HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua Garcia was joined by City Council President Todd McGee and Community Development Director Alicia Zoeller during a June 16 press conference to award $19 million in final allocations from the ARPA Fund to different Holyoke projects.

Applicants submitted nearly $63 million in proposals and through the selection process 27 awards were made up of the $19 million in ARPA funds. The various projects awarded focus on housing, infrastructure, public health and safety.

The federal government initially awarded Holyoke $37,686,567 in ARPA money during the coronavirus pandemic and the $19 million just awarded was the final round of allocations. Garcia explained he and Community Development were focused on looking at the long-term impacts of each project when deciding the best use of allocation.

“This is great that we have this tranche of $19 million additional that we can put out there into the community and take care of some needs,” Garcia said. “Challenging at the same time because we have a lot of needs.”

Zoeller explained that all awards were conditional and subject to change under U.S. Treasury guidelines. Project recipients have until Dec. 29 to demonstrate full funding, budget adequacy, project management and federal compliance. Failure to meet these requirements would result in the city withdrawing the funds from the project.

For all ARPA funding remaining it must be allocated to a project by 2024 and spent by the end of 2026 in order to be utilized.

“We only have a year and a half left to tell the federal government how we’re going to spend our money,” Zoeller noted.

Zoeller added the city’s goal is to ensure no ARPA funding is returned to the treasury due to mismanagement. McGee and Garcia both praised Zoeller for her work throughout the process and her importance to the city’s government.

McGee added credit to the collaboration and transparency offered from Garcia as well as Zoeller and her team in the Community Development office as it was a challenge to decide how to award only $19 million after getting $63 million in requests for projects.

“It’s been full communication, full transparency and that’s what makes government work best, when people are working together,” McGee said. “You’re not going to agree on everything, but when you work together, you come to a compromise. You come to what is best for the city as a whole.”

An awardee of note was the Holyoke Housing Authority which will receive $2 million for the ongoing South Holyoke Homes project. The project has been focused on creating a mix of low-income rental units and private ownership.

“We recognize that COVID highlighted the need for housing. Being able to get funding for homeownership is important because we want to be able to provide all the tools in the toolbox for folks to be successful,” said Holyoke Housing Authority Executive Director Matthew Mainville. “We know rental is successful for some folks but we also recognize that people might be able to take advantage of homeownership and be able to grow generational wealth.”

He added the first phase of the project attracted 1,000 applicants for 12 units, detailing the need and interest for affordable housing in Holyoke.

Another one of the more notable projects awarded was $2 million to the restoration of the Victory Theater, an allocation Garcia had pledged already to MIFA earlier in the year. Garcia said the money sends a signal to private funders and state resources of the city’s priority on a project that could have regional impacts.

MIFA Executive Director Donald Sanders said the funding was critical and the theater would bring in between 1,100-1,600 people nightly to Holyoke.

“In 2005 I went before the City Council and I said if you will not tear down that building I will see that it will get open. That was 2005, this award is the most significant award that is going to ensure that we are in the final phase of getting that theater open,” Sanders said.

The Holyoke Police Department was another awardee of note as it will receive $336,000 to expand the ShotSpotter system and buy tasers. Police Capt. Matthew Moriarty said the expansion of ShotSpotter would continue the reduction in reports of gunshots they have seen in the areas already utilizing the system.

“It’s great getting to the 21st century with some of the technology that’s out there to protect our citizens,” Moriarty said. “When we first had it, we were getting a lot of activations and now that they know we have it, our activations are going down which I’m seeing as its keeping the public that much more safe.”

The Fire Department was another public safety entity on the receiving end of ARPA funding as it will receive $109,000 to acquire personal protective equipment including special hoods to limit exposure to cancerous and toxic materials to firefighters’ faces.

“This gives us the ability to buy some personal protective equipment and essential firefighting safety equipment that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” said Fire Chief John Kadlewicz.

City Engineer Kris Baker spoke during the press conference about a few different projects receiving ARPA funding that would support major infrastructure projects in the near future. The projects include $1.9 million to replace the city’s central fueling station, where city and emergency vehicles get gas, $250,000 for the City Hall parking deck rehabilitation and $4 million in municipal building upgrades.
Baker said the current fueling facility operates on a dial-up modem and the out-of-date tech speaks for itself on why a replacement was needed.

“We’re very happy to be able to replace this station and just make sure that all the city departments can continue to run and be able to rely on this station where it won’t go down when it’s really needed,” Baker said.

Other allocations awarded out included $100,000 for the historic Appleton Mill restoration and affordable housing creation, $220,000 for the Parks and Recreation rejuvenation project, $30,000 to upgrade bathroom facilities at the Holyoke merry-go-round, $150,000 toward a new comprehensive plan for the city and $124,000 for Holyoke Gas and Electric to upgrade the city’s broadband network.

The city of Holyoke’s 150th celebration was also awarded $150,000 for ongoing projects and events for the year of celebration. It was noted that some of this funding would directly go toward the procurement of a city time capsule to be opened in 50 years. The spreadsheet detailing this round of ARPA funding allocation is available on Holyoke.org.