SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield City Council voted 7-6 to seat Tracye Whitfield as its next president in an informal caucus Monday night.
“I’ll save my long speech for Jan. 5,” Whitfield said after the vote.
Kateri Walsh nominated Tracye Whitfield to be City Council president. Walsh said Whitfield is a qualified, strong voice for all citizens for the city of Springfield.”
Running against her in the vote was City Councilor Melvin Edwards, who received votes from six councilors.
As the first Black woman to lead the council in the fourth-largest city in New England, the vote to elect her as council president is historical, Whitfield said.
She never thought she would sit on the City Council, let alone lead it, Whitfield said.
“It’s letting all young girls (know), no matter the race, that they can achieve what they put their minds to,” Whitfield said in an interview before the informal vote.
The council president presides over the body and decides committee assignments. If the mayor is unavailable to fulfill the duties of that office, the council president steps into that role.
Monday’s vote was merely an informal caucus. The official vote comes in January, when members of the new council take their seats.
In an interview ahead of Monday’s vote, Whitfield said she hopes to foster more civic education and engagement in the role of council president — “civic education from the top down,” she said.
That includes education for incoming council members, such as briefing memos, as there was little training when she first joined the council. She wants to form ad hoc committees to study, say, the city budget, so “residents can know how the budget process really works,” Whitfield said.
Heading into the meeting, Whitfield said she had the support of six of her colleagues. Her vote made a seventh. The City Council is made up of 13 members. “I’m praying,” she said in the minutes before the City Council started its meeting.
Meanwhile, Walsh nominated Jose Delgado as City Council vice president, saying he has an impressive resume and brings fresh ideas to the body.
No councilors nominated a second name for vice president. Delgado received unanimous support from his colleagues.
Delgado said he came to this body two years ago and hopes to focus his service on transparency and moving the city forward, while working with the council president to do so.
Before the informal vote, the City Council honored two departing city councilors, at-large member Sean Curran and Tim Allen, who represents the city’s Ward 7.
“Be kind to each other; work hard for the city,” Allen said.
“It’s been and honor, it’s been a privilege,” Curran said.
