Ordinance committee advances municipal modernization changes, sends redraft to law department

Holyoke’s Ordinance Committee voted June 5 to advance an amended municipal modernization ordinance package and asked the law department to prepare the draft in legal form for the full City Council to review next week.

The committee’s discussion focused on whether to retain explicit references to the school department in the ordinance, the powers and scope of the proposed chief administrative and financial officer (CAFO), the creation and grade levels for several finance positions on Schedule A, and language to permit the council and the director of internal audit access to outside legal and auditing services. After discussion and suggested edits from the city solicitor and other members, the committee approved sending the amended draft to the solicitor’s office for formal legal language and scheduling.

Why it matters: The ordinance package would reorganize several finance functions, create a CAFO role intended to centralize certain financial activities, and adjust titles and salary grades for positions such as comptroller and treasurer-collector. Those changes affect how city and school finances operate together and could shape hiring and budget planning beginning July 1.

Key debate items and committee direction

School department references. Several councilors and city officials disagreed about removing references to the school department from portions of the draft. City Solicitor Lisa Ball’s edits recommended deleting some school-specific language if the schools are to be handled in a later “phase 2.” Attorney Mike Bissonnette and Treasurer Rory argued the school department should remain in cooperation clauses because, they said, “every dollar expended on behalf of the school department flows through the city” and cooperation language simply clarifies responsibilities. Rory said, “It should stay, in my opinion,” and added that including schools in cooperation language is “pretty innocent, but important.” The committee asked the law department and the treasurer to reconcile the language and report back in legal form.

CAFO authority and mayoral powers. Committee members pressed for clarity on whether the CAFO would have the authority to compel information from departments, including the school department, or whether such authority derives from the mayor and the charter. Attorney Bissonnette said the mayor can direct the CAFO to compel executive departments and that any specific ordinance authority should be carefully worded to align with the charter.

Schedule A positions and comptroller qualifications. The committee discussed adding the CAFO (grade 17), comptroller (grade 13) and treasurer-collector (grade 14) to Schedule A. Rory explained those grades and noted hiring would still follow existing ordinance limits (for example, hires above mid-scale require further council action). On comptroller qualifications, Treasurer Rory recommended broadening a strict “CPA required” requirement to allow equivalent, recognized accounting certifications so the pool of qualified candidates would not be unduly limited.

Parliamentarian, outside counsel and director of internal audit funding. Councillors raised the idea of establishing a city council contract line for part-time legal or parliamentary assistance and a contract-services appropriation for the director of internal audit to retain outside auditors or counsel when needed. The draft language the solicitor proposed includes a provision that approval of such outside counsel expenditures would require a two-thirds vote of the full City Council; committee members asked that the solicitor clarify whether that means two-thirds of the full membership or two-thirds of members present when the appropriation is taken up.

Process and next steps. The committee voted to send the amended ordinance draft to the law department for legal form, with the expectation the law department would return a finalized draft by the middle of next week so the full council would have at least a week to review before any final vote. The committee also unanimously approved amendments to move Schedule A items forward so the positions could be reflected in the mayor’s proposed FY26 budget if adopted.

Quotes

“It should stay, in my opinion,” Treasurer Rory said about keeping the school department in cooperation language. “We’re just saying that all city departments… including the school department, shall cooperate with the CAFO.”

“Mayor can direct the CAFO to compel any of the executive departments,” Attorney Bissonnette said in explaining where authority to require information would originate under the charter.

What the committee decided

- Direct the law department to prepare legal form of the amended ordinance and return it to the City Council by next Tuesday. - Amend the draft to include Schedule A entries for CAFO, comptroller and treasurer-collector so they can be reflected in the FY26 budget process. - Include language enabling funding for outside counsel or audit support for the director of internal audit and a potential contracted parliamentarian, with Council approval required for expenditures.

The ordinance package will return to the full City Council after the solicitor’s office prepares the legal version; the committee stated that any remaining school-department-specific provisions can be refined in a later phase if necessary.