local all the way to federal. So I appreciate you saying that. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Fire Department. Thank you for your service first.

Thank you.

I know we had a big vibra situation. I was out of town and everybody was texting me like, did you hear about that? So thank you for what you do. I couldn't do it. I just wanted to recognize you and say thank you for that.

Thank you, Counselor. Which one were you out of town for, the Vibra one or the one on Chestnut? Vibra. When was Chestnut? Sunday. Both. I was out of town for both. We had a three alarm on Sunday, too. Good evening, Counselors. B.J. Calvey, Fire Commissioner, Springfield Fire Department, 605 Worthington Street. This year's budget is for $31,132,173. That supports the operations of the Springfield Fire Department 24-7, 365, and 290 full-time equivalent personnel. 273 of those are uniformed. Last year, we answered roughly 32,000 incident responses, which is up roughly 10% from the year before. As everyone knows, our main focus is emergency response, fire prevention, fire investigation, EMS response, and fleet maintenance are what our key priorities are at the fire department, along with arson and bomb and bomb disposal.

You said that too quick. I can't get to my pages. Counselor Brown.

Just real quick, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you, you do a great job You're one of my favorite people. I always appreciate you guys' work. Continue to protect and serve us. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Counselor.

Thank you, Counselor. Counselor Walsh.

Thank you again, Madam President. Thank you, Commissioner. I was curious, were you impacted by any of the cuts the Sheriff's Department has to make?

No, the Sheriff's Department budget really didn't affect us.

That's good to know. And I was wondering, with your department, what did you have to do to meet the cuts?

So all of the cuts came out of the OTPS side of the budget, which is other than personnel services. So 125,000 of the cuts came from a lease reduction that we reduced out of the budget. We then reduced money out of one of the equipment line items, a travel line item.

And you're not having any issues with recruitment or retention.

Well, we used to have 1000 people take the test to be Springfield firefighters. Last year we had a little over 200. So the interest in public service across the boards has waned over the years, but we're still keeping with our staffing.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Walsh. Any other counselors? I just want to say thank you for always letting the fire trucks come to our community events. The kids love it. You always let us pull the horn. I love that. So I just want to thank you for that. We appreciate it because we know we're taking away staff to do those type of things. But you guys always come through for the community as well. So thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Central Dispatch.

Madam President.

Oh, I'm sorry, Counselor Hurst. I did not see your hand.

No, that's quite all right. Commissioner, just a quick question. I keep getting inquiries as to your contract and whether it is up and whether it's been extended. Is your contract up or has it been extended?

My contract is not up. It has been extended by the mayor. Okay.

Got it. Okay. All right. That's fine. So now I'll be able to respond to those individuals with some accurate information. Thank you, sir. It's good to have. I'm glad that you've been extended, sir.

Thank you. Thank you.

Can you just answer how long it's been extended for?

I'm going six months at a time right now.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. That's great.

Yeah, I'm Central Dispatch, too.

Sorry.

All right. The Springfield Emergency Communications Division of the Springfield Fire Department last year answered over 119,000 emergency calls. Let me get to the right page here. I'm on the wrong one. All right, where's my numbers? There we are. We did 117,000 911 calls. We did 163,000 non-emergency calls, handled 210,000 calls for service for the Springfield Police, and 22,000 calls for service for the Springfield Fire Department. That's up 10% from 2024. The budget funds 55 full-time equivalent employees 45 of which are public safety dispatchers, four operational supervisors, and six administrative personnel.

I don't see any questions. I think we're good.

All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Have a great evening.

You too.

All right. Finance. Name and address for the record. or just name and title. We're good with that.

Thank you, Madam President, Chris Frazier, Budget Director. The FY27 recommended budget for the Office of Administration and Finance is $1.36 million and includes a total of 15 FTEs. At this time, we are fully staffed, no vacancies, and the budget funds all operational needs of our department.

Do we have any budget-related questions?

No, but... I'd just like to thank you for all the hard work you do and the great presentations that you're giving.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. Chris, with that, what percent of the budget is for staff?

It is the large majority. I don't have the exact percentage in front of me, but that is the majority of it.

The majority of it, okay.

Definitely over 85%.

And you said that your staff, you don't have any vacancies, correct? Correct. Okay. All right, thank you. Thank you. Good job.

Thank you. I have some questions. Okay, sure. All right. But I am having a block on what they are.

It's late in the day, that's all right.

At the moment. What was the, I have one good one for you. I did. But I can't think of it right now. So, Chris, you are off the hook.

Oh, no.

I know what it is. I know what it is. I know what it is. I'm sorry. I'm not going to say what's causing it because Councilor Govan told me to stop saying it. But can we get a cut sheet? Because Councilor Walsh has been asking what cuts have each department taken. And it would be good if we can see from their real world if they could get whatever they wanted. and what is actually cut out of their budget, if we could get that breakdown. I've seen a post where the city of Boston, they do it. They show what each department cuts and what service it affects. So if we could get something like that, that would be very helpful.

Okay, thank you, Councilor. We can certainly follow up offline.

Thank you. All right, I'm going to try not to forget next time. Comptroller.

Thank you, Madam President. Patrick Burns, Comptroller, 90 Clement Street, Springfield. Tonight I'm presenting the Comptroller's FY27 General Fund Budget. The budget totals approximately $478,000, of which $469,000 is salaries or personal services, $8,167,000 $1,000 for other than personal service. The big part of that is probably one of the most important pieces of equipment in the office, the scanner, which we use quite religiously on a daily basis. There's $1,300 for seminars, $360 for dues and memberships. There's printing and binding, $850. Postage and delivery, which is also $850. This is used for the annual mailing of 1099 forms. $1,750 for office supplies, and $1,258 for in-state travel reimbursement, which is mostly for the annual education. that is offered at UMass as part of our membership in the Mass Municipal Accountants and Auditors Association.

I'm always going to have questions for finance department. Can you just explain what comptrollers actually do for the audience?

Certainly. We are the keepers of the books and records of the city. We are the accountants for the city. We maintain the general ledger. We maintain and create the chart of accounts. We're responsible for various state and federal reporting. We work in conjunction with our external auditors on a yearly basis to prepare the city's annual comprehensive financial report. In Part of our state reporting is the year-end checklist, which we submit, which is ultimately how we have certified free cash every year. We do extensive work on the tax recap form to guarantee the Department of Revenue that our budget is in balance, and that is submitted after the tax rate is voted by the council, and the ultimate approval comes from the Department of Revenue before we can send out tax bills.

Thank you. The one question that I'm going to ask is, since you keep track of all of this, no one has talked about property taxes yet, and I will. Are we facing an increase for property taxes at present?

As the budget's constructed, yes, there would be an increase in property taxes.

Have you all started discussing what that would be on average per bill, or you can't do that until we set the tax rate

That really comes down to the values and the new growth figures, and that's really something that we have to work in junction with the assessors for that amount.

But we are facing it.

But the levy is increasing, so there will be an increase in taxes.

Property taxes. So I say that because I'm going on the record right now that for years I have said I cannot approve a budget that is going to increase property taxes. for the residents of the city of Springfield. It has been 10 or 11 years now that property taxes have increased for the residents of the city of Springfield. And I will hold my ground and my position because I'm here for the people and we have to come up with creative solutions. And I'm not blaming you. I think everybody is doing the best that they can with what they're given. However, we trying to dig into the budget. We have a physical fiscal accountability special committee trying to get the numbers. We're getting letters from the law department trying to stop us from getting the numbers to evaluate it with the community on a voluntary basis. We're not trying to compel anyone to do anything on a voluntary basis, trying to get the information so we can understand better what's going on. And the more that we can educate the community and dig into the budget, the better that we can do to try to even look for more opportunities for funding even advocate more on the state level for funding to come into the city so that we can not keep putting this burden on the residents of the city of Springfield with everything increasing, including gas, electric, I mean, gas for the car, food, everything. This increase, especially for the seniors that I talked to and folks in low-income families that have purchased these homes that cost way more than they used to, Just can't afford more of an increase. I'm not blaming you. I think the departments are doing the best that they can with what they have to get done for the city of Springfield, but I personally cannot support a budget that is going to increase property tax. That's not your fault, Pat. I love working with you. I love working with you when I work for the city of Springfield. I think you do the best you can, but I do think we also have an opportunity to take a deeper look into free cash and its uses as well. So I just wanted to say that publicly for the record. And I just thank you for your time. That's it. I don't see any other hands.

Thank you.

Thank you. Treasurer Collector.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'll start with the Treasurer's Department. The Treasurer's proposed budget is $1,694,747. Approximately 44% of that is personal services. The remaining 56% is the other than personal services. We are fully staffed right now with 10 staff members. And our main responsibility is we invest the money to make sure we have some money to pay our bills. We also take care of the tax title properties as they are, hopefully have them disposed so that they can go back on the tax rolls. If you like, I can go straight into the collectors, then we can do them all, same go, because I also do the collectors, or I can wait.

No, because you said something that was key to me and that I did not know, that you invest the funds so we can make money, and I did not know that part of the treasury collector side.

Yes, we take the city funds, and I have fiduciary responsibility. I believe it's Chapter 60. It's pretty stringent. I use it all the time. My staff hates it. Safety, liquidity, yield. meaning that the interest rate is the least important of it all, that we have to make sure it's protected. We are fairly conservative money market and some investments. We also do our money market right now. My assistant Sandy and I, we meet with the banks at least once a month, if maybe not twice. We're currently going out to an RFP for banking services. Our rates right now, we probably have roughly 172 million that is getting between 3.5 and 4.2% interest right now. So we pay very close attention to it. I like to say, and I think Pat may have been the one that said it to me, you're going to get a lot of credit when the rates are high. You're going to get a lot of blame when the rates are low. We do our best to stay on top of the banks to make sure we get the best we can get for it.

And the interest that is earned on the money goes right back into the general fund?

Yeah, it stays with the general fund.

And that interest, is that the same bucket of money that we invested? I think it was like $40 or $42 million to get the 2% to go to decrease the property taxes?

No, that's separate. The stabilization, those were the T-bills. That was stabilization money that has to stay with the stabilization fund.

Okay, and the interest that... the money makes, not the stabilization one, the first one we were talking about. How much is that interest? Oh, 3.7% of 10 billion, you said?

We have rates ranging from 3.5% to 4.2%. The ones that are on the higher end, as I tell the banks, if you're at the higher end of the thing, you get as much as you can take from us as far as funds. If you're on the lower end, you get the lower end, and somewhere in between, you fall somewhere in between. That's part of our negotiations with the banks each month is to say, you know, because they'll call and say, do you have any free new money that you can send to us? And then we start talking about the rates.

And how much are we investing currently?

Right now, between 3.5 and the 4.2 is about $172 million. $172 million? Correct. Okay.

Okay, thank you. Councilor Govan? Oh, okay. Okay, after collectors? Okay, collectors.

Uh-oh, now I'm scared. The collector's proposed budget is $585,756. There is seven FTEs. We are fully staffed. I'd like to actually commend both departments that I manage. The collector's has... Well, the longest tenured collector right now is the assistant collector, and he's been there probably as long as I've been, about 15, 20 years. Everybody else has been less than a year. So they are learning on the job and doing, I think, a fantastic job doing it. My treasurer staff, because I don't want to be remiss, they've been there longer, but they still do an equally good job. So the part in the collector's budget, it's flipped from the treasurer budget. 72% of the collector's budget is personal services. And the remaining 28% is other than personal services.

Council Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. Steve, you know you're my... I don't want to say least favorite, but I love you.

You told me I was your favorite yesterday.

It's nothing personal. No, you know how the tax collector is in the Bible, right? That's right.

So, um, anyways, I must say my mother once came from Athens. She said at least one of my children's in the Bible.

That's good. So like Council President said, you know, my main concern is coming out of your office. That's why I'm talking to you about it. And I did... want to advocate for um this body to to do something different i think this year right um because this is where our residents are very very concerned about their future you know and you have nothing to do with it i know that you're just a collector and you know you don't raise the taxes um but this budget does and like madam president said you know i think it's our responsibility to vote for a budget that is going to be for the people. And I actually, I don't know if this is a proper time to do it because it's not a question for him. I just wanted to make a statement. And I'm talking to my colleagues here on the city council. I'm hoping some of them are on Zoom still. And if not, you can watch it later. So this is to my colleagues. We know that passing a responsible people-centered budget is one of the most important duties that we have as the Springfield City Council. This isn't just a financial document. It's a moral statement about what and who we value. The truth is our residents are watching. They're expecting us to rise above politics, personalities, and past disagreements so that we can deliver a budget that actually improves their daily lives. Springfield families are dealing with real pressures, rising housing costs, aging infrastructure, schools that need support, neighborhoods that deserve safety and investment, and a workforce that keeps this city running every single day. They don't have the luxury of gridlock. They don't get to delay paying their bills or fixing their roofs. And they certainly don't get to walk away from tough decisions. and neither should we. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to show that this council can work together with discipline, transparency, and respect. That means asking hard questions, yes, but also listening to one another. It means negotiating in good faith and remembering that no single district thrives unless the whole city thrives. A good budget is not about winning a political fight. It's about making sure that our seniors can afford to stay in their homes, as Madam President said, our youth have safe places to learn and grow, and that our public safety departments have what they need, and that every neighborhood, from Indian Orchard to the South End, sees real, tangible benefits. When we do this right, we strengthen trust, we strengthen our city, and we send a clear message that Springfield's elected leaders can together put the people first. So I would like for us to commit to collaboration, commit to clarity, and commit to passing a budget that reflects the dignity, the needs, and the potential of the people we serve. And if that means making some tough decisions on this budget and making some good proposals, then that's what we should do because we have that power and we need to use it together. So I appreciate every city department that is keeping this city running because that's what you guys do. You guys keep the city running and I appreciate that very much. But we have to remember who we're running the city for. We're not running it for me. For you, we're running it for the people that elected us, the people that pay these taxes. And these are hard times. And I've been thinking about this a lot since I became the chair of the Budget Review and Fiscal Accountability Subcommittee. You know, I think 69% of our budget comes from the state. And what happens when the state has to cut? Just 1% or 2%. Where are we going to get that money from? And I know that we have reserves. The mayor's done a great job with putting us in a position to be financially stable. And at the same time, we have to think about our residents and if they're financially stable. So that's my statement. I'm hoping that as a council body, we can work together, continue to put our people first, because that's what we're here for. Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Councilor Govan. Yes. Just to add to that, I advocate, and I've said across the board, anytime a taxpayer is concerned to give me a call, I'd be happy to meet with them. I'm happy to work with them. I know the assessors, I'm working with Jessica on the tax relief committee, and so we are hoping to help taxpayers the best we can. There are some constraints, as you stated eloquently, but we will work with them as best we can.

And I know that, and I appreciate that very much. Last year when... What's his first name? Greenhall. Patrick. He just left. Patrick. I'm so sorry, Patrick. You know, we did our tours and we educated. You guys were able to come out. You guys did a great job. And I know that you continue to do that, you know. I just want us to be mindful and to don't take anything personal, like I said, right? I don't. I don't like what you're doing, but I love you.

I enjoy talking to you.

Yes, I appreciate that.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you. I actually like what you're doing because we need this revenue to come in, so keep collecting as much as possible. I know Councilor Brown has his hand up, so Councilor Brown.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to definitely thank you, Madam President, for always staying on this matter. This is very important. I know it's a big issue, so I definitely am concerned about it. I know... A lot of the people that I know, constituents, they're concerned about it. So I'm glad that this is something that they're able to address. Hopefully, you know, they're able. What I think is a lot of times with the creative thinking of Madam President, we might be able to use Zoom a little bit more with the community also, maybe informing them. Maybe doing a meeting with the community. I would always recommend using futuristic things because as you look right now, this is an important subject. And the only way our constituents and people are going to know the way we can communicate with them is by Zoom. So right now, I'm sure if you look at the city council chambers, it's not flooded with a bunch of people. So our community is going to be able to be notified and work with us, educated, informed by the Zoom. So I would also want your actual committee, where you guys are, to be open to maybe open up something new. with Zoom with the actual community. Would you guys be willing to do that?

Are you talking to Councilor Govan?

Or... No, no, the... Oh. Isn't he at the podium? Steve, honey. Steve? I'm not sure which committee.

Which committee, Councilor Brown, can you clarify? That's educational stuff.

Look, I'm saying, is there a way to do an educational piece on Zoom with the community?

Taxpayers? Council, I'd be absolutely open to that. I'd have to take a look at it a little bit more, but I have no problem with that. Some people say I talk too much, so I'd be happy to talk to the constituents.

Yeah, because then it would allow them a larger number. People will understand a lot better and maybe even have some great ideas. So I definitely would look to try to work and get in the community using our modern technology to get the community more involved. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilor Brown. I have to say, though, that I agree. Zoom is a great technology when you want to reach more people than people coming in person. We have had more success with using Zoom and webinars to get the information out. I do it every day, so it's something that I know, not something that I'm guessing. There's a lot of, like, collection in here from residents of the city of Springfield. And with the interest, does it have to go to the general fund? Like, is that part of Chapter 60?

The interest from taxes or the interest from the bank?

The interest on the investment, bank investment.

Yeah, that's required by law.

It has to go to general fund. Yes. I know the mayor gives back to reduce the tax bills and things like that. It's just not enough. It's just not enough. I always hear if we give too much, it's going to be a trickle effect. It hasn't happened yet. And I still don't think that we've given enough to the residents of the city of Springfield. So I'm just looking at all the things that our community pay taxes on. But one thing that I did want to talk to you about, and you do keep me on the phone quite a while when I call you.

Counsel, because I'm answering your question now.

You do. And you tell me everything I need to know. But the bills, I have gotten more complaints this year about people not getting the bills until they got a late fee and a warrant. than I have gotten in the past. I don't know, do we have a new system? Do we have a new team?

I mean, honestly, I don't know what happened. Part of the law that we have to do is when we put the bills in the mail, we get what's called a proof of mailing, where our printer who brings it to the mailer gets it signed and notarized at the post office that they've delivered 45,000 bills. And that's required by law. And so this year, it seems, from that point on, I honestly don't know what happened. It could be that it gets lost in the mail. I don't want to blame the mail. My dad was a mailman. He's looking down saying, are you kidding me? But the mail, it could be the mail. It could be it gets lost in translation. It goes to the wrong address sometimes and it gets returned. There's a lot of different things. Where they get the demand and the notice at that point, it probably isn't the address. It might be the mail, though. I'm guessing at that point, though.

Yeah, I'm just saying I have gotten more complaints about that this year than I have gotten in the past. So I just wanted to know if we were doing anything new.

No, we've done exactly the same. We try to give as much time as possible to get it out as quickly as possible so they have time to pay and not get it on Tuesday and have to pay it by Thursday kind of thing. So we try to do that all the time. And we've been working with our printers for Well, I've been here 15 years, or 20 years. It's been 20 years anyway, so we've been doing it with, if not longer.

Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. Any other questions or comments? Thank you, Steve. Thanks. Human Resources and Labor Relations. State your name and title.

Good evening, Councilors. Bill Mahoney. I'm the Director of HR and Labor Relations. Thank you. I'll start off with saying thank you to the Council for Your previous support all these years, it's allowed us to do some very important work on behalf of the city. We certainly couldn't do it without the partnership we have with the city council. I also want to take a point from, I think, Joe DeCaro, and I want to thank my staff. I've got a fantastic team that I work with. It's a very small team, but they do tremendous work, and I'm grateful for everything they do for the citizens of the city. HR and labor relations are responsible for a number of functions. They're very important in order to keep the city running. First off, we do job description development, and that's really where everything starts in human resources. That allows us to get into the recruitment responsibilities, application management, background checks, Cori checks, I-9 certifications, onboarding, personnel file maintenance, leave management, civil service administration. These are all things that are being done just from the HR section of the department. We also are responsible for managing the unemployment, workers' compensation, and employee assistance programs for both the city and the school departments. We manage the drug testing, and that is something that I have been doing personally As we've had our safety specialist position has been vacant, so I've taken over that responsibility. And the drug testing is for DOT, our CDL drivers. And we have to do pre-employment testing, random testing, post-accident testing, follow-up testing, return-to-duty testing. It's just a ton of staying on top of making sure that we're in compliance. We provide training for city departments. It's a thing that we offer routinely. It may be we'll run an Excel program for anyone that wants to freshen up their skills in Excel, or workers' compensation management. In fact, yesterday, just yesterday, we did a Lunch and Learn for any managers or department heads, supervisors that want to come to a Lunch and Learn, and we had brought in two experts just to talk about workers' compensation management. We conduct the labor relations for the city. The city has 12 unions. 11 of them are under contract right now. We are in negotiations with two unions. So we're in pretty good shape as far as that goes. In addition to negotiating the contracts, however, we are also responsible for administering the contracts. So grievance arbitration, that's something that we handle in labor relations for all 12 units and all the city departments here on the city side of government. We handle administrative law, so if it's a civil service case, we handle that. If it's an MCAD case and involves an employee relations matter, we handle that. If it's a Department of Labor Relations case, that's one of ours, and our lawyers do everything from those cases I just described to handling things that go over in Superior Court, across the street here, the Appeals Court, or the SJC. We appear in all those venues. In FY27, we will continue to have nine employees. That's eight and a half FTEs. One of our employees is part-time. There's no change. It's the same number of employees we've had for the last two years. Our FY27 budget is proposed at $1,377,891. which is a 1.8% increase over the FY26 budget. We came in under 2%. It's an increase of only $25,000, 248. We did take some cuts from the proposed HR budget to this budget you have in front of you. That included $1,000 to training from the FY26 amount $300 to our gasoline account, and $1,000 to our in-state travel account. We use NeoGov as our application management software. It's a very important part of what we do. And I usually report on these statistics to the council every year. But through May 19th of 26, we had 154 postings. We had 219,000 hits on this software. We received 5,782 applications. It's the highest number of applicants we've had in the last six years. Right now, for vacancies in the city, we have 25 labor service positions that are vacant. Those are positions that we're not actively filling, but we have an active request for people to apply and get on the list. Those are all civil service, labor service jobs. So it would be your drivers in the DPW. It could be a gardener. Any of those labor positions we're going to put in that list. We have 13 seasonal titles, not 13 people, but 13 seasonal titles that are open right now. I just want to make a point of my staff goes out with these seasonal jobs, goes to the Springfield Public High Schools, and we go at lunchtime. They have delicious lunches from what I understand. And they sit there and they recruit the students at lunchtime and try to get them to come take a seasonal job with us as a lifeguard or as a head rec leader. And we do that routinely. So we're out there with them. We have seven full-time positions that are currently posted and two part-time positions. And then I'm sure you've seen some of the work that we've been doing with respect to boosting morale. Assistant Director Julius, she's a pro at this. She always has something going, whether it is our ugly sweater contest during Halloween or holiday cookie bake-off, the free cool tote bag that we gave to everybody just recently for Public Sector Recognition Week, Public Employee Recognition Week, or our free throw contest. And I think me and Counselor LaVar will have a contest this year. I think this is my year for that. But I'm happy to take any questions that you have for the department.

Councilor Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Bill. That's a big department. So you said there's 25 vacancies. Are those positions being paid for, or they're not?

Right now, all those jobs are full. Those 25 I talked about, all those positions are full, but we keep a list, and people are invited to come sign up on the labor service list. So if you're interested in one of those positions, you come and you sign the list. And what we do is, by law, we work from the top of the list all the way down. So sometimes you could be on that list for a very long time.

So I thought you said there were... 25 vacancies?

No, no, no. There's 25 labor service positions. We are hiring now for 13 seasonal titles. Okay. Recreation leader, lifeguard, bath attendant. We have seven full-time positions that we are recruiting for and two part-time positions.

And those are in the budget?

Yeah.

Okay. A question regarding employees on paid administrative leave.

Yes.

So do you handle the school budget? No. You don't. Okay, so I'd have to ask them. Because I did ask Kathy, and thank you, Kathy, for that, the answer. I know that in the city we have, I think, one unpaid administrative leave currently, and that's just recently from what I heard. Okay. Yeah, because I'm very concerned about the school budget with the, I think, 138 staff on paid administrative leave. which is, I think, a problem. I think it was a front page story about one employee specifically, but you have nothing to do with that, Bill. I have nothing to do with that. But thank you for the work. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Councilor Govan, did you get how many city employees are on unpaid administrative leave? Only one.

Oh, one city employee? Yeah, I believe that's from February from what I understand.

Great. Any other questions or comments? WELL, THANK YOU, BILL. THANK YOU, COUNCILOR. HAVE A GREAT NIGHT. YOU TOO.

MADAM PRESIDENT, I HAD A QUESTION.

SORRY, SORRY, BILL. NOT SO FAST. COUNCILOR DELGADO.

SORRY, I HAD TO LEAVE TO PICK UP MY DAUGHTER. Bill, I want to give a shout out to your employees as I do see them out in the community at different events throughout the year in terms of trying to recruitment. I do have a series of questions for your team. One of the things I think I've been talking about in the past is Pipelines to city jobs in particular working directly with us with our superintendent, and so I know there's some things you're already doing but i'd love to see some more effort there around pipelines and. career pipelines, I should say, for city students. So definitely would like to talk more about that. Also, last year, the city council passed the skills raise hiring ordinance. So I was curious to know if there was any more efforts on there in terms of stats or jobs that you guys have changed, because I know particularly There was one area, it was a 311 customer service. And I know that's one area that I've gotten some calls in terms of that. So can you talk a little bit more about the skills based hiring?

Sure. We have done work in that area. As the jobs come up, we take a look at them. And if it's something that we can move on, we do. Not all positions can be moved on. So but, you know, I know that we can get you some statistics on that. I just don't have anything with me tonight.

All right. Yeah, definitely would love to see more on that. And then the other question I had, I know we recently changed the residency requirement to have the two year call it waiver period. Do you guys have any stats on how many folks have been hired under the new two year resident waiver?

Yeah, we do have that. We meet, and we have been meeting every month since I think 2015, the residency compliance unit, and we go over all of that. There has been less work, obviously, as a result of going from one year to two years, but we track all of those folks, and they do come up, and as they come up, we start the notices, and we make sure they're in the city, and if they're not in the city, then we go to the next step. But we track that every single month, and we have stats on that.

Do you have like retention stats on how many of those folks that had the two-year waiver or even the one year, how many of them, like is there a percentage, how many of them stay with the city?

I don't know that we have that. We can get that though. We could go and do a look back.

Okay. Another question I had that somebody brought to my attention, I know they do this at the school department, but retiree callbacks, retirees, that's something that I wasn't as aware of on the city side. So do we have a number of how many folks and what we typically use those for?

We do. And typically we'll use them temporarily to get over a hump at the, you know, at the change of when someone is retiring and we, but we still need their services. So they may come on for part time and work, you know, 10 hours a week or 15 hours a week. I KNOW WE'VE DONE THAT WITH SNOW OPERATIONS IN THE PAST WHERE WE'VE BROUGHT IN ONE OF THE FOLKS THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING OUR SNOW OPERATIONS AND AS WE ARE CHANGING TO A NEW PERSON TAKING OVER THAT ROLE, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THE STREETS WERE COVERED SO WE BROUGHT BACK REALLY A VETERAN OF THE SNOW OPERATIONS TO HELP OUT DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME. WE'VE DONE THAT IN A NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTS.

I'D LOVE TO SEE A BREAKDOWN OF THAT AND WHAT DEPARTMENTS REGULARLY UTILIZE THE RETIREE CALLBACK PIECE. And then the last question I have is I'm curious, just I know the state has an employee dashboard. It's a really advanced one. And, you know, obviously future dream of having something like that for the city to break down our employees in the city. You know, how many folks we have, you know, in terms of. Different backgrounds and particularly leaderships. Is there anything like that that we have or that we are looking to do in the future?

We have not discussed that. It's something I'll talk with my team about tomorrow and we'll see if our application software management software can provide any of that information easily to us so we can help put that together.

Yeah, I think it would be nice to know, especially with a dashboard like that. I mean, you can go right to the state's diversity dashboard and literally it breaks down everything from ages to race background, service length and years. So it'd be nice to see, especially if we're looking at, are there particular parts of the city that we're getting folks from or even outside? So that's something that could be a wish project. And as well as the having something that's kind of more, how do I say it? You know, when we have the city salary breakdown, I know it's like an Excel sheet and I've been told multiple times that thing is wrong or not as up and not as correct with numbers. So just want to make sure that for transparency sakes that, you know, residents can see that and see what folks are earning in the city. That's the list of my questions or more so love to see stats.

Understood. Thank you, Councilor Delgado. I'm glad that you were able to still attend the meeting even though you had to leave and take care of your family responsibilities. Bill, something came to my head as Councilor Delgado was speaking and I think Caitlin came to a C3 meeting because people were thinking that there were unfair hiring processes in city hall and did an amazing job. It was via zoom. So we were able to reach about 40 people on that call that can display the information back out to the community, um, about the hiring process, Neil gov, how to apply, how they come up with the job descriptions. Just, she gave us all the information and I, I wanted to just say it was a great job that she, she took her time. out of her work day to explain this to the community. We only asked her one time and it was a yes and she made it on time and stayed for as long as the community had questions. It was a wonderful presentation. It gave me a better understanding and I just wanted to give Kaitlyn a shout out for that.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill. Employee benefits.

Name and title. Caitlin Julius, I'm the Assistant HR Director and Benefits Administrator. So the Benefits Department is responsible for educating and processing all benefits for all city employees, school employees, and retirees. We're fully staffed. I have five full-time, one part-time. This budget allows us to maintain all of our essential functions to run the department and keep offering the benefits that we do to all of our employees and retirees.

Well, I think employee benefits speak for itself, Caitlin. And I wanted to say that to Bill because I believe your report to Bill. But I also wanted to tell you, thank you so much. Thank you. You are very kind. And also. very knowledgeable about the work that you do. And thank you for your willingness to do that and saying that you will come back anytime because I don't know about coming back anytime to that crowd. They were really like giving you some really tough questions and you handled it with grace and charm. And I just wanted to say thank you to you publicly.

Thank you.

Thank you, Caitlin. Councilor Govan.

Thank you, Madam President. So Caitlin, I guess, um, Do you handle the employee benefits for the entire city, including the school department? Yes.

You do?

Yes. Okay. So you know about the 138 employees on paid administrative leave?

No. So that's not a part that we handle. We're just handling the health insurance and voluntary benefits.

Okay. I'm going to find that person. No, I'm only kidding.

Sorry, I can't help you there.

That's fine. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilor Govan. And that wraps us up for tonight. So we conclude the committee of the whole. Thank you to all of the attendees and the departments. We appreciate the work that you're doing.