7/21/2019 Letter from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse to City Council on blight reduction proposals:

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Dear Councilors,

It should come as no surprise that we in Holyoke have an issue with blighted and

abandoned properties. While we have made great strides in the past four years, such as

revamping and strengthening our receivership program, auctioning off taxtitle properties,and aggressively going after code violations, there is still more work to do.

!n your agenda tonight, you have a number of communications and orders aimed atgiving Holyoke the tools necessary to address these blighted and vacant buildings. "hese

recommendations and action items come from working with various city departments,

and industry professionals from the region and across the nation.

#ome of the key items up for your approval are$

• "he creation of a three person property preservation team that will save the city

millions over the next few years. %y using funds already in the budget, along withCD%& funds, it will have no increase to the bottom line of the budget.

• ' special act that would allow us to pierce the corporate veil that allows absentee

landlords to walk away from one property, while still reaping profits from others.

• ' series of updates and common sense changes to our already existing blighted

and vacant building section of our city code.

• "he adoption of language that would allow our (aw Department to go after the

worst offenders by placing liens on their properties.

's these various orders and communications are interconnected, but will most likely be

sent to the )inance or !rdinance subcommittees, I humbly ask that you consider holding

a *oint meeting of the two bodies. 's always, I look forward to answering any +uestionsyou may have.

Id also be remiss if I didnt give special thanks to both the (aw Department and %uildingDepartment for their hard work preparing many of the items on your agenda. "hey, along

with every department of the city, are working doubly hard to address these issues and

make sure the all residents en*oy a good +uality of life.

-espectfully,