Williams endorsed by NERCC 108 in bid for mayor's seat

Date: 6/22/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD City Councilor Bud Williams stepped up his campaign to unseat Mayor Domenic Sarno with an endorsement from the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Local 108.

Inclement weather on Thursday afternoon didn't prevent union members from gathering at their Forest Park office to voice their support for Williams.

Jason Garand, Business Manager for Local 108, said, "The city of Springfield is about to turn another corner in its history. With the Control Board no longer involved, the city will need a strong leader who understands what it takes to get things done. Bud Williams is that person. His leadership in the City Council has never been rhetoric but real action that has produced positive results affecting our whole community. The proof is everywhere. The latest example was on Monday night when the City Council voted to approve two ordinances that Councilor Williams helped craft - the Responsible Employer Ordinance and Residency requirements.

"Going forward the tax payers of this city will be ensured a percentage of work that their tax dollars help fund. The concept is simple - the more jobs we keep locally, the more money gets spent in the community and the more money spent the more taxes collected to fund additional projects and services. Who wins? Everyone! Local businesses, the residents and Springfield's economy."

Williams told Reminder Publications the endorsement was "a significant milestone" for his campaign.

"This endorsement means a great deal to me in a personal, professional and political way," he added.

The union office is across the street from Forest Park Middle School and Williams was critical of the recent decision to renovate the school rather than build a new one.

"It's a black hole," he said. "It doesn't make any sense. It couldn't be fixed and now you can fix it," he said.

He was also critical of the proposed low income housing apartment complex for Longhill Street.

"If I have the ability to take another look at these projects I will," Williams said.

Last week, Williams began an investigation of illegal dumping in the city that he said was caused by the Department of Public Works confiscating city trash cans because of a lack of payment of the trash fee.

He visited a site on Locust Street and said there are five other sites he will view where there is a similar problem.

He said there have been 2,100 trash bins collected from people, many of whom are renters whose landlords have failed to pay the trash fee.

What worries Williams is there isn't a policy in place to deal with the situation and the threat posed to public health by the improper disposal.

Williams was also concerned about money being spent to rent space in the former Federal Building and other recent expenditures.

"We don't have a budget in place," Williams said referring to the city's fiscal year 2010 budget. "We don't know what's on the ground."

The Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick still have not agreed on a state budget for the coming year or the amount of local aid cities and towns will receive.

Williams said he didn't attend any of Sarno's budget meetings with department heads because "they weren't real numbers."