The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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An Act providing for the election of city councilors and school committee persons within the City of Springfield. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter forty-three of the General Laws of the Commonwealth or any other general law or special law or any rule, regulation or ordinance to the contrary, there shall be thirteen (13) city councilors who shall constitute the city council of the city of Springfield, with all the rights, powers and duties vested in and exercised by said council.
Each member shall be elected for a term of two years; five (5) councilors shall be elected at large by the voters of the entire city; one (1) councilor shall be elected from each of the eight (8) separate wards within the city of Springfield, as defined in the ordinances of the city, as amended. An individual seeking election as a councilor for a separate ward shall be a resident of that ward and shall have been a resident of that ward for a period of at least one year prior to the deadline for submission of the individual’s nomination papers to the city. An individual seeking election as a councilor at large shall have been a resident of the city for a period of at least one year prior to the deadline for submission of the individual’s nomination papers to the city. The individual’s nomination papers shall be signed in the aggregate by not less than one hundred registered voters of the ward from which the separate ward councilor is to serve.
SECTION 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter forty-three of the General Laws of the Commonwealth or any other general law or special law or any rule, regulation or ordinance to the contrary, the school committee shall consist of seven (7) members who shall constitute the school committee of the city of Springfield, with all the rights, powers and duties vested in and exercised by said school committee.
The school committee shall consist of the mayor, who shall be the chairman; two members elected at large by the voters of the entire city; one each shall be elected from the following combined districts: wards one (1) and three (3); wards four (4) and five (5); wards six (6) and seven (7); and wards two (2) and eight (8), within the city of Springfield as defined in the ordinances of the city, as amended. An individual seeking election as a school committee person for a district comprised of a combined ward shall be a resident within the district formed by the combined wards in which the individual is to serve, and shall have been a resident of the district formed by said combined wards for a period of at least one year prior to the deadline for submission of the individual’s nomination papers to the city or in the case of an at large candidate shall have been a resident of the city for at least one year. The individual’s nomination papers shall be signed in the aggregate by not less than one hundred registered voters residing in the district formed by the combined wards from which the individual school committee person is to serve. Each member shall be elected for a term of four years.
SECTION 3: Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, to ascertain the will of the people of the city of Springfield, the board of election commissioners shall cause the following binding public opinion question to be placed on the official ballot to be used in the city at the next regular municipal election to be held on the sixth day of November in the year two thousand and seven:
THIS QUESTION IS BINDING.
Shall the city council of the city of Springfield be composed of thirteen members; one from each of the eight wards elected from the voters of that ward of the city and five to be elected at large from all the voters of the city; shall the School Committee of the city of Springfield be composed of seven members including the Mayor and one from each of the districts formed by the combined Wards: one and three; four and five; six and seven; two and eight; and two members to be elected at large from all the voters of the city?
SECTION 4.If a majority of the voters casting a ballot on this binding question shall vote in the affirmative, the provisions of said act shall take effect at the next regular municipal election held in the city of Springfield.