Holyoke Finance Committee Unanimously Approves $3.5 Million Road and Building Bond

HOLYOKE — January 28, 2026 — Holyoke Finance Committee unanimously authorizes $3.5 million in borrowing for roads and municipal building repairs. The five-member panel voted 5-0 at its January 28 meeting to approve the bond order under MGL Chapter 44, Section 7, with Mayor Joshua Garcia and City Treasurer Rory Pigott outlining a plan to direct roughly $2 million toward paving and sidewalks — supplementing $1.4 million in Chapter 90 state aid — and $1.5 million toward urgent repairs at City Hall, the Annex, and the police station. City Engineer Victoria Hull said priority streets including Lincoln Street, Northampton Street, and Southampton Road were selected on pavement condition data and ward equity metrics. Pigott described a truss that has separated from a City Hall wall and an Annex roof project that ballooned from a $600,000 estimate to "millions" due to historic lime-and-sand mortar failure throughout pre-1910 structures. The committee also accepted a $415,951 Shannon Community Safety Initiative grant — reduced 30 percent statewide this year — that carries no net city match and served over 480 at-risk youth in Holyoke and Chicopee last fiscal year.