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Date: 4/12/2021
HOLYOKE – Beginning on July 1, more than a dozen Holyoke city employees will see their pay increased after the City Council voted in favor of updated pay scales during a meeting on April 6.
The first significant topic of discussion for the committee was regarding the building of a new middle school in the city for 550 students and submitting an application for funding through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Senator John Veils and Interim Receiver Anthony Soto were in attendance at the meeting to contribute to the discussion. Councilor Terence Murphy began the discussion by summarizing the discussion the Joint Committee of the City Council and School Committee had.
He said they weren’t wanting to make a financial commitment or a commitment regarding the location for the new school, but they wanted to be put in the MSBA’s “pipeline” and officials said they were in good standing to afford a new middle school building. After a brief discussion, the City Council then voted unanimously in favor of endorsing the plan to apply to the MSBA. The next step in the process was for Soto and other school officials to take the council’s recommendation to the MSBA.
During the president’s report, current Acting Mayor and Council President Todd McGee said the legislative petition filed that would allow the city to skip a special election and elect one of their own to the position of acting mayor and council president had passed both the House and Senate. McGee said that currently the legislation was “sitting on the Governor’s desk” and was waiting to be signed. Once the legislation was signed by Governor Charlie Baker McGee said there would be 10 days for the council to elect one of their own governing body to the position.
During a discussion regarding the potential for students to fall behind academically due to the learning conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, councilors emphasized the need to ensure students were caught up. Murphy said that while there was an emphasis on not holding students back in grade levels due to learning gaps caused by the pandemic, he still felt it was crucial to ensure students were up to the learning level they needed to be. Councilor Libby Hernandez said she was glad to see there would be additional support for students both academically and emotionally.
The council then moved on to discuss pay and compensation for city workers with regard to a salary study that was concluded in 2014 and changes that had been made to salaries. Councilor Rebecca Lisi said it was heard through discussions with department heads which began in November 2020, “City hall is being hollowed out” and it was difficult to deliver services to residents due to the competitive pay in surrounding communities. Lisi said this led to the city losing time, money and resources as employees were often leaving not long after beginning the position due to finances.
She said the Ordinance Committee had passed the initial order of salary increases in 2015, but it failed in full committee. The order then sat for seven years. She said when the order was passed 22 positions would need to have their salaries adjusted and that would cost $99,000. Lisi referenced the list of top 100 earners in the city whose salaries had just been published recently, stating that some enjoyed salaries of well over $100,000. Spending $99,000 to bring the 22 positions up to “competitive salaries” she said she felt would be a beneficial use of city money. Lisi added that any position whose salary that was below the $15 minimum wage law currently in effect was increased to meet the minimum wage law.
Councilor Linda Vacon argued that the cost to the city was not $99,000, but instead $200,000 due to vacant positions. “When the new people are hired, they’re going to be hired in on the new scale. The effect will be the same,” she said. Vacon said she felt this shouldn’t be considered until city hall was reopened to people and school services resumed for students. Councilor Mike Sullivan said he agreed that there were “serious problems” with regard to city workers’ pay and he felt it was troubling that they’d “been dragged along for such a long period of time.” However, he said that money would not solve all the problems and there were morale issues that had been brought up by McGee during his president’s report earlier in the meeting.
Hernandez said she agreed that while city hall was not open at the moment, services to the community were still being provided. She added that it was not about people running for office seeking a higher pay, but instead long term employees that had been underpaid. She said while money didn't solve anything, “it retained talent,” which she felt was important. Murphy said he would be voting in favor of schedule A effective on July 1, 2021 because he felt that people being underpaid, especially those from the library, deserved the pay raise.
Councilor Joseph McGivern first thanked city employees who had worked throughout the pandemic, risking their health simply by going to work. He said contracts for firefighters, police officers and other workers weren’t discussed at this length when they came before the City Council. McGivern said they were talking about “long overdue” salary increases and was in favor of the increases. He, too, referenced library workers who were being paid “minimum wage or less.
“Shame on us for even allowing us for that to happen,” he said.
Councilor Peter Tallman said this study had been going on for years and he felt it was “time to take care of our employees.” He said especially during this year, employees had stepped up, and were deserving of the raises. Lisi said she felt any vote against the plan was an “anti-government plan” as “our residents deserve the infrastructure needed” to implement services such as trash pickup, pothole removal and others. She added that she felt that morale in city hall and pay increases were “two wings of a bird.” Vacon said that she “totally rejects the spin and attitude” that she felt Lisi had with regards to her disagreement with aspects of the plan.
After the first reading of the three schedules were passed, Murphy suggested that the council vote on each schedule separately. The council voted in favor of the schedule A pay raises for non-union city hall employees with councilors David Bartley, Howard Greaney and Vacon voting against the schedule and councilor Juan Anderson-Burgos abstaining due to a conflict. When voting on schedule B of pay raises for elected officials, the council voted in favor of the raises with councilors Bartley, Sullivan, Vacon and Greaney voting against the schedule. The council then also approved schedule C pay raises with councilors Bartley, Vacon and Greaney once again voting in opposition.