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Date: 1/2/2024
HOLYOKE — Longtime City Councilors Joseph McGiverin, Peter Tallman and Todd McGee each sat down with Holyoke Media for a public interview reflecting on their careers serving the city of Holyoke.
McGiverin, who has served on the council for 44 years, served as both a councilor and council president, as well as a longtime role as chair of the Finance Committee. His departure may raise some concern with such a long-time veteran leaving the council, but in his eyes, it will go on as it did before he joined decades ago.
“The city is gonna be fine without Joe,” McGiverin said jokingly. “There are some very good councilors coming up, they’ll be fine.”
McGiverin said there are many votes he will think about and remember from his time on the council but his approach to the position is something he is most proud of.
“I think when you approach government the way I do you try and take the difficult part out of it. I’ve always said there are three sides to every issue but get all the sides to an issue before you make a decision,” McGiverin said.
When asked how the council will miss such a senior voice guiding them through debate and discussion, McGiverin said he never thought of it in such a way and that he still hopes to be involved with the city in any way he can. He added with his fellow councilors McGee and Tallman also departing that they were “tremendous public servants.”
McGiverin said now is the time for him to finally step back from his role as a city councilor.
“Forty-four years is a long time. I am very comfortable and fully aware it’s going to be a big change in my life, but we’re going to make it a good change,” McGiverin said. “It’s time to go onto new things. We’re not going to call it retirement. I’ve met more people than you can count that have become friends, have become more than acquaintances, have made it worthwhile. Government isn’t just elected people it’s the people that do the jobs daily. They’re the ones government is about.”
Tallman, known as a diffuser of heated debate and a reasonable voice throughout his time on the council, reflected on his time spent serving the city and what he feels he is leaving behind in his legacy. Tallman has served a total of 25 years on the City Council.
When asked about what he expects life after the council to be like, Tallman said it would definitely be an adjustment.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve been here my whole life except for my service in the military back in the late ‘70s,” Tallman said. “I really, really enjoyed the interactions, really enjoyed learning about city government, and I’ve enjoyed the people the most, the people I’ve been able to encounter during my time as a city official.”
Tallman said another adjustment will be his removal from the city’s decision-making process as he has had a say and a voice as a city councilor for two and a half decades. He added the relationships established between he and the councilors remaining on the council into 2024 will allow for him to still be connected to the city’s legislative body as well as offer guidance or mentorship to those seeking it.
“It’s important as we grow as a city and as we change as a city that we can see things that sometimes the average citizen does not see and being able to focus on that to help others do their job and legislate I think is important and something that with the experience I have that I’ll be able to do,” Tallman said.
When thinking of his proudest votes for the city, Tallman referenced getting the Senior center built, the police station built, and his time spent most recently on the school building committee that has worked to secure a new middle school building project through the Massachusetts School Building Authority. He said like previous projects, once the middle school is built it will serve as another example of the community working together on all levels to address a need.
Tallman said councilors David Bartley, Kevin Jourdain and Linda Vacon still serve as a foundation of experienced councilors when asked about three longtime members, including himself, leaving the council. He also credited the batch of councilors who just completed their first terms and the newcomers soon-to-be sworn in for stepping up and said they were ready for the task ahead.
Tallman added the runs of McGiverin and McGee have been amazing and he admires both of them for the work they’ve done for the city.
In closing, Tallman said he hopes future councils always remember to have civility during debates as just a nature of our current political climate is still so divisive.
McGee will close out his run on the council having served 18 years on the council and reflected on how he started and where his journey took him. The council president announced he would not be running in March 2023 as he explained the decision felt right as he wanted to focus more on his growing children.
McGee was the Ward 6 councilor most of his career with the council but has served as the Ward 7 councilor in this last term, as he was elected after coming out of a brief retirement. Before his brief retirement, McGee has become acting mayor in March 2021 after Mayor Alex Morse resigned on short notice to accept the town manager position in Provincetown. Because of work commitments related to his job as an attorney, the council worked with McGee and selected former councilor Terrance Murphy to take over as acting mayor in April 2021.
McGee said getting started in politics was easy for him as he loves conversing with people.
“One thing that being a councilor has done is open up the door for me to meet people I never would have met in my life,” McGee said. “To me that is an honor, that to me is what’s been worth it.”
McGee said as a “very boring tax attorney” it has made him very focused on getting down to what the rules are, what both sides are saying and what the numbers are in seeing what’s the best vote going forward when tackling council issues. He credited this approach for his role in getting different things accomplished over the years for the city and for his way of presiding over the council as council president.
McGee also talked about the transition period from the 2021 City Council election when there was large turnover and new faces joining the body. As council president, McGee said he knew it was important for veteran councilors to work closely with the newcomers as the job requires a lot of learning on the job.
“My thought process was take a lot of the new people, make them chairs, but then take the senior members like myself, councilor Jourdain, councilor McGiverin, and put them on the committee,” McGee said. “So, I put myself on a committee with councilor [Israel] Rivera, so that way when we started the meeting I would sit back and assist and say do this, this and this. I was teaching on the job — mentoring — and then that way they would develop, and my goal was, I may not be here forever. At the time I wasn’t thinking of leaving but I said if another group of people leaves, they’re the next generation.”
McGee credited all the councilors from this election cycle and who have served the last two years for their adjustment to the council and how they have been able to grow as councilors during the same time. He specifically credited At-Large Councilors Tessa Murphy-Romboletti and Israel Rivera for their efforts and growth as councilors.
When asked about his favorite debates or discussions he remembers from his career on the council, McGee said he has had great conversations with many councilors on many different issues, contentious or not.
“I’ve always said whatever the end result is, you walk out that gate and it’s over. Go have a coffee, go have a drink, whatever it is, because there are a thousand more things we have to vote on,” McGee explained.
As the new year brings on the new council, McGee said he will always still be around and has told both returning and new councilors he will always be around for a phone call or to be someone they can reach out to for advice.
“I’m not gone, I just can’t be there for the time commitment and that’s not fair to the city. In my view, if you’re going to be a councilor you got to be committed and you got to put in that time to address the issues of the city for your constituents,” McGee said.
In closing, McGee said of this theoretical wish list for the city he hopes the downtown revitalization efforts continue and preserving the history of the city of Holyoke.
To watch each of the councilor’s farewell interviews, visit the Holyoke Media YouTube channel.