Ordinance committee advances holiday change, archives and withdraws several orders; approves handicap parking pending measurements

Holyoke’s Ordinance Committee on June 4 handled a slate of orders, recommending some for council action, archiving others and allowing several to be withdrawn.

The committee recommended updating city ordinance wording for the Columbus Day holiday so that the ordinance read as Indigenous Peoples’ Day (item 5). The motion to recommend the change passed in committee and will be forwarded to the full City Council for consideration. The committee’s roll-call discussion recorded yes votes from several members and no votes from others; committee minutes should be consulted for the official roll-call record submitted to the council.

Several orders were given leave to withdraw or were tabled: an order to create a housing committee addressing tenant protections and returning-citizen liaison roles (item 3) was given leave to withdraw; an order requesting a grant manager position (item 7) and an order to begin drafting a local cannabis-equity program modeled on Boston’s ordinance (item 8) were given leave to withdraw; and an order to permit overnight sleeping in city parking lots (item 9) was similarly given leave to withdraw for now.

The committee received and archived a citizen letter describing a mistaken emergency response caused by duplicate or confusing house numbers on County Road (item 4). Committee members noted the incident appeared to be a human error stemming from boundary awareness and that no practical city action was apparent from the 2021 complaint; the committee voted to receive and archive the letter.

Other items: - An order to add a stop-street designation (item 2) was recommended to be placed in the orders book; committee members asked staff to confirm the direction-of-travel language with an engineer before final placement. - An order to review draft telecommunications ordinance changes (item 11) was marked “complied with,” with members noting prior revisions addressed most constituent concerns. - A handicap-parking application for 120 Oak Street (item 12) was approved pending DPW measurements; the committee approved the spot contingent on DPW confirming dimensions at the next council meeting. - A request for a PVTA bus stop on Appleton Street (item 10) was tabled pending further information and applicant presence.

Committee members moved several older or contested items off the docket to clear the committee’s calendar and encouraged any councillor wishing to refile these matters to do so with current sponsorship and supporting materials.