Setting up a possible legal fight, Springfield’s City Council has voted 11 to 2 to override the mayor’s veto of a residency requirement. The ordinance bars the mayor from issuing any new waivers for top city employees who live outside Springfield.
In his remarks before the vote, Councilor Henry Twiggs made the issue about access to employment for residents.
“Now the people’s mayor needs to know that the people are hear speaking,” Twiggs said. “And if he wants to be the people’s mayor, he better listen to what the people are saying. And we are saying that it is time for everybody in the city to get an equal chance.”
Councilor Adam Gomez argued that city councilors need to look out for their neighbors.
“The ones that you wake up everyday saying — when you pick up your newspaper — ‘Hey, how you doing, Bob?’ ‘Hey, how you doing, John?’ Those are the people that we fought for. Those are the people that we make decisions for,” Gomez said. “Not for people that take our money and don’t want to pay taxes and invest it back into our tax base.”
Mayor Domenic Sarno vetoed the ordinance last month, claiming it violates the city charter because it restricts who he could appoint to lead departments.
Sarno’s top lawyer, City Solicitor Ed Pikula, said Monday that the issue appears headed for litigation. And the mayor himself has signaled he plans to ignore the ordinance.
“I mean, are they going to take me to Superior Court?” Sarno said on Friday. “I think there’s more important things that have to be concentrated on to continue to move our city of Springfield forward.”