Author: joeward7

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Some aldermanic candidates expressed support for a city resolution that would welcome immigrants, while other stayed silent during a forum held Thursday night. The forum, which was hosted by the Inner City Old Neighborhoods at South Side Christian Church, featured candidates from Wards 6 through 10, as well as one candidate from Ward 4.

The forums covered issues ranging from waste management to how aldermanic candidates would handle the city’s utility, City Water, Light and Power.

Candidates were able to choose

The State Journal-Register

If state legislators want some inspiration in how to cooperate when it comes to addressing the growing pension liability, they should look down the street from the Capitol to Springfield City Hall for some inspiration.

The city of Springfield and the firefighters union came together to craft a new five-year contract that provides raises to the firefighters while also keeping an eye on the future pension benefits the city will have to pay — costs that increasingly are taking up a larger share of the city’s budget. The city council unanimously approved the contract Tuesday, while

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

For the first time in three years, Springfield firefighters will have a working contract with the city, setting their wages and requiring new hires to live within city limits for the first 15 years of their career.

Springfield city council members voted unanimously to approve the five-year contract, which covers March 2016 through February 2021. A majority of the union that represents the city’s firefighters, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 37, voted to ratify the contract in January.

Fire Chief Allen Reyne called the contract “a good compromise,” saying

Brenden Moore
The State Journal-Register

A significant redevelopment could be coming to MacArthur Boulevard near Laurel Street, with a local developer planning to tear down several buildings to erect two new ones. The proposed development would include a 9,000 square-foot strip mall and a 2,352 square-foot standalone building for a restaurant.

Several buildings that currently hug MacArthur between Campbell Avenue and Laurel Street — including one that houses a Family Video and Metropcs, one formerly occupied by the Federated Funeral Directors of America and another formerly occupied by a law office — would be torn down.

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

At least four relatives of Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder have gotten city jobs since the mayor took office in 2015.

A nephew who worked a $10-per-hour temporary job at the public works department in the summer of 2017 is no longer on the city payroll, nor is Travis Hamlin, a former budget analyst with the city’s Office of Budget and Management who is the mayor’s nephew-in-law. Langfelder said Hamlin hadn’t yet married his niece when he became a city employee in

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Springfield will soon join several Illinois cities that have a voluntary program in which residents can register their private cameras to help out police. Police Chief Kenny Winslow told the City Council this past week that the registration will be available through the Springfield Police Department’s website in February.

Residents who own private exterior cameras would enter information, like their address and a way to contact them, into a portal on the website. That information would be uploaded into a spreadsheet, which would plot all of the registered private security cameras on a map. Police officers would have access to this information and would be able to contact camera owners afterward if a crime occurred nearby.

Winslow said the camera owners would be able to send

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

If you think there are a lot of politicians on the make in Springfield, you’d be right.

Thirty-two candidates are vying for 13 municipal offices in the upcoming April 2 municipal election. Three citywide races – for mayor, city clerk and treasurer – each have two candidates apiece. Twenty-six candidates, the most in at least two decades, are running for city council, where just two of 10 races are uncontested.

“It’s a weird time – it really is,” says Brad Schaive, Laborers Local 477 business manager.

Despite the number of candidates, there will be no primary election, which is triggered when five candidates

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

A resolution that would have asked Springfield voters in April if they wanted Capital Township to merge with the city failed on a 7-3 vote during Thursday’s Springfield City Council meeting.

The question would have been similar to the advisory referendum put on November ballot by Capital Township, asking township voters if they would want the township to consolidate with Sangamon County. While the township boundaries are essentially the same as the city of Springfield, the township assessor and supervisor are the Sangamon County clerk and

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

After years of revenue shortfalls leading to tax increases and cuts, Mayor Jim Langfelder says the city is on solid financial footing and he will propose a “status quo” budget, with money set aside for equipment upgrades and homelessness initiatives.

Aldermen need to approve the budget, with or without their changes, by the beginning of the city’s fiscal year, March 1. Over the next month, department heads will have public hearings in which they will give presentations to aldermen about

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

A nonprofit corporation recommends City Water, Light and Power should ask for proposals for solar and wind contracts. The Energy Authority, which works with 58 utility companies throughout the United States, was hired by the city to work on a 20-year integrated resource plan for the utility to see what energy resources CWLP should invest in and which ones it should retire.

In updating council members during their Tuesday meeting, TEA presented