As Mayor, all department heads will live in the City of Springfield without exception!
According to the latest filings from the Office of Campaign and Finance (OCPF), Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood donated to Mayor Sarno using Wilbraham as her home address. Even more disturbing, Mayor Sarno’s committee accepted the donation, recorded it in the (OCPF) database using the same address and has yet to call her residency into question. While there has always been skepticism over Commissioner Clapprood not living in Springfield, which she is required to do in accordance with the City of Springfield Residency Ordinance (Chapter 73 Article II), this recent admission affirms what many have already known. To make matters worse, Commissioner Clapprood is the second highest paid municipal employee earning $207,678 per year. As a result, the residents of Springfield who bare the burden of paying this large salary now have to watch this money leave the city to be invested in the surrounding suburbs.
As Mayor of Springfield, all Department Heads will live in the city without exception. And, upon revelation that any department head tries to circumvent the system by using multiple addresses when it is obvious that their primary residence is outside of the city, they will immediately be investigated by the Residency Compliance Unit and held accountable. The ordinance clearly states in Section 73-14 that “…the actual principal residence of the individual…(is) where he or she normally eats and sleeps and maintains his or her normal personal household effects.” Commissioner Clapprood’s Wilbraham address on her personal check that she gave to the Sarno committee is as close to a “smoking gun” as it gets that she does not live in Springfield, and that alone warrants an investigation.
As Mayor, we will be honest with residents, follow the laws that are on the books, and hold all department heads to the same standards that we set for ourselves. Most, if not all, of the department heads in the City of Springfield make well over a hundred thousand dollars a year and it is insulting to residents of the City that their tax dollars are being used to pay these big time salaries for individuals allowed to live outside of the city limits without recourse.
