Holyoke Ordinance Committee recommends replacing council supermajority with simple majority vote

HOLYOKE -- May 7, 2026, Holyoke Ordinance Committee advances simple-majority voting rule and continues divisive zoning hearing to September. The committee voted 3-1 Thursday to recommend that the full City Council lower the threshold for passing ordinances from a two-thirds supermajority to a simple majority of the 13-member council, with Councilor Claire Bacon casting the lone dissenting vote; the amended language preserves existing higher-vote requirements imposed by state law or the city charter. The same meeting saw the committee unanimously direct City Solicitor Michael Bissonette to draft language merging the Historical Commission and Local Historic District Commission, both bodies have struggled with quorum for months, with a return deadline of June 11. A public hearing on 47 proposed zoning amendments drew more than a dozen residents who called for indefinite postponement, including the reading into record of a petition signed by approximately 112 residents; former City Councilor Helen Norris told the committee she had received email confirmation that morning that the city had not conducted a parcel-by-parcel analysis of proposed zone changes affecting nearly 170 parcels. The hearing was unanimously continued to September 17 at 6:30 p.m.