A task force assembled just a few months ago to identify ways to get more people involved in the workings of local government in Springfield, Massachusetts has issued a final report.
The Springfield City Council’s Working Group on Civic Engagement has made eight policy and operational recommendations including improving the 311 call center, alerting people to public meetings via text and email, online registration to participate in public meetings, and early and mail-in voting in local elections.
Newly-elected Ward 5 City Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce, who chaired the 15-member task force, said they produced “great recommendations” to make local government work better.
“This is what politics should be about,” he said. “Bringing some concrete tangible items we can present and get accomplished.”
Appointed last October by Springfield City Council President Jesse Lederman, the task force held roughly a half-dozen meetings including one virtual public hearing where several residents complained about a lack of two-way communication with City Hall. One speaker described it as “a black hole.” Others complained it is too hard to find out where and when meetings of City Council committees, and municipal boards and commissions are taking place.
Several of the recommendations fall under the purview of City Clerk Gladys Oyola-Lopez, who served as an advisor to the working group. She agreed that the 311 call center, which she oversees, needs to be enhanced.
“We have over 156,000 residents and eight people working at the call center and that includes the director,” Oyola-Lopez said. “We can do more. The call center is really needed and people use it.”
The report urges the City Council to request an internal audit of 311 that would look at call center practices in other municipalities including service request tracking and follow-up.
Likewise, the early and mail-in voting opportunities in local elections would be administered by Oyola-Lopez. She said the Elections Office will need a bigger budget to make the voting reforms.
“We’ve started preliminarily looking at the costs,” Oyola-Lopez said. Postage would be the single-biggest additional expense, she said.
As City Council President, Lederman said he will see to it that the working group’s recommendations are acted on.
“Every recommendation that came from the civic engagement working group is important and we believe they’re all achievable,” Lederman said.
The working group is diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, and the backgrounds of its members. Elizabeth Payne-Ghedi, a Springfield native who moved away but then returned a few years ago, said the other task force members were “awesome” to work with.
“People felt very free to share and were really appreciative and accepting of others’ ideas because we knew we were all equally a part of the city,” she said.
Additional recommendations from the group are to create a “layman’s cover sheet” for legislation, hold monthly local government briefings, expand opportunities for youth participation in government, and expand efforts to actively support the city’s elder population.
