City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right. Welcome to the general government meeting of the Springfield City Council. It is now 12.03. We have one item on the agenda, which is the appointment of Maddie Landrau to the Water and Sewer Commission. Looks like we're joined by City Councilor Jerry Martin. We're also joined by uh josh schimmel and attorney wilson not 100 sure why attorney wilson you're joining us but um i'm sure you will tell us uh as we get started and then we'll turn the floor with either josh or maddie and um and hopefully uh we'll be able to get a positive recommendation uh maddie to the board or to the full committee sorry Oh, I'm sorry. I see Councillor Perez. You are here as well. Thank you.

Oh, Councillor Hearst, if I may, I'm just joining as the general counsel to the Water and Sewer Commission.

OK. All right. That's good to know. Good to know. I didn't quite realize that you were general counsel attorney Wilson. So we will turn it over to how about we start with Maddie. And then if there's a need for Josh, we'll turn it over to Josh. Unless you, you know, you want to start us off, Josh. I mean, I'll defer to the two of you.

Sure. I mean, I'll just say we're really happy to have Maddie as a potential commissioner. I've spoken with her a couple of times. We've exchanged some email and she seems like a really good fit, great community person in the work that she does in the community and her professional side. So I'm excited to get her on board. I think as you folks know, the work we do here is essential to daily life and the communities we serve. And there's a lot to it. So it's a steep learning curve and looking forward, hopefully, here to having Maddie as a commissioner and having her help us with our mission.

Sounds good. Thank you, Josh. Maddie, why don't you give us a quick introduction as to who you are and why it is that you want to serve, and then we'll open the floor up to any other counselors who want to say something. Before you get started, Maddie, we're also joined by Counselor Davila, who is a member of this subcommittee.

Thank you for having me.

Go ahead, Maddie.

Hola, Justin. It's been a little while since I've seen you, and hola to everyone here. Just to give you a brief description of my work at MasterMutual as a community partnership manager. I manage the MasterMutual Foundation's Springfield grant making portfolio. What I mean by that is I partner with nonprofits and community leaders to invest in initiatives that address the local needs, strengthen organizational capacity, and create community impact. In other words, I help advance the foundation's mission and community priorities. throughout funding process. And the reason I want to join the board, I think it's important that, you know, we continue to educate our community and by educating myself in particular with, you know, questions that arise, the infrastructure of the waters to the department is I want to be able to amplify that through the community. I know, I understand that there's a lot of learning. So as I learned, I wanted to continue again to educate the community on what's happening, you know, why the mission is important, the vision is important, and so on.

Thank you, Maddie, and thank you for all of the work that you do here in Springfield and in the Western Mass area. We certainly appreciate your efforts and also excited that you're looking forward to serving on the Water and Sewer Commission. I guess the only question that I will ask you, Maddie, is the question that I get from many residents. Over the course of the last 10 years, i've seen water rates increase just about every single time um and so i guess my question to you is uh are you going to push back against these uh increases and really work as hard as you possibly can uh in conjunction with the other board members as well as josh um realizing that you know folks are struggling here in the city of springfield and you know the fact that utilities are going up food's going are going up, everything's going up. And when you compound that with water and sewer, it certainly, you know, does our residents a disservice. So, you know, if you could just tell me a little bit as, you know, and you might not have an answer for the question now, but I'm going to ask the same question at the general, I mean, at the meeting of the full body. But if you could just give us a brief, you know, synopsis as to how you might be able to attack that particular issue, I greatly appreciate it.

First of all, I have to seek to understand, right? Why the increase? Because it's everywhere. Increases in every aspect of our lives is an increase. So I first will seek to understand why. And again, you know, be that vehicle of communication to educate our community as to why it's happening. And I will ask questions. I'm not going to sit on a board without asking the why.

All right. I'm counting on you to ask the tough questions. Are there any other questions from the city council?

Sorry, I'm late. I missed the whole presentation, but I already know Madeline. I already know Maddie, so no questions here.

All right. We are also joined by President Whitfield. Thank you.

Hola, Tracy. Hola. How are you? I'm doing great.

Thank you, Madam President. Are there any other questions or comments from the council? If there are none, we will take a motion to approve Maddie to the Board of Water and Sewer Commission from this subcommittee.

I have one question.

You have a question. Yes.

Is Maddie replacing someone?

Sorry. I will be replacing Vanessa Otero. Okay. All right.

Good choice. Great choice.

Any other questions or comments from the council?

Mr. Chair, if I may know, I don't have a question directly, but rather than a comment to congratulate Ms. Landreau for her upcoming appointment. I have known Ms. Landreau for a little while. Her and her husband, for that matter. I'm sure she's going to be a wonderful addition to the water or sewer. And as she pointed out, you know, and she pointed out herself, this is a learning curve. and I'm sure that she will be a wonderful representative to the residents of the city of Springfield here for us. So with that, if there's no more comments, I will make a motion that we move this up to the chamber for confirmation.

Motion made by Councilor Dabula. Is there a second? Second the motion. Seconded by Councilor Martin. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. The ayes have it. If there is no further business, which I believe there is none, can we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion made. Seconded by Councilor Martin. All in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you everyone for joining us.