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Date: 10/30/2023
HOLYOKE – On behalf of the Holyoke Taxpayers Association, hopeful candidates for at-large City Council seats came together at Holyoke High School North on Oct. 19 for a debate as the election nears.
Candidates for the four open at-large seats on the city council include Patricia Devine, incumbent Tessa Murphy-Romboletti, incumbent Kevin Jourdain, incumbent Jose Maldonado Velez, incumbent Israel Rivera, Axel Fontanez, Michael Sullivan and Mimi Panitch. The ninth candidate for the at-large positions, Hoard Greaney Jr., did not participate in the debate due to illness.
Debate moderator Thomas Creed opened the debate by reading Greaney Jr.’s opening statement that was prepared prior to the debate. In the statement, Greaney Jr. explained his experience includes 35 years as a Holyoke educator and a former six-year at-large veteran of the city’s school committee and four years as a city councilor at-large on the public safety committee.
“I believe that trust, honesty and loyalty are mandatory requirements for all elected and appointed officials. I will file and support legislation that promotes safety and security of our citizens,” Greaney Jr. wrote in his statement. He added focus will also be on saving taxpayers money and helping on the work to regain local control of the school district.
Opening remarks saw each candidate layout their vision if elected to the role on city council. Following those remarks, topics of debate ranged from affordable housing, governmental structure, property tax rate and public safety and were asked at random to different councilors. Candidates bounced around discussions on these items and broke down why they are the best bet for the open at-large city council seats.
Incumbent Maldonado Velez was asked first at random about if there was a housing crisis in the city. He said not only was there a housing crisis in Holyoke, but also across the country. He suggested starting co-op housing, mixed use properties, and tiny homes as potential solutions.
Devine was asked on governmental structure if she would be in favor of combining the Office of Treasurer, Assessor and Tax Collector into one office and have an appointed Chief Finance Officer responsible for managing a finance department, something that has been debated in the past year amongst councilors.
“I do agree we need to put those offices together,” Devine said. “I think the mayor needs to get this finance in order so that the city can be better served throughout the whole government.”
Panitch agreed there was a need for reorganization when asked the same question and added that while good people step up for these roles, it’s difficult to rely on someone who is competent to manage a multi million dollar organization being able to run for the position in four year terms.
“If you can appoint somebody, you can go out and recruit someone who actually has the credentials to do the job,” Panitch said. She added a recommended pitch to separate the economic development and planning as currently the city has both under one office.
Panitch and Murphy-Romboletti were both asked about how they would approach the city’s supplemented CPA property surcharges and rising sewer rates. Panitch called the situation a “tangled mess of a system” and said the split rate tax system while was not ideal was out of their control in the moment.
“If we significantly raise the tax rate on homeowners, we are going to displace two thirds of Holyoke. People will have to leave, sell their houses. For now I think what we have to focus on is economic growth. Bring businesses in and try to support them,” she said.
Murphy-Romboletti called the question a complex one and added this was an area she learned a lot through her term on the council. She added there is also fault within the assessment system the city uses as well.
“There is a major problem with our assessments as well and that it often doesn’t benefit certain people. We do need to be looking at additional sources of revenues, including grants, which is why I have supported the mayor in his effort to hire a grant writer in the DPW. There’s a lot of funding that’s out there and available if we have the right staff that can go after those grants,” Murphy-Romboletti said.
When moved to discussions on crime, former councilor Sullivan was asked what steps he would take as a councilor in supporting first responders and residents for a safe environment for life and work. Sullivan said he wished he had more time for the answer but said while officers try and do the best they can, it also takes the courts doing their jobs to create action and change related to crime in the city.
Sullivan later also agreed and supports reorganizing of the city’s financial offices and added the city’s budget size alone calls for a better system in running the city.
Fontanez when asked about first responders said he was 100% in favor of them and the city’s police specifically, but added he also believed in community policing.
“But I believe both together would make a greater impact. I don’t believe in one or the other on its own,” Fontanez said. “A lot of people got to step up to the plate and say, ‘What can I contribute to my community? To make it safer? It’s like a puzzle.”
Jourdain was asked how he will seek to balance a property tax rate that supports homeownership while also encouraging development. Known as the council’s “fiscal watchdog” Jourdain said he will continue to be consistent in asking the tough questions regarding finances and taxes for the city despite whatever political pressure may be facing the council.
He added he was not afraid to tackle the establishment and credited his role in preventing a previously suggested middle school project that would have negatively impacted the tax override in building two new middle schools.
“Thank God 65% of the citizens – and I would dare say if that went on the ballot today, probably 90% of citizens would have voted it down so that we got the middle school that we actually needed with no tax override. That’s what an effective city councilor gets done, saving you ten’s of millions of dollars,” Jourdain said.
When asked about public safety Jourdain said he was a full supporter of the police and first responders and added he had been endorsed by both police unions in the city for City Council.
Rivera was asked about his thoughts on the housing crisis in response to over 1,000 applications coming in for 12 advertised recently completed units available. Rivera echoed that the city’s housing crisis was similar to what many other municipalities across the country are experiencing.
Rivera said he thinks the city can tackle a lot of this issue itself by collaborating with local housing entities like OneHolyoke CDC, the Holyoke Housing Authority, and Wayfinders to ensure people can find housing in the city.
Rivera later said in order to find a better balance to support homeownership while encouraging development that he would work with the Office of Economic Development as well as the mayor to keep rates low without impacting offices and daily services.
“This is one of the reasons I’m running now is because I want to right the ship for my kids before they get older and so they don’t have to deal with the problems that we are dealing with today as a community,” Rivera said.
The full debate and answers from every candidate on every question can be viewed at holyokemedia.org or on the Holyoke Media YouTube channel.