Council swears in new officer

Springfield’s City Council swore in new police officer Vanessa Bellmont as part of their July 20 regular City Council meeting. Attending her swearing in was her family and Police Chief John  Nicholson.

A community member spoke to council about the immediate need for placing two stop signs at Wilson St./Hoyt Ave. and Winona St./ Hoyt Ave. She shared with council a list of 38 neighborhood residents who signed a sheet requesting the stop signs. Council heard her concerns and are asking the City’s  Safe Routes to School Committee in partnership with the school to look into the need of additional stop signs. Council  was hesitant to immediately place new stops signs at those locations since the new school building could change the flow of traffic and council felt that there is increased traffic on those roads due to the Central St. project. Council did instruct the city to have barricades placed on the road to help slow down traffic on the roads due to the Central St. project. The barricades have since been put up. Council will hear from the  Safe Routes to School Committee at an upcoming meeting.

In other Council items:

Adopted a Fund Balance Policy of 50%- The purpose of this policy is to establish specific guidelines the City of Springfield use to maintain an adequate level of fund balance to provide cash flow requirements and contingency needs because major revenues, including property taxes and other government aids are received in the second half of the City’s fiscal year. The policy will also be used to classify fund balances into categories based primarily on the extent to which the City is bound to honor constraints on the specific purposes for which amounts in these funds can be spent.

See complete article in this week's issue of the Springfield Advance-Press.