Chicopee to consider $37,000 annual pay raise for mayor, increases for treasurer, city clerk and other elected officials
Updated Jan 18, 2021;
CHICOPEE – Citing a salary study that shows the mayor, treasurer and other elected employees are underpaid, the city’s top leader has submitted a proposal to hike annual salaries by amounts ranging from $37,000 to $6,500 a year.
The proposal also calls for increases for City Councilors and law department employees of about $2,000 each.
The mayor’s salary and some of those of elected officials haven’t been hiked in a dozen years. In 2008, when Michael D. Bissonnette was mayor, the City Council raised the pay from $65,000 to the current $85,000. Councilors also granted raises for the treasurer, collector, clerk and assessors at the same time based on recommendations from a salary study conducted at that time.
Easthampton council takes up tax break for mill project
JERREY ROBERTSEasthampton Municipal Building, 50 Payson Avenue GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 1/5/2021 7:53:37 PM
EASTHAMPTON Ongoing renovations to 1 Ferry Street, a central piece of the city’s vision to revitalize the mill district, will be discussed at a City Council meeting Wednesday night as officials consider an alternative tax payment for the property’s developer.
The project, known as One Industrial Lofts LLC, is under development by Michael Michon, who developed and owns Mill 180 on Pleasant Street. Michon is renovating the vacant mill buildings into a mixed-use complex of 152 residential, commercial and office spaces.
Dan Rist: Off the patriarchy, and why I prioritized voting for a woman
In a screenshot from the livestream of the Democratic National Convention, Dr. Jill Biden speaks from a classroom during the virtual convention on Aug. 18. A Wall Street Journal op-ed received significant backlash for suggesting she should drop her title once she takes on the job of First Lady. Getty Images/TNS
Published: 12/20/2020 7:19:05 AM
As a city councilor in Easthampton, I have often found myself defending my votes, but I am surprised that I must defend preferring a woman candidate last month when I had the rare opportunity to choose a new councilor when Councilor Bill Lynch resigned. I was told I “discriminated” against men.
Easthampton weighs whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
Updated Dec 15, 2020;
Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president.
Amherst, Northampton, Somerville, Cambridge and Brookline now celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus, with trio of ships, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, had sailed from Spain, landing in what is now called The Bahamas Oct. 12 of that year.
A group called Italian Americans for Indigenous Peoples Day wrote a letter to Easthampton City Council that is part of the council’s packet for the Oct. 14 meeting, when the body scheduled a discussion on the matter for Dec. 16.