Finance committee accepts two state 9‑1‑1 grants and approves $8,900 payment to police sergeant

Holyoke’s finance committee accepted state 9‑1‑1 grant awards and approved a small personnel transfer at its Jan. 14 meeting.

The committee voted to accept a State 9‑1‑1 Department training grant described in the meeting as a no‑match award to cover continuing education for the department’s dispatchers. The presenter said Holyoke currently employs 12 dispatchers, each required to complete 16 hours of continuing education; the grant will pay for Massachusetts Police Institute online courses and associated overtime. (Transcript lists the training grant amount as $12,979,167.16; that figure was stated during the meeting and is recorded here as read in the transcript.)

Committee members then accepted a separate FY2026 State 9‑1‑1 Support and Incentive Grant (spoken in the meeting as just over $306,000), also a no‑match award. The presenter said the funding will pay for dispatcher workstation replacements (two malfunctioning consoles estimated at roughly $60,000), other hardware and facility upgrades, and parts of dispatcher salaries/overtime; the grant must be expended by June 30.

The committee also approved a transfer of $8,900 in FY2026 funds from the police sergeant line to pay a settlement/sign‑bonus owed to a sergeant who is on military leave; the presenter said the payment arose from prior‑year obligations and that city offices had revised military‑leave policies and payroll records to remedy the omission.

All three orders were approved by voice vote. Committee members asked for the written military‑leave policy and for the city solicitor/treasurer to prepare corrected order language for earlier items where needed.