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Date: 11/27/2023
HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke is looking for a new city engineer as they continue to focus on continuing necessary work for the city.
Former City Engineer Kris Baker left his position for a new offer as Northampton’s city engineer in October, leaving the city with a vacancy. Board of Public Works Chair Mary Monahan sat down with Holyoke Media to discuss what the city was looking for in someone to fill this critical role.
Monahan said an active search for a replacement has been ongoing and that the Holyoke DPW hires “good people” so often they can be poached from other cities.
“This was an opportunity that Kris couldn’t pass up so we understand his departure. So it’s somebody else’s opportunity now,” Monahan said.
Monahan explained that with a new DPW Director in Carl Rossi joining the city this year, a new city engineer will have the chance to come in and be part of the foundational officials steering the department’s work for years to come.
“Great things have been happening,” Monahan said of Rossi’s first year leading the DPW. “There’s exciting things happening in the city of Holyoke and we need an engineer to lead them.”
The city engineer oversees many of the “complicated” projects that are being managed by consultants and contractors. This includes work involving sewer overflows, major transportation projects or major water improvement projects, for example.
The city engineer works with the DPW and the mayor to plan priority projects in the city.
“The integrated management plan that the city is undertaking where we’re identifying our infrastructure needs, we’re prioritizing them, and we’re seeking funding assistance through grant programs in other agencies in order to pay for these, the city engineer is going to be a key leader on that type of work,” Monahan said. “Long term service agreement at the wastewater treatment plant that includes green power generation, that includes developing product for sludge, a whole lot of possibilities. The city engineer is going to be a key player in all of that.”
Monahan said this conversation through Holyoke Media was to help share the vacancy with the public and help spread the word for interested candidates for the position. She added Holyoke was a “cool place” for this type of work.
Monahan agreed with the notion that this opening was like an inflection point as whoever fills the position will have real opportunity to create a significant difference and leave a mark on the city through their work.
“This is for that unique individual that likes that kind of leadership role, that likes to leave her or his imprint on their projects. It’s an opportunity to work with a new DPW director that has that experience from other communities. We have a new grants coordinator working with the city and she needs the resources that a new city engineer can provide in order to advance the great job she’s already doing,” Monahan said. “There’s that person out there, he or she may already live in Holyoke, may be next door to Holyoke, may be across the country or across the globe, but we’re looking for them to reach out to us and say, ‘hey, we want to talk some more about this opportunity in Holyoke.”
Monahan added for those interested in learning more about the position to please email city Personnel Director Kelly Curran at CurranK@Holyoke.org.