HOLYOKE — Invoking a legacy of Holyoke-style resilience, Mayor Joshua Garcia addressed a ballroom of several hundred residents at City Hall on Monday to begin his second term in office. Garcia linked the city’s 19th-century origins to its modern-day challenges, calling for a unified effort to address housing shortages, public safety, and a critical overhaul of the city’s financial management.
“Four years ago, I stood here before all of you and I shared with you the speech centered around our city’s defined trait: that’s resiliency,” the mayor said.
The Holyoke Auxiliary Police’s color guard and a procession with bagpipes helped set the stage for the morning ceremony. City Clerk Brenna Murphy Leary’s young daughter Molly sang the “Star Spangled Banner.”
The mayor’s address followed the swearing in of 13 city councilors, four of whom are newcomers. Two new School Committee members are also joining the 10-person committee on which the mayor has a seat.
Garcia, who ran unopposed in November, continued his address fleshing out all that the city has accomplished since he stood on the same stage of City Hall’s ballroom four years ago — a moment he described as the “turning point” in the city’s history.
“We advanced economic development, we are improving public safety, we are investing in our schools, and we are strengthening our neighborhoods,” Garcia said.
And while the weight of today’s challenges seems immense, challenges including affordability, a housing shortage, lack of federal funding and the need for better infrastructure, the mayor said he is “energized” to partner with city and state officials to take on these challenges.
Garcia stressed today’s challenges aren’t uncommon.
“I will say this: our moment in time is not unique to today. We have been here before. Forty-four mayors have taken the oath of office since 1873 when Holyoke became a city,” Garcia said. “They addressed gatherings like today’s in times of war and peace, prosperity and struggle. Their stories sound familiar to what we experience today, just a different moment in time. And the consistent theme across each one continues to be resilience and Holyoke remaining true to our core values: compassion, determination and decency. Faith in God and faith in one another.”
He said some key goals for his new term will include continuing to tackle blight and housing needs, strengthen code enforcement and protect tenants and a continued effort to crack down on crime. Garcia also wants to bolster Holyoke’s economy to “make our city competitive in the commonwealth,” and teased at the possibility of a new middle school going up.
A huge step going forward, the mayor said, will be passing a Fiscal Modernization Act in the City Council, which would enhance and bring up to date how funding and resources are managed.
City Council
After the swearing-in ceremony, the City Council convened for its first time this year — a historic gathering where, for the first time, women hold a majority of seats in the council’s chambers. And after multiple years of discussion about having a vice president for the City Council, Israel Rivera was voted by his peers to be the city’s first to hold the position.
Rivera, who was arrested at the end of December for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, received eight votes. Meanwhile, council members Meg Magrath-Smith and Linda Vacon both received two votes and Michael Sullivan received a single vote.
In an interview with the Gazette, Rivera thanked his peers on the City Council for their support, adding that their faith in him is representative of Holyoke’s resilient attitude.
“Considering where I come from — a low-income neighborhood, a single-family household, incarcerated in the past — I think that it shows you can put faith in someone in recovery,” said Rivera. “It speaks volumes to what we are centered around in this community in Holyoke.”
The vice president will fill in for the City Council president when necessary. The role will also be focused on facilitating communication with both the mayor and the council president. Rivera said his first agenda item is to pass the Fiscal Modernization Act.
Tessa Murphy-Romboletti will continue her role as president, a position she’s held since 2024 when she became the first woman to lead the council.
“While this is a historic moment in our city’s history, today is about much more than that,” Murphy-Romboletti said. “It’s about representation, perspective and progress. This council reflects more of Holyoke than ever before — different backgrounds, ages, neighborhoods, lived experiences and ideas.”
On the City Council will be Jenny Rivera, who was sworn in to represent Ward 1 for a second term. Newcomer Nicole Marie Maisonet will be representing Ward 2. Anne Thalheimer’s swearing in marked the official end of David Bartley’s 14-year tenure representing Ward 3 on the council. Richard Paul Purcell will be representing Ward 4, and Linda Vacon is back for an eighth term representing Ward 5.
Representing Ward 6, Juan Anderson Burgos is back for another term after he was first elected in 2018, and Magrath-Smith enters her second term representing Ward 7.
At-large councilors returning to their seats include Murphy-Romboletti, Patricia Devine, Rivera, Michael J. Sullivan and Howard B. Greaney. Mimi Panitch, who has served on the Holyoke Planning Board, was also sworn in for her first term after several attempts for a seat on the council.
School Committee
Seven incumbents on the School Committee ran unopposed and are returning, namely Gladys Lebrón Martínez of Ward 1, Rosalee Tensley Williams of Ward 2, Yadilette Rivera-Colón of Ward 3, Luis Orlando Isaza of Ward 5 and Ellie Wilson of Ward 7. At-large members Devin Sheehan and Mildred Lefebvre are also back.
Jens Michaelsen now ventures into his first term on the School Committee, representing Ward 5, and write-in candidate Patty Norris Lubold will represent Ward 6 for the first time.
Lubold replaces William Collamore, who is the longest serving elected official in Massachusetts with continuous service after representing Ward 6 on the School Committee since 1976, just short of a 50-year tenure.
Brenna Murphy Leary was also sworn in for a fourth term.