Holyoke council committee approves $35,000 transfer to repaint senior center exterior

The Holyoke City Finance Committee on May 12 approved a $35,000 appropriation by transfer from a school capital outlay line to the Council on Aging's repair and maintenance account to repaint the exterior of the Holyoke Senior Center.

Committee members and city staff said the building's siding, installed with Hardie board when the building was constructed, shows widespread fading and blotchy touch-ups from original contractor work. Neve Rodriguez, director of the Holyoke Senior Center, said the original touch-up paint has not faded at the same rate as the siding and that spot repairs are no longer sufficient. "You can see every single spot where they touched up," Rodriguez said, and added the problem has worsened since the building reached about 13 years of service.

Mayor Joshua Garcia explained the funding approach. He told the committee that previously available school capital funds — including an earlier $150,000 transfer returned by the school department when it was not needed — have been used to satisfy other capital needs, and the administration proposes to take this $35,000 from the school capital outlay line now that those dollars are available for reallocation. The mayor and staff said the amount before the committee is slightly lower than at the prior meeting after additional price quotes were collected.

Councilors asked about graffiti risk and options for more resilient coatings. Councilor John Jourdain (Councilor Jourdain) asked whether the city could use a coating that improves graffiti removal or install clear protective panels where graffiti has occurred in the past. Matthew Peterson, building repairs and maintenance supervisor for the Department of Public Works (DPW), said the DPW owns a trailer-mounted graffiti-removal machine and that there are paint coatings intended to make graffiti easier to remove. Peterson said staff would ask bidders to propose such coatings and confirm whether the low bidder would include a graffiti-friendly finish.

Council members also noted that bid sheets in the committee packet included arithmetic errors and inconsistent quoted totals between the packet and vendor submissions; Councillor Gibner highlighted mismatched bid-line math and urged accurate comparisons of vendor quotes.

The committee moved and approved the transfer by voice vote. No dissent was recorded on the motion to appropriate $35,000 from school capital outlay to Council on Aging, repair and maintenance for exterior painting.