Three committees of the City Council met this week to discuss the tax-exempt status of the Holyoke Library to McNulty Park being used by people who are homeless.

FINANCE COMMITTEE

María Pagán, the director of the Holyoke Library, informed the committee that the library’s tax-exempt status as a non-profit has been restored.

“Everything’s already taken care of. Everything is back in order. We are back to full tax exemption, just as in 1967. And I think everything is working out fine,” she said.

The committee also took up addressing the safety issue at the corner of Brown and South streets.

“It’s in need of alterations,” said “The plan to increase parking is supported by the affected residents and it was referred to the city engineer ”

Documents presented to committee members are here.

The complete meeting may be seen/heard here.

ORDINANCE COMMITTEE

Just about everyone knows when a neighbor’s or business’s — or vehicle — emits sounds, usually music but street preachers intent on converting people to a particular faith, too —  is too loud. There’s an app for that on the Google Play Store and the Apple Apps Store.

The Holyoke Police Department has hand-held devices that require more tools for them to work, according to interim chief Isaias Cruz.

The Ordinance Committee held a discussion with the chief about the issue of noise outside acceptable levels for most people.

In another matter, a proposal by City Councilor Kevin Jourdain dating back to May 2023 finally saw the light of day for discussion. It reads:

“(That) the City of Holyoke develop a personnel policy for the handling of administrative leave and codifying the rules into Ordinance as recommended by the Personnel Dept including but not limited to when employees should or should not be placed on paid leave or unpaid leave. The current process appears lacking objective standards. Taxpayers should also be protected to ensure people who should not be out on paid administrative leave are placed on unpaid administrative leave.”

The committee voted to send the proposal to the city’s Law Department to make sure the city is in compliance with the state law.

“We don’t have clear enough language,” said Jourdain. “And what’s occurring now is we have some departments doing one thing, other departments doing another thing. We’re finding out, they even have people who are charged with misdemeanors. You have the police, former police chief. And a statement here says that, if they’re charged with a misdemeanor, I give them paid leave. I don’t think that’s consistent with what the state statute is saying.”

Documents presented to committee members are here.

The complete meeting may be seen/heard here.

PUBLIC SAFETY

McNulty Park, in front of the Stop & Shop on Lincoln Avenue, has become the preferred place for homeless people to camp. City Councilor Kocayne Givner revived the motion to address this unhealthy situation from last May and asked for the city’s Health Department to weigh in.

Timothy Rivers, the director of the Health Department, said he has reached out to mental health organizations, the Parks Department, the Department of Public Works and Police Department to find solutions since his department does not have a budget to address the situation.

He noted that shelters for the homeless from Northampton to Springfield are full.

“There’s nowhere to go,” he said.

Givner responded: “Who’s whose responsibility is it to deal with all this?”

Rivers said it has to be a multi-department response.

City Councilor Israel Rivera added that this situation may be able to be picked up by the so-called Flex Squad, run out of the Health Department to step up code enforcement and foster improved living and housing conditions.

“They, they, they kind of do this already, said Rivera. “They just do it in certain sections of the city. I think that it’s great that we have a multi-departmental approach, but it’s just unfortunate that it feels like this is just happening or having a conversation about it now, because you’d think that with like the public safety issues we have and quality of life issues we have, we’d have conversations happening consistently so we can identify goals that we can strive towards.”

Documents presented to committee members are here.

The complete meeting may be seen/heard here.