Holyoke Charter Panel Tables Decorum Rules, Advances Veterans Parking Plan

HOLYOKE -- February 4, 2026, Holyoke's Charter and Rules Committee recommended veterans parking at City Hall and the Senior Center without a home rule petition, while tabling two contested decorum orders. City Solicitor Mike Besonette told the committee Wednesday that state law poses no obstacle to the city designating veteran parking spaces on municipal property and that an ordinance can proceed immediately, with the matter now referred to the Ordinance Committee. The committee voted 2-1 to send an order from Vice Chair Linda Vacon to the full council with a recommendation against passage; the order would have required councilors to speak of one another in respectful terms inside and outside chambers, including on social media. A separate order allowing named councilors to respond for up to two minutes at the end of public comment was tabled pending related orders before the full council. Councilor Meg McGrath Smith, joining by Zoom, argued against the response right, saying, "We are people in power" and that public comment must remain residents' uninterrupted space.