SPRINGFIELD — The City Council rescinded what was called a “tainted vote” Friday in a meeting where at least one member called for the body’s president to step down, citing her perceived deception and multiple conflict of interest violations.
But Tracye Whitfield, who took over as the first Black female council president in January, said she has no plans to resign her leadership role.
She admits making a mistake by failing to recuse herself from presiding over a Feb. 2 meeting where the City Council voted 10-2 to abandon a vacant piece of city-owned land at Wallace and Wisteria streets at the request of her son and JETS Property Development LLC, which they own with two other people. The error came from her inexperience in the leadership position, she said.
But Whitfield questioned the accuracy of other allegations of conflicts of interest discovered in a Law Department investigation and argued the entire examination was sparked by her own efforts to be transparent, take responsibility and rectify her initial error.
“Through her actions, the council president has deceived us and has placed this body in a very awkward position. The process is now tainted,” Councilor Victor Davila said. “I have lost faith in the City Council president’s ability to lead this body.”
The City Council must do something to regain the trust and confidence of the public, he said.
Davila said if Whitfield declines to withdraw as president, he will call on the City Council to take a vote of no confidence in her leadership.
A no-confidence vote would say the council has no faith in her ability to lead but does not force her to step down, Davila said.
The City Council rescinded the property vote 11-0 Friday morning. Whitfield and Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce did not attend, and Jose Delgado, who is vice president, presided over the meeting.
Councilor Brian Santaniello asked about the future of the 6,000-square-foot parcel with the recall of the vote.
“It really starts the process all over again,” City Solicitor Stephen J. Buoniconti said. With the property holding substantial value as a buildable lot, Buoniconti said he believes city officials will recommend it eventually be auctioned to the highest bidder.
While there were few concerns about rescinding the vote, several city councilors questioned if it was appropriate to call for Whitfield to step down.
“We are not the judge and jury and executioner of this. We are not the (State) Ethics Commission. We are not the city solicitor,” said City Councilor Gerry Martin.
Councilor Maria Perez called for a special committee to be put in place to look at Whitfield’s potential violations of the conflict of interest laws discovered by the Law Department examination.
“Yes, I do feel upset about the matter,” she said. “This is big, and this is not to be taken lightly, but let’s do it the right way.”
On Thursday, Buoniconti released a three-page memo listing new allegations of potential conflicts that Whitfield might have had in the past five years. It came one week after he unveiled others in a preliminary examination of her failure to disclose her financial interests.
Under state ethics rules, councilors should have no dealings with the city that could financially benefit themselves or immediate family members. The examinations of Whitfield’s actions are ongoing and involve scrutinizing thousands of emails.
“We will follow where the facts take us,” Buoniconti said.
The reports also have been forwarded to the State Ethics Commission. If an investigation is conducted and wrongdoing is found, officials could level civil fines, or it could be forwarded to the state or Hampden District Attorney’s Office for a criminal prosecution, Buoniconti said.
Whitfield said she is consulting a lawyer on some of the city Law Department’s findings, which she said are flawed. She is also planning to hold a press conference next week to respond to some of the allegations.
“I do not agree with the characterization of those concerns and believe the information presented is inaccurate,” she said in an earlier interview.
Some of the findings include a failure by Whitfield to disclose her financial interests in JETS Property Development before the Planning Board in 2024 when requesting a zone change for a separate property that the company owns on Wisteria Street, or when she appeared before the Board of Public Works in 2025 when the parcel on Wallace and Wisteria streets was discussed.
Buoniconti’s investigation said she also appeared to pressure the Old Hill Neighborhood Council for a $2,000 federal pandemic recovery payment for a man who hadn’t been paid for his work and threatened to push the city to audit its books if it wasn’t made. Councilors are prohibited from soliciting money on behalf of third parties, Buoniconti said.
Whitfield said she was simply helping a constituent and had no financial interest in the situation.
The memo also cites her for “improperly influencing various city departments and seeking favoritism for her personal financial gain” when she and her son, and other members of JETS Property Development met with the city’s housing director in February 2025. The report said she did not clearly inform the city of her financial interests or file financial disclosure forms.
But Whitfield said at the time they were just seeking information about the process and not discussing specific properties.
Also at question are three properties JETS acquired from the city at auction, one on Crest Street in 2021 that was developed and two others on Clarendon and Newland streets on Feb. 3. Whitfield said she is working with a lawyer to decide if the company will go through with two recent purchases.
Buoniconti said the potential conflicts of interest were diverse, involving multiple departments who have little interactions with each other, so the different problems weren’t noticed until the Wallace and Wisteria street property vote took place.
“I think it was just one that people were not aware of until you put all the pieces of the puzzle together,” he said.
But Whitfield instead questions if she is being targeted.
“I don’t know why the city is coming after me because I’m the first Black female City Council president,” she told The Republican on Thursday. “This is personal.”
Davila accused her of crying “crocodile tears.”
“I’m a minority, and I feel this puts a huge cloud over the council,” said Davila, who is Latino. “It is a consistent pattern of abuse of power, violation of trust, violation of ethics laws.”
