SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The fireworks at Tuesday’s Springfield city council meeting arose from a request t0 purchase ten Ford Explorer Police Interceptors for just over $620,000. But the problems Ald. Jennifer Notariano (pictured, right) has are not about the SUV’s.

While the Explorers are in the budget, software intended to monitor and aid police officers’ mental health is not. But Notariano wants to spend $75,000 on it. “What would deferring the purchase of one of these vehicles do,” asked Notariano, “if we bought nine instead of ten and put that additional Explorer in the next budget year” When Mayor Misty Buscher (pictured, left) advised Notariano she could offer an amendment to the Explorer purchase, Notariano responded, “I’m not going to solve your problems.”

Notariano said she sought police budget information but never received it. The mayor said the city budget director had sent Notriano an email about it.

Ald. Roy Williams said ignoring requests for information is the norm in his experience. Later in the meeting, Williams said, “This is why we need to vote for somebody else” for mayor in 2027. Buscher admonished Williams against electioneering and threatened to kick him out of the meeting if he persisted.

Some believe that if the city wants to buy the mental health program, it must go up for bid. Ald. Ralph Hanauer said there are six companies which produce this sort of software and accused Notariano of lying when she said it was exempt from procurement rules because the product is sole-sourced.

In the end, there was no formal proposal to buy the software, and the Explorer purchase – for ten SUV’s – passed with Williams voting No, Ald. Shawn Gregory voting Present, and Ald. Larry Rockford absent.