City Clerk and Election Commission Gladys Oyola-Lopez, Attorney William Mahoney, Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Assistant Human Resource Director Caitlyn Julius, HR Personnel Analyst Chloe Meunier, City Solicitor Judge John Payne, Deputy City Solicitor Kathy Breck, and Chief of Staff Tom Ashe were also present at the meeting.
Mayor Sarno states, “Again, I want to thank everyone for agreeing to serve on this very important committee. Each one of my appointees, and the representatives from the City Council, School Committee and from the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance, are very well respected, capable and bring with them a plethora of experience in the public sector. Our new CAFO will have to not only balance our municipal budget but also be able to advance innovative financial strategies in order to continue to maintain our city’s solid financial stability and health, while adhering to our sound, sustainable and prudent fiscal management policies that has provided our city with the highest bond rating in history, maintaining a healthy stabilization reserve account to weather any economic uncertainty, and continue to invest in our capital plans and projects for the betterment of our residents and business community.”
“Also, besides having strong fiscal acumen, he or she must be able to positively interact with our city and elected officials, residents and our business community, especially when difficult decisions have to be rendered,” said Mayor Sarno.
Per Massachusetts General Law (M.G.L.), Chapter 468 of the Acts of 2008, the CAFO Screening Committee shall consist of seven (7) members, including one (1) appointment each from the School Committee, City Council and State Secretary of Administration and Finance. The mayor shall appoint four (4) other members to the Committee, two (2) of whom shall be experts in municipal management.
City Council President Jesse Lederman tapped City Council Vice President Melvin Edwards to serve. The School Committee selected School Committee member Chris Collins to serve. Matthew Gorzkowicz, Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, tapped Zack Blake, Financial Management Resources Bureau Chief, to serve.
Mayor Sarno had previous selected four Springfield residents to serve.
- Margaret ‘Pedge’ Lynch – retired City of Springfield Board of Assessor
- William ‘Billy’ Christofori – Springfield Park Commissioner and retired Chief Financial Officer, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
- Jose Claudio – Chief Operating Officer, New North Citizens Council
- Haskell Kennedy – Springfield Retirement Board member and retired Director of Diversity and Employee Relations, State of Connecticut
The committee selected Haskell Kennedy to serve as its chair with a unanimous vote.
The committee shall recommend to the mayor the names of not less than two (2), or more than five (5) candidates whom it believes to be best suited to perform the duties of the CAFO. Mayor Sarno will select one (1) of the candidates recommended by the screening committee to serve as the new CAFO. If he finds that no such candidate to be qualified for the office, he shall direct the screening committee to reopen the search.
During this transition, Mayor Sarno has selected, per M.G.L. Chapter 468 of the Acts of 2008, the well-respected City Comptroller Patrick Burns, who brings a wealth of financial acumen, to be the acting CAFO. He will work closely with Deputy CAFO Lindsay Hackett, which will assure our strong and prudent financial discipline continues. Additionally, Mayor Sarno has named Deputy Comptroller Joanne Raleigh to serve as acting Comptroller.
