Tonight, city councilors in Springfield will vote on a “no confidence” resolution concerning Council President Tracye Whitfield.
Whitfield has been at the center of a lengthy city legal review — one dealing with conflict of interest cases that appear to violate state statutes.
The issue was initially centered around a Feb. 2 council vote to abandon a piece of city property. During the council meeting, officials say Whitfield failed to disclose she co-managed a company that would benefit directly from the abandonment.
While she did recuse herself from voting, the timing and other issues prompted her to reach out for legal guidance.
Declaring the vote had been tainted and needed to be rescinded, the city's legal department later found multiple cases in which Whitfield routinely failed to disclose conflicts of interest in other city matters, with at least one instance dating back to 2021.
The situation led to Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila calling for Monday night’s no confidence vote in the event the president did not step down.
“I am appalled by this,” Davila told the council on Feb. 13. “We can sit here and say we're going to wait for the commission ... we are a sovereign body. We choose who leads us."
Whitfield has admitted she was not aware of the disclosure rules as well as other conflict-of-interest-related statutes. Rallying with her supporters last month, the council president vowed to correct her errors and improve councilor ethics training, all while emphasizing she would not be stepping down.
“What defines you is not the mistake - it is how you respond to it when you make a mistake,” Whitfield said during a rally on Feb. 16. “When you make a mistake: admit it, correct it, learn from it, grow from it and move forward stronger and wiser than before. That's what I'm doing … I am committed to setting not perfection, but accountability and growth.”
The council rescinded the Feb. 2 vote two weeks ago.
Whitfield has also resigned from the property development company involved in the case, as well as other apparent violations listed by the city's legal department.
The department's legal review has been submitted to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission.
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Some audio used in this story was provided by Focus Springfield
