SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter forty-three of the General Laws or Chapter 125 of the Acts of 2007 or any other general or specific law to the contrary, the city council of the city of Springfield, shall hold office for a term of four years from the first Monday of January, 2016 coterminous with the term of the mayor of said city, and until their successors are qualified with all the rights, powers and duties vested in and exercised by said city council under the chapter of said city.

SECTION 2. 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 seventeenth day of September in the year two thousand and thirteen.

THIS QUESTION IS BINDING.

Shall the term of the city council in the city of Springfield be for four years coterminous with the term of the mayor?

SECTION 3. 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 for the mayor held in the city of Springfield in November, 2016.