Holyoke finance committee accepts state MVP planning grant with $50,000 seed project

The Holyoke City Finance Committee voted to accept a $102,420 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Phase 2 planning grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, a grant that includes a $50,000 seed-project allocation and requires no local match.

City staff said the grant will fund an update of the city's earlier climate-vulnerability planning and a small implementation project. "The first half of the grant will be a planning process where we're gonna revisit and assess climate resilience priorities," said Yoni, a city staff member assigned to the project. He said staff, community stakeholders and a contracted partner will carry out the planning work and that a second phase includes $50,000 to help implement one of the plan's findings.

The committee formally accepted the grant under authority cited in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 44, a7 53A and authorized the establishment of a dedicated fund and related accounting. Committee members asked about whether an initial MVP award included seed funding and what kinds of projects the $50,000 could support. "I don't think so. I think that just made us eligible for the action grants," Yoni said, describing the seed allocation as a new feature of the Phase 2 grant. He added that the seed money could support a portion of an infrastructure priority from the planning process but likely would not cover large-scale items such as full combined-sewer-overflow separation.

The motion to accept the grant was made and seconded; the committee approved the acceptance by voice vote.

The finance committee recorded no local match requirement and encouraged staff to proceed with the planning process and to return with details on the seed-project scope once planning narrows priorities.