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Date: 8/24/2022
SPRINGFIELD – Amidst a competitive field of seven candidates, mayoral aide Lavar Click-Bruce and former Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at University of Massachusetts Edward Collins Jr. secured enough votes to be placed on the Ward 5 City Council election ballot ahead of the final vote on Sept. 13.
Background
The Ward 5 City Council seat became vacant when former City Councilor and City Council President Marcus Williams resigned from office on May 31. After temporary consideration of how the vacated seat would be addressed, the council ultimately agreed on hosting a special election after state Rep. Angelo Puppolo’s home rule petition legislation was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker on May 16.
The candidates for the Ward 5 primary included Click-Bruce, Springfield College Center for Service and Leadership Assistant Director Nicole Coakley, former 2015 City Council at-large and 2017 School Committee candidate Lamar Cook, Collins, juvenile parole officer Edward Green, former 2021 City Council at-large candidate Mike Lee and the Women’s Funding Network Communications Director Ellen Moorhouse.
Voter turnout for the primary election, which took place less than two months after the candidates secured signatures, represented 9.6 percent of the Ward 5 community. That percentage encompasses 1,424 ballots – a figure that only represents a slight decrease from the 1,888 ballots cast during Williams’ unopposed reelection campaign in 2021.
Click-Bruce led the candidate field with 385 votes, or 27.2 percent of the total vote, while Collins secured 22.3 percent of the vote with 316 ballots.
Outside of the primary winners, Moorhouse finished in third place with 225 ballots, or 15.9 percent of the vote, while Lee with 201 ballots, or 14.2 percent of the vote, Coakley with 143 ballots, or 10.1 percent of the vote, Cook with 104 ballots, or 7.3 percent of the vote, and Green with 39 votes, or 2.7 percent of the vote, rounded out the competitive seven-candidate field.
The final election will take place on Sept. 13, with early voting taking place Aug. 22 through Sept. 3. Ward 5 residents have until Sept. 3 to make sure they are registered to vote.
Click-Bruce
Click-Bruce expressed elation with the Ward 5 results. He shared his support for voters turning out and engaging in the city’s first special election.
“Ward 5 really turned out and supported not only myself, but other candidates as well. … I’m just elated for the whole process in Ward 5 and just being part of the selection process of naming the next City Councilor,” said Click-Bruce.
Since being one of the initial candidates to announce his run, Click-Bruce and his team committed to a grassroots, door-to-door campaign. The Ward 5 candidate said it was important to make a connection with residents before the primary.
“We just did a grassroots campaign, really just knocking on doors and meeting constituents where they’re at, hearing their concerns and listening to what they want to see in the ward. … It may sound cliché, but I think residents really want to know that you care. Knocking on their door means a lot,” said Click-Bruce.
Click-Bruce shared that he connected with as many residents as possible during the truncated period, but plans to continue door-to-door campaigning leading up to Sept. 13.
“I have to do more because I missed a lot of doors because [of] the short turnaround. I have to concentrate and really focus on those areas and really get out there and let my voice be heard, and also hear residents’ voice, as well,” said Click-Bruce.
If elected, Click-Bruce cited one of his initial goals of establishing a community police station alongside Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood. He described the need for increased policing in the Sixteen Acres area to match policing efforts in other areas throughout the city.
“Other areas are represented with C3 policing, but I think that it’s very important that we have representation within our ward with those police officers. I was affected on Monday with break-ins, two of my three vehicles on my residence. … I’m aware what’s going on because it’s affecting me personally,” said Click-Bruce. The Ward 5 candidate said he will additionally address speeding concerns he’s heard throughout his campaign process.
Click-Bruce also envisions the expansion of youth development efforts. As a basketball coach for Springfield High School of Commerce, Click-Bruce expressed the importance of providing accessible opportunities within Ward 5.
“My whole career is built on youth development. I heard throughout the ward that we don’t have much youth sports anymore, so I want to make sure this area is represented where our residents of Ward 5 will have a place to have activities for our families and our young people,” said Click-Bruce.
For his campaign items, Click-Bruce stressed the importance of representing residents’ direct concerns.
“We’re prioritizing them and making sure they have a voice. I’m making sure their voice will be represented by me as their voice and I’ll make sure we’ll get some resolutions for their concerns,” said Click-Bruce.
Click-Bruce shared that he possesses the most experience in the remaining field after working as an aide for the City Council and Mayor Domenic Sarno. He said those positions provided him essential insight in the “ins and outs” of how government operates.
The Ward 5 candidate also highlighted himself as the right person to make sure residents are properly represented.
“It’s not about personal gain, it’s not about my agenda, it’s about the agenda of the people. I believe I can reach across the aisle and make sure [Ward 5] has a place at the table,” said Click-Bruce.
Collins
Reflecting on the results, Collins said it “feels good” to receive support from Ward 5 voters.
“It feels good, I am quite pleased with the way it came out and thankfully to the people who worked with me who did so much hard work to get to this point, but there’s a lot more to do in a very short time,” said Collins.
For the campaign process, the candidate said his team strategically placed more emphasis on direct mail and phone banking due to the tight timeframe before the primary. Collins said he is focusing now on door-to-door campaigning.
“Now, we have to shift to do more of the traditional face-to-face, door-to-door campaigning then we did in the preliminary, but it’s still a short window. I have to expand the base of people who are active in my campaign in order to do that,” said Collins.
Collins listed several projects of interest he will focus on if elected to the council. Improving road maintenance and snow plowing for neighborhoods across Springfield represents one of his central objectives.
“Updating the poor condition of a lot of our streets is something that I am going to continue to emphasize,” said Collins.
Another point of emphasis is improving the checks and balances of the city’s government. He cited the council’s recent difficulties with Sarno in enforcing the Department of Justice’s decree for the city to establish a Police Commission.
“The real issue there is that the City Council was defenseless, if we didn’t have an out-of-town law firm step up and agree to represent the council pro bono, the mayor would’ve in effect gotten away with just saying ‘I don’t like what they did, even though it’s legally binding, I am not going to do it,’” said Collins.
Collins said he will work to secure a mechanism where a public funding stream will become available in similar government gridlock situations.
“No mayor, whoever he or she may be in the future, ought to be able to put a stranglehold on something that is properly adopted by the City Council and they have a legal obligation to implement,” said Collins.
The City Council candidate also aspires to create “more common ground” during collective bargaining issues after observing that Sarno and the Fire Department endured a “take it or leave it” process over American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) bonuses.
“What the mayor did, particularly in the case of the Fire Department, was he said ‘here are my terms. We are going to have this amount of money available … take it or leave it, and if you don’t like it, you’re not getting anything.’ … It’s just bad form,” said Collins.
Looking ahead to Sept. 13, Collins said that voters’ decision will ultimately come down to a specific preference.
“I think the way this race is going to shape up is whether it should be the mayor’s hand-picked candidate for the City Council or a more independent voice who clearly is not running to be the mayor’s enemy, but neither am I running to be his rubber stamp. I am running to call things as I see them,” said Collins.