HOLYOKE — A prominent legal organization that works to combat discrimination has issued an opinion that calls into question a Holyoke ordinance barring city employees from serving simultaneously as city councilors.
Holyoke City Council has been the scene of yelling matches and intense discussion in recent months over a city ordinance, passed in 2017, that says “no employee of the city shall simultaneously serve on the city council during their term of employment.” The council has now made two failed attempts to strike the rule from the books.
In a year when the majority-Hispanic city elected its most diverse council ever, some have suggested that the ordinance will prevent two Hispanic employees of the city’s schools from taking office on Jan. 3: at-large councilor-elect Israel Rivera and Ward 1 councilor-elect Jenny Rivera.
But in an opinion sent Thursday to the Holyoke City Council, the litigation director for the Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights, Oren Sellstrom, said that both state law and the city’s charter make clear that employment in Holyoke’s schools does not disqualify a city resident from serving on the City Council.
“The local ordinance that has been cited as purportedly prohibiting such service must be interpreted consistently with those governing laws; otherwise, the ordinance itself would be invalid,” Sellstrom wrote. “Accordingly, should any formal challenges to these Councilors’ qualifications be raised, we urge the incoming City Council to...
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against 15 people, including six medical professionals, for allegedly participating in schemes that collectively submitted $2 billion i...