Finance Committee Meeting January 17, 2024

City Council
Holyoke Massachusetts
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §§ 18-25,
and Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023,
notice is hereby given of a meeting of the committee on
Finance

Wednesday, January 17, 2024
6:30 PM

Meeting to take place at
Holyoke City Hall, 536 Dwight St
and can be accessed remotely on Zoom Meetings
Per order of the Chair: Patti Devine
Remote access via www.zoom.us
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86563124194?pwd=VldyWnBaZHNnMndBdDJNV1QrazlZQT09
Meeting ID: 865 6312 4194 Meeting Passcode: 350270 or by call in at 1 (646) 558-8656 with
the same Meeting ID and Passcode.

Live Spanish interpretation will be available on local access channel 15 using the television’s SAP option, through the live stream on the city website, as well as on the Zoom feed by clicking the interpretation option and choosing Spanish.

Agenda

Item 1: Minutes of December 13, 2023 meeting

Item 2: 1-2-24 JOURDAIN — that there be and is hereby appropriated by transfer in the fiscal year 2024, TWENTY THOUSAND SEVENTY EIGHT AND 00/100 Dollars ($20,078) as follows:
FROM:
16101-51111 LIBRARY ASSISTANT (NIGHT) $20,078
TOTAL: $20,078
TO:
16101-51102 REFERENCE LIBRARY ASSISTANCE $20,078
TOTAL: $20,078

Item 3: 12-19-23 JOURDAIN — that there be and is hereby appropriated by transfer in the fiscal year 2024, NINE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY EIGHT DOLLARS AND 13/100 Dollars ($9,768.13) as follows:
FROM:
11752-53010 OPED-CONTRACT SERVICES $9,768.13
TOTAL: $9,768.13
TO:
11751-51500 VACATION BUYBACK $4,770.36
11751-51510 SICK LEAVE BUYBACK 4,997.77
TOTAL: $9,768.13

Item 4: 12-19-23 MCGIVERIN — that in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 44 Sec. 53A, the City Council hereby accepts the provisions of the “COMMUNITY PLANNING GRANT PROGRAM, $90,000, NO MATCH ” grant and authorizes the establishment of a Fund or other method appropriate for the accounting of the receipts and expenditures of all resources associated with the administration of said grant.

Item 5: 1-2-24 JOURDAIN — that there be and is hereby appropriated by transfer in the fiscal year 2024, THIRTY THOUSAND AND 00/100 Dollars ($30,000) as follows:
FROM:
14101-51101 ENGINEER/ASST DPW SUPERINTENDANT $15,000
14101-51105 SR CIVIL ENGINEER 15,000
TOTAL: $30,000
TO:
14102-53010 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES $30,000
TOTAL: $30,000

Item 6: 12-19-23 MCGIVERIN — that there be and is hereby appropriated by transfer in the fiscal year 2024, THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND AND 00/100 Dollars ($300,000) as follows:
FROM:
8810-10400 CITY STABILIZATION $300,000
TOTAL: $300,000
TO:
19412-57630 CLAIMS & DAMAGES $300,000
TOTAL: $300,000

Item 7: 8-1-23 (copy) JOURDAIN — Ordered, That Cook and Company be invited to a future finance subcommittee meeting to review their recent health insurance analysis for the city.

Item 8: 12-15-20 MURPHY, SULLIVAN — Ordered that the police and fire chiefs appear before the finance committee to document how much of the police overtime total of $266,682 expended through the end of October was to cover for vacations, sick time, injured on duty status, and grant related detail. The same information is requested for the fire department and the expenditure of $157,305 through October. In both cases, how many persons per shift being absent leads to use of overtime? The goal of this order is to determine if we are at our most cost effective staffing levels without jeopardizing public safety.
*Tabled 12-28-20

Item 9: (copy) 9-7-21 BARTLEY, LEAHY, MCGIVERIN, SULLIVAN, TALLMAN — The Law Department provide City Council with an updated legal opinion regarding the city’s supervisors association and include within it, at a minimum, the following: whether the association is a union: if it is a union, when was this designation approved and by what authority; under what general law is it affiliated; and please specify the department heads who serve at the Mayor’s pleasure. Further, please provide the specific department heads included within the association. Please provide any past legal opinions and relevant exhibits.

Item 10: 3-1-22 (copy) JOURDAIN, PUELLO — The Mayor’s office please provide the City Council with a list of all current host community agreements from marijuana companies in our city.  Please also provide us a list of how much revenue we are generating annually from each of these agreements.

Item 11: 3-2-21 MURPHY — Ordered, that as the city considers purchasing any replacement vehicles it reach out to the state to see if the city could be eligible for significant rebates off the purchase price of electric vehicles.  The MOR-EV program offers rebates to private as well as public entities for purchasing electric vehicles now including trucks.
In addition, that the city look into the Massachusetts Green Communities grant program which provides funding to assist with the installation of EV charging infrastructure.
*Tabled 5-10-21, 6-7-21

Administrative Assistant: Jeffery Anderson-Burgos
The listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. Also one or two items may require the committee to enter into executive session at this meeting. Agenda subject to change up to two business days (48 hours) prior to posted meeting time.