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Date: 10/12/2021
SPRINGFIELD – Debate centered around a $5 million transfer of stabilization reserve funds for the Law Department settlements during the Springfield City Council meeting on Oct. 4.
The City Council initiated the meeting by discussing a series of grants, including $750,000 to Duggan Park, $87,328 to Springfield Senior Services and a $49,999 road safety grant. A $20,000 grant for the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force drew the most discussion. Capt. Brian Keenan spoke on the grant’s behalf, explaining that the grant will allow for joint investigation with state police to target high-level drug trafficking. “These investigations can take you all over the state,” said Keenan. Each of the grants were approved by the council.
The transfer of stabilization reserve to Law Department settlements then became a central point of discussion. Attorney and City Solicitor Edward Pikula said the request is being made to provide the law team with a pool of money to work toward settlement agreements for pending lawsuits. The settlements would allow Springfield to assume less liability and exposure for the major cases, according to Pikula. “The $5 million would be a fraction, or a small portion, of what we feel is our potential exposure,” said Pikula.
Describing the settlement as a chance to “put their best foot forward,” the attorney explained that a successful agreement would allow for the Law Department to work toward cutting down on misconduct. “If we have a settlement with the Department of Justice, we will have the tools to cut back on future liability,” said Pikula. He said the potential settlement would include reform measures that would increase supervision, accountability, training and disciplinary measures for the department.
Deputy City Solicitor Lisa DeSousa delved into Springfield’s recent payments for police misconduct cases. Since 2016, the city has paid $9,950,000 toward cases, including roughly two-thirds of that sum to Mark Schand’s wrongful imprisonment case in 2019. She shared that these payments have tied in with modern zeitgeist sentiments regarding the aiding of people wronged by the Law Department. “There’s a day of reckoning upon us,” said DeSousa.
City Council members expressed concern with the order. Councilor At Large Tracye L. Whitfield described the request as a “hard, hard ask,” detailing the city’s prior requests for funding toward misconduct cases. “It’s sad that we have to be here again to hear the clean slate story. I don’t know if that is true until true police reform really happens and officers are held accountable for their actions,” said Whitfield.
She expressed frustration that taxpayer funds continue to go toward this issue when they could be utilized for the city in more proactive ways, including working toward prevention for gun violence and opioid addiction. Despite the critiques, Whitfield said she will ultimately support this transfer to protect taxpayers from increased damages.
After councilors Orlando Ramos, Victor Davila, Gumersindo Gomez and Timothy Allen expressed shared concerns about meaningful law reform, Councilor At Large Justin Hurst stressed that he isn’t approving the order until concrete reforms are proposed. “I would be extremely skeptical in terms of giving the administration $5 million and saying, ‘go settle,’” said Hurst, who believes the council and general public should be privy to each case being settled.
Hurst explained the continued transgressions and the need for settlements to be considered on a case-by-case basis prevents him from supporting the measure. Pikula clarified that the order isn’t to approve whether the city can settle, rather it’s to provide suitable funds so that proper settlements could be made. The order was ultimately voted to be continued in future meetings.
The City Council also continued discussion regarding the special permit request for McDonald’s located on 386 Main St. A point of interest during the last meeting was the amount of police incidents that occurred at the fast-food restaurant over the years. Local business owner George B.Tazzini III shared that there were 2,400 incident reports in 2016, with the most recent report from 2019 having roughly half the amount of incident.
Senior Executive Director of the McDonald’s location Tyrone Davis disagreed with Tazzini’s figures, sharing that a majority of incidents regard panhandlers that the restaurant was asked by the city to report. After continued discussion about the location’s planned hours of operation, the permit for a 2 a.m. drive-thru close time was approved under the 16 conditions proposed by Tazzini and South End Citizens Council President Leo Florian.
Before the agenda items were addressed, Council At Large member Jesse Lederman shared reports from committee. He explained that the COVID-19 Response Subcommittee reported a decrease in cases after numbers had been trending upward over the last three months. Lederman said the numbers reflect citizens following the city’s mask mandate, as well as an increase in vaccination rate across the city.
At the time of the meeting, Springfield has a 50 percent vaccination rate, as well as 57 percent rate for those who have received at least one dose, according to Lederman. The council member also shared that the subcommittee will be working with the COVID-19 Youth Council to continue promoting vaccination advocacy, with younger populations remaining the lowest vaccinated age group.