The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is a Massachusetts law that provides a local community preservation fund for open space protection, historic rehabilitation, affordable housing and outdoor recreation in the City of Holyoke. Approved by voters in 2016, funds for the program are generated through a surcharge of 1.5% and an annual disbursement from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund. The program is led by the Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC), a nine-member volunteer committee with the support of a staff member.”
City Council Returns
The City Council returned to the chambers, and except for a break with tradition in how public comment. is handled, the meeting was comprised mostly of house-keeping items such as adding speed bumps and road signage to aid drivers.
As been reported in news outlets many times since the arrival of Police Chief Brian Keenan, narco-traffikers are being found in the places where they live and arrested along with substantial amounts of opiods, weapons and bullets.
City Councilor Patti Devine announced a $10,000 grant to the Holyoke Police Department for the purpose of supporting an anti-heroin task force. And City Councilor Howard Greaney Jr. proposed that the head of the city’s Board of Health, Tim Rivers, appear before the council to give them an update on how the board is carrying out its work. Councilor Kevin Jourdain led the ceremony to acknowledge the many years of service by Brian Harris at both the City of Holyoke and the Holyoke School Department. “The City Council thanks Brian for his dedication to our schools, students and athletes for so many years and we wish him much success and a happy healthy retirement,” reads the proclamation.
Jourdain also proposed that a “section of Pine Street extended from Resnic Blvd to the back parking lot of the high school be dedicated and named “Ronald Collamore Way” in honor of Ronald Collamore and his over four decades of service to the Holyoke public schools as a member of the School Committee.”
He said: “Ron has decided not to run for reelection this year as our, long, long, long, long time, Ward 6 School Committee member. And, you know, he’s got, I believe, some record statewide of holding in that school committee position. I think it is the record. Longest, longest elected official in the state. So there you go. So, you know, he’s just a good guy. He’s, I’ve enjoyed. I get, you know, he’s on the joint committee representing the school committee. He’s just one of those Holyoke legends. Just, you know, really cares about kids. Really cares about the schools. He’s just, a really good, sweet guy. And, you know, it is going to be different not to see him. And in this small way, we can honor his memory of long term. And, he just made a tremendous, contribution to the city with, you know, nearly 50 years of service in elected office here in Holyoke.”
This is is bio on the School Committee page:
William R. Collamore, Ward 6
William “Ronnie” Collamore is the longest serving elected official in Massachusetts, as he has continued to serve as the Ward 6 School Committee representative since 1976. His motivation for serving on the School Committee is rooted in his family who believed in public service. He chose the office of School Committee in order to serve the youth of the Holyoke community. Mr. Collamore was also one of the first champions of the Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame, which was created in 2017 to honor the achievements and contributions to athletics at Holyoke Public Schools.
Mr. Collamore is a retired firefighter and has been actively involved in many civic boards. Over the years, he has been a member or served on the board of the American Legion, Holyoke Boys and Girls Club, Crosstown Friends Alumni Basketball, and Western Massachusetts Umpires Association. He is a founding board member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame since its inception in the 1970s.
Mr. Collamore and many family members have attended Holyoke Public Schools. He graduated with an associate of arts degree from Springfield Technical Community College and has a certificate in fire science from the Fire Studies Academy in New Haven, Connecticut. He is a lifelong Holyoker, always living in Ward 6 except for two years while he served in the U.S. Army.
The proposal was approved unanimously.
The longest discussion among councilors was over the topic of the Holyoke Community Preservation Act to formalize more its handling of funds and the associated paperwork.
The CPA wrote to the City Council. The letter reads:
The City of Holyoke Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) respectfully requests that the
City Council consider a request of up to $15,000 to allow a streamlined process for CPA grants that
are less than $3,000 applied to projects whose total budgets do not exceed $6,000.
The goal is to allow CPAC to support small projects outside of its normal grant cycle and without
requiring additional Council approval.
We believe that the “CPA Small Grant Application Program” will encourage an expanded pool of
applicants, broaden community participation, and make applying less formidable for the average
citizen.
All projects must still be in alignment with the CPAC’s Preservation Plan and scoring rubric, which
requires demonstrated public impact and support. The CPA implemented a similar process with City
Council in the past but has not implemented it the last two years. We are bringing it back to the City
Council so as to open up small grant applications in FY26. As part of our year-end process, we will
submit a report detailing how small grants were spent to Council within 30 years of the end of this
fiscal year.
Examples of possible Small Grants Projects include interpretive or educational signs or plaques in
parks, trail maintenance or creation, or other work on public park or conservation land such as
invasive species control, soil grading or treatment, vegetation planting, and the addition of permanent
benches, tables, or trash cans. It will also allow smaller requests concerning the archiving of historic
records and artifact preservation or restoration.
What is the Community Preservation Act?
The issue arose because the CPA introduced a document that indicates where smaller amounts of CPA funds –totalling $15,000- were designated.
Councilor Jourdain said: “I think it should go to Finance (Committee) and have a discussion. Basically, what we should see is if they want to open it up like a small grant program, then okay. But whoever they’re recommending have a list that says everybody applies by day X. And we recommend 2000 to this one and 3000 of that one and 5000 to this one. … And then they just send it in as a sheet to the Council and say, these are who were approving for the 15 grand, as opposed to us just saying, here’s 15 grand, spend it however you want. I mean, I’m not starting that practice. It’s not with me. I’d like to know who’s getting the money and the process in the statute as they recommend we approve.”
Councilor Israel Rivera countered the point, saying, “Everyone wants to be a steward of the finances of the city. I totally understand and I respect that. But there are CPA commissioners, too, as well, that their responsibility and the fiduciary responsibility actually is to be good stewards of the city, taxpayer dollars as well. … It’s just not to kind of duplicate services in a sense.”
The chair of the CPA, Councilor Megan Magrath-Smith, had to leave the meeting before the CPA motion came up.
The discussion starts here.
Here is the link to both the agenda and packet of documents that councilors received for this meeting.
