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Date: 1/9/2024
SPRINGFIELD — While the Mayor’s Office celebrated the distribution of $12 million in assistance payments to city residents as a victory, another elected official criticized the process and the abrupt closure of the call center that supported the program.
On Jan. 2, Mayor Domenic Sarno announced that nearly 8,700 households would receive payments of up to $1,400 through the American Rescue Plan Act Direct Cash Household Assistance Program. As part of the announcement, the Mayor’s Office also stated Public Partnerships LLC, the third-party entity selected to assist the city in evaluating and determining the eligibility of applicants, would close its call center, effective immediately.
Those who applied for the funding had been waiting for a considerable amount of time with the application window having closed nearly a year ago on Jan. 15, 2023. Overwhelmed by the more than 19,000 applications and facing mounting pressure, the city eventually contracted Public Partnerships to take on the evaluation of applications and distribution of funds in July 2023.
“I want to thank PPL for their efforts in thoroughly reviewing all of the applications that were submitted and for doing a second review of those that were deemed ineligible to ensure an accurate final determination was made. I also want to thank the applicants for their patience as eligibility determination were made,” Sarno said in a prepared statement.
He continued, “I am proud of the fact that my administration and Springfield has been the only city in the commonwealth and one of the few in the nation to put forth such a comprehensive and all-encompassing initiative to get our local allotment of federal ARPA funding directly into the community through numerous programs and initiatives, including direct household’s assistance. This program mitigates to a degree, the disproportional impacts the pandemic had on those members of our community who were and continue to be economically disadvantaged. This $12 million in direct cash assistance combined with over $3 million, in assistance to Wayfinders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help Springfield residents stay in their homes through mortgage, rent and utility assistance, is evidence of the city’s commitment to the residents and communities that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”
Sarno’s Communications Director Bill Baker told Reminder Publishing that households that received notice from Public Partnerships that their applications had been approved were expected to receive their payments in the form of a Money Network debit card within seven to 10 business days from the date of notification. He added that those who do not receive their cards within 10 business days should call the Money Network directly at 866-892-2835 to request a new card.
In response to Sarno’s announcement, City Councilor at-Large Tracye Whitfield called a press conference, criticizing the manner in which the administration carried out the program, and threatening the pursuit of an investigation into the process.
Whitfield noted that everyone received notice that PPL was closing on the same day it was closing on Jan. 2. She shared that the City Council and residents did not receive any notice.
“This means people have no place to go for help or a resolution,” Whitfield said.
She also alleged that the administration changed guidelines. “Income restriction — proof of benefits was never a requirement to obtain this funding,” Whitfield said.
The Sarno administration stated in its announcement that eligibility was determined by the “application stated criteria, the governing federal requirements and guidance provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Interim and Final Rule,” and was also reviewed for duplication of benefits, multiple parties from the same household applying for the funding, applicants from outside the city and other fraudulent applications. Applications were deemed ineligible base on invalid or expired identification before the application was submitted, disparities in benefits reporting on the application, and discrepancies related to proof of residency.
Whitfield recalled people standing in long lines at the DPW building on Tapley Street, traveling to City Hall, contacting her and other city councilors daily — from 2022 until now — because they needed this money.
“I helped hundreds of people submit these applications. Some of our constituents received emails stating that they were approved from the City Hall administration, the ARPA team, and now are getting letters saying they’re getting denied,” Whitfield shared. “Some of our constituents have been denied from benefits that they never selected on their application [and] they never received in their lives.”
Whitfield questioned how a call center can close when there are over 10,000 people that still need servicing. “Closing the call center does not solve the problem,” she said.
Springfield resident Lynn Belnavis shared her process of filling out an application at City Hall. After some time, she called to check the status of her application and was told that she was on the list but there was fraud going on and to be patient.
Belnavis said this has affected her health.
Belnavis said she was checking her mailbox twice a week normally, and then started checking daily.
“When I reach my hand [in] and there’s nothing, my heart’s palpitating. I’m getting nauseous, I’m having anxiety, because I need it.”
She went on to say that she would not use that money to go out and eat or buy clothes but would instead use it for furniture in her house, as she only has one good chair for her and others to sit.
“I did my duty as a resident of Springfield in my younger days, now I can’t do anything,” Belnavis said, adding that she, her mother and family worked hard to turn around and be treated this way.
“It’s totally unfair and it needs to be looked into — somebody needs to rectify this because it’s just not feasible,” she said.
Two others shared a similar process they went through with applying and being denied funding.
Whitfield said large businesses such as Big Y, who she argued did not suffer through the coronavirus pandemic, received $1 million. “And you can’t give $1,400 to the most disproportionately impacted folks in need? This is wrong.”
Whitfield recognized that this was a new process and gave grace to some in the Finance Department for their work, as they are just doing what they are being told.
“When folks make mistakes, mistakes need to be corrected,” Whitfield said.
She claimed that there is available funding sitting in other ARPA accounts for other ARPA programs. She said the city needs to look at that money and data and transfer those funds to the Direct Assistance Household Cash Account and do right by the constituents in Springfield.
“That is my hope and that is my plea to the Sarno administration,” she said.
If it does not happen, Whitfield said they will stand together and will write to the United States Department of Treasury and ask for an investigation and audit. Additionally, she said they have the right to contact their federal legislators – U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield), U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) and Edward Markey (D-Malden) — and let them know what is going on with the city of Springfield’s municipal funding.
“We won’t stop there, we will write to the federal auditors, and we will write to the FBI, and we will keep writing and we will keep making noise until something happens. But with the grace and understanding, I am hopeful that Mayor Sarno will do the right thing by all of us,” Whitfield concluded.
The city’s handling of the review and award process for the Direct Cash Household Assistance Program has been a bone of contention for some time, as has the city’s distribution of ARPA funding in general.
In January 2023, Whitfield hosted a press conference, claiming the ARPA process was marred by concerns centered around equity and transparency.
Former City Councilor and mayoral hopeful Justin Hurst took aim at the Sarno administration’s delay in doling out the direct assistance funding as part of his campaign, accusing the mayor in August of attempting to leverage the funding into voter support, using it as an incentive to gain votes. In his press release, Hurst cited anecdotal evidence provided by a Springfield resident who declined to speak with Reminder Publishing when contacted. Hurst also called into question several ARPA awards to businesses during the campaign.
The city’s then-Chief Administrative and Financial Officer TJ Plante denied any political influence in the process when queried by Reminder Publishing, saying, “In my view, [it is] not tied to politics. [The city] had to do its due diligence.”
Whitfield and City Councilor Zaida Govan were both vocal in their criticism of the mayor’s use of ARPA funding during the council’s recent property tax debate in which Sarno initially offered $8 million to offset tax increases before eventually pushing that number to $9 million. Like Whitfield, Govan pointed to and decried the use of ARPA funding for other projects instead of providing additional relief to city residents.