Take My Council, Please: A Green Akers Reboot, but As Legislative Drama…
Ahead of the ascendence of Deputy Chief Lawrence Akers to Police Superintendent, the Springfield City Council considered a batch of legislation in an odd Tuesday meeting to smooth things over. Despite an extended debate on a home rule petition allowing Akers to serve beyond age 65, it passed easily. By contrast, substantial changes to police leadership ordinances yielded a fractious, heated and, at times, bizarre debate.
When Mayor Domenic Sarno named Akers, 64, to succeed Cheryl Clapprood, everyone knew he would need an age waiver from the legislature. It was hardly obvious that revisions to the Police Commission ordinance would follow. If enacted, these would codify what Sarno imposed after losing at the Supreme Judicial Court, in defiance of the plain text of the ordinance. Critics suggested this would effectively gut central, if heretofore unrealized, powers of the resurrected Commission.