The Municipal Modernization Act and the proposed restructuring of Holyoke’s finance functions were a point of dispute among candidates at the bilingual forum.

Meg McGrath Smith described months of ordinance work on a Municipal Modernization Act intended to create a formal finance department and argued the changes are needed to resolve long-standing accounting problems. “Right now, we have 3 years, we have not been able to reconcile our books, but there are issues back to 02/2007,” McGrath Smith said, adding that overlapping roles across departments have left unclear accountability.

Ward 5 Councilor Linda Bacon said the act has changed in response to debate but urged the city to appoint a qualified treasurer and noted concerns about whether the modernization act would actually produce efficiencies. Ward 3 incumbent David Bartley said he opposed the modernization measure in its current form and criticized inaccurate statements he said were made about the city’s bond capacity; Bartley said a claim that Moody’s had “obliterated” the city’s bond rating was not supported by documentation from the treasurer.

Candidates described the problem as structural — overlapping financial responsibilities across departments — and differed on whether the Municipal Modernization Act’s approach (including combining treasurer/collector roles and creating a chief financial officer) is the correct fix. None of the candidates presented final ordinance text at the forum; discussion focused on accountability, reconciliation of past records and the need for a qualified finance leader.

Forum attendees were reminded the event included simultaneous interpretation and that candidates would be available to speak after the event.