Mayoral candidate questions quotes

By G. Michael Dobbs, Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD For City Councilor and mayoral candidate Domenic Sarno, the discovery of a request for quotes for a proposed opinion survey on the trash fee was something he couldn't believe, last week .

Yet, according to the city official who asked for the price for such a survey, Sarno has nothing to be upset about.

"I'm outraged," he said in a press conference conducted in front of his home on Thursday. Sarno stood next to his own trashcan.

Sarno accused Mayor Charles Ryan of using city funds to commission a poll in order to gather information to better run his campaign for re-election.

"This is a political poll using the taxpayer's dollars," he said. "What do you think he's going to do with this information it?"

Sarno called on Ryan to rescind the request for quotes. He said that he had not contacted Ryan prior to his press conference.

Azell Murphy Caavan, the communication relations director in the Ryan administration, explained to Reminder Publications that it was she and not the mayor who asked for the quotes on a survey that would "work with the City of Springfield to develop a questionnaire and sampling strategy to survey the attitudes of Springfield residents (or those residents who have not yet signed up for the trash fee) toward the City's new trash fee."

Caavan said the request for quotes was sent out to three firms. The quotes cannot exceed $25,000. The city would provide the selected vendor with offices space and a telephone.

Caavan said the survey was her initiative alone and that she was going to discuss it with the mayor once the quotes had come in.

She emphasized the only city resources utilized so far was an hour of her time to prepare the document.

The reason behind the survey was to gather information that could be used to improve the customer relations between the Department of Public Works and the residents of Springfield.

Sarno has promised if elected mayor he would seek a way to remove the trash fee. He said that he has not finished his analysis of the city's budget to determine how the revenue from the trash fee would be replaced.

Although he opposes the fee, Sarno has paid it for his household.