HOLYOKE — With the Nov. 4 general election quickly approaching, Reminder Publishing sent questionnaires to City Council candidates on the ballot.
This year’s City Council at large race features nine candidates vying for six spots.
Incumbents Patricia Devine, Howard Greaney, Kevin Jourdain, Tessa Murphy-Romboletti, Israel Rivera and Michael Sullivan will look to secure a seat against challengers Jennifer Keitt, Mimi Panitch and Christopher Dunay.
Reminder Publishing asked each candidate the same three questions so readers can get a taste of who they are and what they hope to accomplish if elected. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
This week, the article will feature the newcomers’ responses.
More coverage on the upcoming election will appear in the next edition.
Reminder Publishing: What are some of your top priorities/issues you’d like to address in the first few months?
Dunay: For too long, City Council has moved the property tax levy faster than the cost of living. This means for the average homeowner in Holyoke, each year we reduce your standard of living. I am the only candidate in the race that has a plan to stop this.
Keitt: My first priority is to open the lines of communication. I want people to feel heard. I’ll be holding regular office hours so residents can stop by, share what’s on their minds, and know that their voices matter. Many of our processes are broken. I’m here to help fix them and make city government more efficient, fair, and transparent.
Panitch: The top priority has to be getting a modernized finance system for the city into place. We voted to replace our elected treasurer with an appointed treasurer nearly a year ago, but the conforming changes to our ordinances and charter aren’t finalized yet. I’d also like to see the council pass a comprehensive reform of its role in granting special permits under the Zoning Ordinance, which now creates a real burden on both businesses and the Council itself: this is admittedly boring and technical, but would make a huge difference for businesses seeking to establish themselves or expand here.
RP: What are one or two things you think voters should know about you?
Dunay: I am the only scientist in the race for Holyoke. I’m running to bring scientific and technological literacy to City Council so that we can become a 21st century city. I sit on the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, and work as a GS-14 Primary Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. I am a former Vice Chair of the Community Services Board of Alexandria, VA, where I helped oversee budget and policy for mental health, intellectual disability, and substance abuse, and where I served as the board’s representative to the Public Health Advisory Commission.
Keitt: When I say I’m here to represent everyone, I mean it. My family is multiracial, multiethnic, multigenerational, and neurodivergent — so understanding and equity aren’t just values, they’re my everyday life. Everyone deserves to be seen and heard in our city.
Panitch: I’m a lawyer, and I’m the current chair of the Planning Board. My priorities include reforming our economic development and planning structure to make it more creative and effective in identifying and recruiting the kinds of businesses best suited to take advantage of the genuine opportunities Holyoke’s location, clean energy infrastructure, and climate resilience offer, and at the same time making Holyoke simpler for potential new businesses to work with. They also include preserving and expanding our green space such as Elmwood Forest: maintaining quality of life isn’t just compatible with robust economic development, it’s essential to it. We have the assets we need to restore Holyoke and prosper in the future, if we make wise choices now.
RP: What is your overall message to voters ahead of the election?
Dunay: Holyoke City Council is dysfunctional, often not addressing everyday issues that Holyoke voters care about. This dysfunction is rooted in a culture of disrespect, dehumanization, and unkindness. Division and infighting is actively holding us back, and this needs to end. Above all else, I am fighting to bring grace to City Council. It is about time we turned the other cheek, and forgive our advisories, and realize that the unifying force that holds us together is that we all care deeply about our city.
Keitt: My message is simple: I get stuff done. I’m not just here to promise — I’m here to act. Because I’ve worked inside City Hall, I know where things stall — and I know how to push them forward. When I say I represent everyone, I mean everyone — and I’ll be the one who delivers.
Panitch: That said: Yes, Holyoke does have real problems, from affordability to public safety, and it needs a City Council that will face those problems and solve them. Our current council is subject to the whims of an obstructionist minority that has proved over and over that it’s not up to the job. Given a choice, it won’t even try: it kicks every available can down the longest road it can find. From modernizing our financial management system to something as simple as being able to vote on a land preservation proposal before the option expires, we need a vouncil that won’t just throw up its hands and say it’s too hard. And we need one that will stand for our democracy in a time of real crisis in America. Whether each of us will or not should be the first and most important question to any of us. It’s too big for 100 words, but too centrally important to leave out entirely; and I pledge that if elected I will.
