The head of Springfield’s city council says she is not stepping down, as both she and the city solicitor wait to hear from the State Ethics Commission.
Tracye Whitfield has been under fire over apparent conflict of interest cases – some of which go back to 2021.
Flanked by three dozen supporters in front of city hall Monday, Whitfield declared that while she has made mistakes, she never intentionally used her position for personal gain, and that her understanding of state and local conflict of interest rules was “incomplete.”
“Since becoming aware of my mistakes, I have taken immediate [corrective] actions,” she said, reading from a statement. “I contacted the city council’s counsel and the city solicitor myself. I reached out to the Massachusetts Ethics Commission and offered to meet them in-person. I have studied the conflict of interest laws and the city council rules thoroughly and sought legal guidance to ensure I fully-understand them moving forward.”
For the past two weeks, Whitfield and the city’s legal department have been addressing instances in which the president appeared to assist a company with acquiring city-owned properties.
Following a review of emails, various municipal meetings and more, City Solicitor Stephen Buoniconti concluded that Whitfield repeatedly violated state conflict of interest statutes by advocating for JETS Property Development, LLC – a company she co-managed up until recently.
The alleged offenses include taking part in city auctions while also serving as a councilor at large. JETS reportedly secured a parcel at one of the auctions in 2021, and two more this month.
Resigning from JETS over a week ago, Whitfield says she knows now that mistakes were made, and that she is hoping to right what wrongs she can.
“I'm definitely looking into all of the training that we can provide to councilors: I was looking at that before I even became city council president, working with the clerk and attorney Thomas Moore in the law department to create a training, because I didn't feel that I knew everything that I needed to know and, clearly, I didn't,” she told reporters. “I own that, and I'm going to learn as much as I can now and I'm going to move forward from this.”
Monday’s rally stemmed, in-part, from a Feb. 2 city council meeting.
According to city legal officials, Whitfield “tainted” a vote when she mistimed a recusal and failed to disclose an item before the council involved JETS as well as her son, who presented on said item.
The incident became the subject of a legal memorandum issued by the city’s law department, written up after Whitfield requested guidance.
It recommended the vote be rescinded, undoing the council’s approval to abandon a parcel off of Wallace and Wisteria streets. Abandonment would have meant splitting the 6,000-square-foot amongst its neighbors – one of which was JETS. Whitfield never voted on the item.
However, the city's law department was not done.
On the heels of Ward 6 Councilor Victor Davila requesting a review of all city business involving JETS, another memorandum was issued.
While the first memo detailed planning board meetings and emails involving Whitfield advocating for JETS - and the state laws she appeared to violate - the latest 102-page document went deeper.
It detailed a number of instances in which Whitfield appeared to advocate for the company, including attempts to book meetings between city department heads and JETS representatives to discuss city-owned parcels.
The report also detailed additional cases of the council president failing to disclose any conflicts of interest with the city clerk's office.
Buoniconti says the memorandum has been filed with the State Ethics Commission.
On Friday, he told WAMC what happens next comes down, in-part, to the commission.
“The conflict of interest laws allow for two different routes, both civil and criminal, and that's fully up to the state authorities,” he said. “But, a state authority or the district attorney's office can prosecute the conflict of interest laws, so it could be criminal in nature, but that's not my call. It can [also] be left on the civil side and if it's left civil, then it stays with the State Ethics Commission.”
In the meantime, Councilor Davila, has called on Whitfield to step down as president, citing a need to restore trust in the public’s eye. Whitfield says that’s not happening.
“To Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila, who has publicly asked for my resignation: I respect your right to your opinion, however, I respectfully and firmly decline,” she said to applause.
Among her supporters Monday was Brian Thomas, who tells WAMC Whitfield’s tenure on the council has featured her constantly advocating for communities across the city – and that now that she’s council president, she’s subject to excessive scrutiny.
“I think that it's because she has now gone from city councilor to president of the city council - I think that her power has increased in terms of the work that she can do in the city, and I know that she's been a person that's been calling people on all the things that are happening around here, on the truth,” he told WAMC. “And I think she stands on the truth - I think she's going to be fine because she's standing on the truth.”
Other city councilors say they are waiting for the state ethics commission to weigh in.
Council Vice President Jose Delgado tells WAMC the entire situation is “not a good look” for the city and has been a “distraction” for the council, which should be focused on other matters.
If anything, he says, Whitfield quickly asking for legal guidance after the inciting Feb. 2 meeting speaks volumes.
“… she mentioned to us … that the first thing she did was send an email to the law department … and I think that was the right thing to do,” he said following a council meeting on Feb. 13 to rescind the Feb. 2 vote. “We've got information from the city solicitor, but there's also more information that's at the State Ethics [Commission] and so, I'd like to see what comes from that.”
