Updates from Finance Committee below

In a fast-moving City Council meeting on March 19, the council heard from a resident calling out the inappropriate conduct of a city councilor,  agreed on several proposals that included creating a new police department position and allowing veterans with license decals that state the vehicle belongs to a veteran, may park anywhere without worrying about parking meters, and imploring the Commonwealth’s commissioner of education to return to Holyoke control of its schools already.

The council also recognized the family of Holyoke resident Merle Hillman, a young Navy sailor killed during the Pearl Harbor attack that triggered World War II.

“He enlisted in the military 1937, so he wasn’t even drafted,” said City Councilor David Bartley, who served as president for this meeting as President Tessa Murphy-Romboletti could not be present in person although she was on the Zoom video call. “He did it on his own. And then he was on the USS California and he perished and he remained unknown, an unknown soldier in terms of his death for many years until 2011. And then the DNA press process.”

Years passed until last fall, the family received a notification that the remains of Merle were identified.

He was buried with full honors at the St. Jerome Cemetery a couple of months ago.

City resident Nathan Chung reminded City Councilor David Bartley,  that during the Public Comment section of every meeting, residents have a right to speak their views without being admonished by councilors.

“I’d like to address an incident at the February 22nd City Council meeting,” he said. “It occurred about 9 minutes, 40 seconds into the recording on YouTube. During public comment, I raised a concern about the proposed CPA reduction language on the ballot being unclear. Well, councilor raised a point of order to debate what I said. He said, “These conspiracy theories are lunacy and said it is the Law Department’s responsibility to write the language.

“Using a point of order was arguably improper because it is for procedural violations, not debates. The claim that it is the law department’s responsibility to write the language is questionable since the assistant city solicitor later said that the city council controlled the language.

“Whatever the case, the City Council is the maker of the order and should be concerned with communicating with the public clearly.

“Being a public official is not a license to yell at, insult or suppress people with whom you disagree. These types of behavior should not be normalized.

“I could not find any rule about not naming any city councilor,” he ended, in adding it was Bartley to whom he referred. “If he has a personal issue with me, we can meet at a public place to discuss.”

Bartley did not respond, as is customary for councilors to only listen to residents.

Also, the City Council sent to the Law Department a complaint filed by resident Stephan Superba in which he alleges that the council violated the Open Meeting Law. Read his complaint here.

The council also approved the creation and funding for a new Crime Analyst position at the Holyoke Police Department. This position would include the following responsibilities, at a salary between $58,680 and $82,135 (Holyome Media edited for grammar corrections):

“The Crime Analyst is a civilian position responsible for collecting. evaluating, analyzing. and disseminating information and intelligence data regarding criminal activity, criminal enterprises. and suspected criminal acts within the area of operation of the Holyoke Police Department in support of the Department’s proactive policing activities.

Duties and The Crime Analyst has the following duties:

• Perform strategic analysis which includes but is not limited to. identifying and recommending proactive measures to implement long-range plans for crime prevention; research to identify crime patterns; implement procedures related to computerized mapping and analysis: develop strategy to address problem areas; provide analysis to Police Department Personnel. City Administration and City Council for decision-making purposes; and collect, analyze, interpret and prepare police data to evaluate police deployment. responses, and problem-solving efforts.
• Perform tactical analysis which includes but is not limited to. provide accurate. a timely and relevant analysis of crime patterns to aid in the efficient deployment of department resources; identify crime patterns and offender localities for investigative purposes; analyze known officers MO’s and establish timelines to perfo1111 suspect/crime correlations to provide suspect leads; identify crime areas and hot spots and prepare an action plan for suppression; m1d provide case
• Perform intelligence analysis which includes but is not limited to, developing a system to identify. document. and track potential threatening situations, and security-related cases; coordinate the exchange of interstate and intrastate information relating to criminal activity and criminal movement, determine structure and operation of organized criminal groups; establish a network of internal and external sources and contacts to identify criminal trends and conduct intelligence analysis.

A proposal by former City Councilor Peter Tallman saw the light of day when the City Council approved an ordinance for veterans with veteran decals on the license plate to be allowed to park for free anywhere in the city, including metered parking spaces.

Regarding the Holyoke Public Schools, which have been in receivership for eight years, meaning the now-outgoing Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jeffrey Riley, has had complete control over everything related to public education schools in the city, some councilors council expressed impatience with the set-up.

Absenteeism continues to be extremely high, according to a report by DESE.

City Councilor Kevin Jourdain, who chairs the Joint Committee of the City Council and School Committee, pointed out that despite HPS being in Riley’s control, several problematic issues have not been improved. Example: A majority of students are absent more than 18 days of the calendar school year.

“You wanted the keys to the car,” said Jourdain about Riley, “drive it.”

City Councilor Israel Rivera said the absenteeism may be due to higher homelessness, and comparing HPS to other communities that do not have the challenges families have in this city does not address the issues well.

City Councilor Meg Magrath-Smith added that MCAS tests are skewed to be interpreted in the most narrow ways — “It’s important to note that it’s not a standards-based exam. It’s not like there’s a certain number of points and all the students are asked to reach that same number …  Are you at the median or are you below? Fifty percent of schools will be above, 50 percent will be below. You can guess where we are. Where all schools can be successful, it’s impossible for all districts to be successful … there’s always going to be 49 percent not meeting the ‘half-way’ benchmark.”

The documents that city councilors received for the meeting are here.

Finance Committee

The City Council’s Finance Committee met this week, on March 20, 2024, and the bulk of the conversation was between the Department of Public Works and the committee.

The major issues: taking care of the park where the Valley Blue Sox baseball team plays, overtime and the state of the public buildings.

Carl Rossi, DPW director, made the case for a transfer of $87,000 to his department to cover labor costs. Sean Sheedy, the supervisor for building maintenance, went down the list of buildings that need updates and repairs, including City Hall, Wisteriahurst and the War Memorial. That presentation is here.

The complete agenda for the Finance Committee is here.

The complete meeting video is here.