Holyoke treasurer hopes to be fired, urges voters at special election to make position an appointed one

“I’m standing here in front of you voters and saying, ‘please fire me,’” said Rory Casey Thursday, Holyoke’s treasurer. City officials, including Casey and City Council members standing behind him, argue that the role of treasurer should be an appointed position.

“I’m standing here in front of you voters and saying, ‘please fire me,’” said Rory Casey Thursday, Holyoke’s treasurer. City officials, including Casey and City Council members standing behind him, argue that the role of treasurer should be an appointed position. STAFF PHOTO/SAMUEL GELINAS

Holyoke City Hall

Holyoke City Hall GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

By SAMUEL GELINAS

Staff Writer

Published: 01-13-2025 4:25 PM

HOLYOKE – City Treasurer Rory Casey is making the case for voters ahead of a Jan. 28 special election that he should be fired.

“Most politicians would stand up in front of a group of voters and say, you know, ‘Please hire me.’ I’m a little bit different. I’m standing here in front of you voters and saying, ‘Please fire me,’ ” Casey said last week on Holyoke Media, arguing in favor of question that asks voters whether the position of treasurer should become an appointed position rather than elected.

Casey hopes voters agree that the treasurer, which has sole control over nearly $200 million in taxpayer money, should be appointed and overseen by the City Council and mayor. Holyoke officials, including the mayor, city councilors, the city clerk, and are joining Casey in asking residents to vote “yes” in the upcoming single-issue election.

A “yes” vote would enable the city to alter its charter to reflect the change, while a “no” vote would leave the charter unchanged. 

Mayor Joshua Garcia said an appointed treasurer is a “vital” step toward modernizing the city’s administrative efficiency, which has been a foundational project of his the past three years as mayor, and that a ‘yes’ vote would “help us strengthen our internal controls and support our initiatives to improve financial reporting.”

If approved, the appointed treasurer would serve for three years, one year less than the current four-year elected term. Instead of an election, a job posting for the position of treasurer would be made available online, and candidates would be evaluated based on experience and pending the result of background checks. The council would interview candidates, and the mayor would give the final nod to a potential candidates.

Decades in the making

Officials in favor of appointing the treasurer believe that the elections do not attract a pool of qualified candidates the same way other city offices do, such as a seat on the City Council or mayor.

Additionally, the charter, signed in 1896, does not outline requirements for the position, which leaves the city at risk of having incompetent candidates, advocates for a “yes” vote argue. At the very worst, said Casey, are “nefarious characters,” who could potentially be elected to the position due to lack of competition for the role.

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“We need to have protections in place if we don’t have a treasurer with proper credentials who’s held accountable,” Casey said, or at some point in the future, the city will have “a real disaster on our hands, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

In the past five years, Holyoke has seen four different treasurers. Four of them resigned early, which has led to four special elections to fill those vacancies, he said.

Casey had risen to the spot because he had been the only person to file paperwork for the position when he was elected in 2022, and claimed that of the 351 communities in the state, Holyoke is the only municipality that retains an elected treasurer, as all the state’s communities have evolved toward the appointed model.

If the vote passes, he would serve until the end of his term in February 2026, and he said he will not seek appointment, if the charter were to be altered.

“My message to the people of Holyoke is that if you really want to have control over the city’s finances, then trust the elected officials that you’ve put in place already — the council who will make this appointment, the mayor who will oversee the day-to-day operations of this office,” said Casey.

“When the city charter was written, the treasurer had two responsibilities: to have a fireproof vault, and to sign checks. If that was the job responsibility today, elect them all day long. The job responsibility today is managing millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.”

The mayor has spearheaded the issue coming to a vote for the past two years in conjunction with the both the council and the state Legislature. A popular vote is required to alter the city’s charter, which was recently approved by the Legislature to be held on Jan. 28.

As for those on the council, City Council President Tessa Murphy-Romboletti said that, “We’re not here today to tell people how to vote,” but went on to say that the effort seeking this change is “unique” in that it has met unanimous approval among all 13 city councilors.

“There are not many issues that we agree on completely,” she said.

The city has been aware of the issue for years, as watchdogs outside the state have consistently brought attention to the “material weaknesses” of Holyoke’s treasurers for almost two decades.

A 2007 evaluation of the existing practice had been conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, and had concluded that, “The mayor does not function as a fully empowered, central authority who can demand that jobs get done … This lack of authority severely limits the ability of the mayor to impose sound financial management practices.”

Again in 2015 when further analysis was conducted by the Division of Local Services, it was concluded that an appointed official would allow the city to “establish minimum job qualifications, conduct an extensive interview process, and complete background checks of potential candidates. With access to a broader pool of candidates, the city can attract a person with the strongest credentials and most relevant professional experience.”

These notices, among others, including yearly audits of the city, have called for a change in the current practice. All notices the state has received in reference to this issue have been included on a website the city has specifically set up for information on the vote, and can be accessed at yeson1-28.com

Elections will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 28 in person. Registered voters of the city can contact the clerk’s office for mail-in ballots, and the last day to vote by mail is by 5 p.m. on Jan 22. In-person absentee voting will take place at City Hall until Jan. 27 at noon, according to City Clerk Brenna Murphy Leary. Voting locations are available through the clerk’s office.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com