Mayor Sarno Continues Neighborhood Council Listening Tour as Part of the Administrations Community Outreach on ARPA Funding
Springfield, MA – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno continues with his citywide listening tour as part of the Administrations community outreach initiatives on utilizing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
Mayor Sarno has already met with a number of non-profit agencies, business groups and religious organizations to discuss the potential opportunities for the City of Springfield to utilize ARPA funding.
Earlier this month, Mayor Sarno sent out an invitation to our neighborhood councils to meet with him and his Administration to continue discussions and to hear their thoughts, ideas, needs and wants. As the City of Springfield continues to respond to the concerns of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and to accommodate our neighborhood councils, Mayor Sarno has offered to hold these listening session either in-person and/or via Zoom, whichever they feel more comfortable with.
Along with Mayor Sarno, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer (CAFO) TJ Plante, Chief Development Officer (CDO) Tim Sheehan, Director of Recovery and Business Continuity Attorney Tom Moore, and Director of Technical Assistance and Compliance Patrice ‘Chae’ Swan will also attend these meetings.
So far, three neighborhood councils have reached out to Tom Ashe, Mayor’s Chief of Staff, to schedule their meeting. Mayor Sarno and his city ARPA team will meet with the Hungry Hill Neighborhood Council in August and with the East Springfield Neighborhood Council and the Indian Orchard Citizens Council in September to discuss and hear what ideas they have on how ARPA funding could be utilized to enhance their respective neighborhoods.
Mayor Sarno states, “I want to thank Hungry Hill Neighborhood Council President Cathy Mossi, East Springfield Neighborhood Council President Kathy Brown and Indian Orchard Citizens Council President Zaida Govan for their quick response and follow up in scheduling these meetings. I am looking forward to hearing from the other neighborhood councils and scheduling a meeting with them in the near future.”
Mayor Sarno continued, “My dedicated city team and I are looking forward to meeting with our neighborhood councils and hearing what they would like to see on the potential use of ARPA funding towards the seven categories my Administration has identified to capitalize on to continue to move our City forward for everyone. To help maximize and capitalize on the best use of the ARPA funding and to strategically implement and maintain compliance with all tenets of the law, I have appointed Attorney Tom Moore as the Director for the newly created department of Recovery and Business Continuity and Patrice ‘Chae’ Swan as Director of the new department of Technical Assistance and Compliance, under our Office of Administration and Finance headed by CAFO TJ Plante.”
“We have another transformative opportunity to continue to shape the future of our City, similar to the numerous neighborhood and economic development projects my Administration made post tornado.” Mayor Sarno continued. “As previously announced, I have created these seven (7) categories; job creation/economic development, capital projects, assistance for businesses, non-profits, seniors, our neighborhoods, and housing, in which my administration will issue RFP’s in order to enhance these initiatives for the betterment of all in our City. Again, I am looking forward to these listening sessions with our neighborhood councils, some of which we have already begun and received feedback from.”