Holyoke charter panel sends simple-majority ordinance amendment to full City Council

HOLYOKE -- June 3, 2026, Holyoke's Charter and Rules Committee advanced two proposed charter amendments to the full City Council on Wednesday. The three-member panel voted 2-1 to recommend adopting a Councilor Mimi Panich order that would enshrine a simple-majority recorded roll-call vote as the standard for enacting ordinances, with Co-Chair Linda Bacon casting the lone dissenting vote; Bacon argued the change would lock a seven-vote standard into the charter, requiring nine votes to alter it later, whereas the existing ordinance can be revised by a simple majority. The committee also voted unanimously to recommend raising the Section 22 spending threshold from $200 to $1,000, a change that must proceed through a home-rule petition; Assistant City Solicitor Michael Bissonnette, participating by Zoom, noted that current state budget law may render any dollar threshold effectively moot, but Bacon said she preferred to keep a figure in place "as a backstop." A proposed revision to Rule 9 governing legal-form procedures was tabled pending the attendance of co-maker Councilor Talheimer.