Springfield's City Council Finance Committee weighed a school food service contract and library bonding. Staff asked for a one-year contract with four one-year renewal options, five years in all, to draw more bidders, and said vendor returns to the city are capped at $3 million.
Springfield City Council accepted a $6,837,061 state grant for a new East Springfield library. Library Director Molly Fogarty said the new branch would be about 8,723 square feet, up from a little over 3,000. Every councilor voted yes on the grant and the construction bond order.
Springfield residents pressed the City Council to act on courthouse funding and marijuana sentencing during Monday's public speak-out.
Springfield's School Committee voted 6-1 to seek City Council approval for a school food service contract longer than three years.
Springfield police commissioners discussed sending a police captain or deputy chief to next year's annual meeting.
The Springfield License Commission voted 5-0 to approve relocating Sullivan's Allen Street package store to Island Pond Road.
Springfield police said they would absorb patrol gaps left by Hampden County Sheriff's Department cuts. The City Council's Public Safety Subcommittee, led by Council Member Jerry Martin, heard that the state-level cut was $26 million.
Springfield City Council approved food truck rules, including a $125 annual permit fee, on a 10-0 vote. The final step on Chapter 279 followed amendments requiring a City Council-issued permit to operate between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. and 50-foot setbacks from homes (100 feet with a generator).
A City Council committee weighed raised crosswalks near schools but took no vote. Councilor LaVar Click-Bruce chaired the Maintenance and Development Committee session, where Walk Bike Springfield's Betsy Johnson urged an ordinance directing DPW to install them.
The Historical Commission approved a Pine Street duplex design but rejected vinyl siding as a hardship. Petitioner Jim Morrissey, the Office of Housing's preferred developer for the former 227 Pine Street lot, said the project must close by the end of the month.