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Committee OKs drafting of home‑rule petition to restrict sale and use of 'escars'
Summary
The Charter & Rules committee voted to put a home‑rule petition into formal legal form so the full Holyoke City Council can consider locally restricting the sale and use of 'escars'; the solicitor provided draft language modeled on other cities.
The Holyoke City Council Committee on Charter and Rules voted on May 6 to put a home‑rule petition into legal form that would seek local authority to prevent the sale and use of "escars," according to the committee chair.
The petition, filed by Councilors McGrath Smith and Rick Purcell, would ask the Massachusetts Legislature to grant the city the power to regulate the sale and use of the product despite stated state preemption. The chair said draft legal language from City Solicitor Mike Bissonnette reflects wording other municipalities have used and asked that the document be prepared in proper form for a home‑rule petition so it can be sent to the full City Council.
Councilors debated only briefly; a motion to have the petition prepared in the correct form passed by voice vote. "It looks very professional and very much like the language that we have seen from other cities," the chair said when introducing the solicitor's draft.
The committee recorded the action as authorization to prepare the home‑rule petition for council consideration. The matter will next appear before the full City Council, which must approve submission to the state if the city decides to proceed.
City Solicitor Mike Bissonnette, who the committee noted had drafted model language, said legal review is available and that the solicitor's office is prepared to provide the formal language needed for submission.
The committee took no final policy action tonight; its vote authorized moving the draft into formal home‑rule petition format for full‑council consideration.
