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Date: 1/10/2023
HOLYOKE – After much discussion and research as to the legal way of accepting an anonymous donation gifted to Holyoke Public Schools in late 2022, the City Council has voted to refer to donation back to the city auditor for final acceptance for the schools during their Jan 3 meeting.
When first brought forth to the council the question was raised of who has the authority to accept this donation since the schools are still under state receivership. Now after review from the Finance Committee, the city has clarity the generous donation is coming from an unknown corporate donor that will go toward helping the city side of the school department’s budget.
At-Large Councilor and Finance Chair Joseph McGiverin said during the Finance Committee’s Dec. 28 meeting that the donation amounts to an appropriation, which requires formal acceptance by the council. Massachusetts General Law states the approval process falls on the School Committee.
While state law states this, being under state receivership essentially voids that option as it causes the School Committee to lack the authority in accepting donations. McGiverin credited Assistant City Solicitor Kathleen Degnan during the Jan. 3 meeting for her research and work in figuring out who actually has the right to approve this with the schools under receivership.
Degnan said during the Dec. 28 Finance Committee meeting that under state law the receiver of schools holds the power of the superintendent and School Committee. This would make Receiver/Superintendent Anthony Soto the decider in this situation.
“It’s the School Committee that has the power to accept this gift,” Degnan added during the meeting. “It’s my opinion the receiver has the power and authority to accept this particular gift.”
McGiverin added during the Finance Committee meeting that the donation has to come to the council one more time as they are the city’s legislative body and typically accepts all grants and gifts as a check and balance for the city. He also noted it had to come to City Council through the auditor to allow for the mayor and department to spend and account for the funds.
At-Large Councilor Kevin Jourdain offered a “friendly suggestion” before the council’s vote to begin the finalization of accepting this gift - that if others were aware of who was behind the anonymous gift that speaking up about it could help answer questions to help get them to the bottom of this issue.
“This could’ve been sped along a lot faster. They know who this person is, the company as it turns out, it was just anonymous publicly but that was not explained at the beginning,” Jourdain said.
Jourdain added that through the Finance Committee hearings it was discovered the private company that was making the donation and that they signed a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for legality reasons.
“That’s kind of a really important detail that should’ve been shared right up front. There was a lot of cloak and dagger before we got to the bottom of where it was,” Jourdain said. “It never needed City Council approval; that’s why we’re able to send it back to the auditor…Just a friendly thought if we have the good fortune to have one of these again, which we’re obviously very thankful to have it.”
Jourdain said during the finance meeting that he felt an anonymous donation needed more transparency, as to that point his knowledge was it was an unverifiable funding source coming in with this gift. He also was not entirely in agreement with Degnan’s legal opinion with the city’s receivership status.
“The mayor alone cannot accept grants on behalf of the city of Holyoke without City Council permission,” Jourdain said during the Dec. 28 meeting.
Jourdain added that a state receiver lacks “super authority” not granted to municipal boards or governments. He also said he worried about who was attached to the money, as they had no way of picking up on the intentions of the donor.
McGiverin said during the finance discussion that he was unconcerned about the anonymous component but did agree it was nice to be aware of the source. Assistant City Solicitor Michael Bissonnette said he negotiated the gift with attorneys in California and assured the council the donor was a private corporation.
“They were looking for a school system and an environmental justice community that could do some good,” Bissonnette said. “We have since negotiated a final agreement.”
Bissonnette noted that a preliminary agreement requires the donor to be listed as anonymous.
An NDA was signed to prevent Bissonnette and negotiators from revealing the funding source, only that a corporation was involved. He also noted the donation falls within Degnan’s legal opinion.
Jourdain said Bissonnette’s information changed his perspective on the entire issue. At-Large Councilor Peter Tallman noted during the discussion that the city plans to update lighting systems in seven schools with the funding.
Degnan said the state law wasn’t the clearest when it came to anonymous donations, and she would be further examining laws and regulations regarding such gifts.
“We’re talking about accepting a gift, and we want to do it right,” Degnan said.
The Finance Committee unanimously recommended sending the donation request to the city auditor for disposition. The City Council’s final discussion on the matter during their Dec. 3 meeting saw them unanimously refer the item back to the city auditor for the same reason.
Ward 6 Councilor Juan Anderson-Burgos noted during closing remarks on the issue that a lot of the information was not disclosed due to the legal contracts involved. He added that the situation “left us in the dark unfortunately” and was not intentional by any means.