Lede: At a Sept. 25 meeting, the Holyoke Commission on Disability voted to accept procedural items and discussed the commission's fiscal year 2025–26 budget, clarified open meeting and quorum rules under Massachusetts law, and outlined next steps on a planned community survey and translation needs.

Nut graf: The commission clarified that its ADA officer, Kelly Curran, is a nonvoting, advisory city employee and that a quorum requires a majority of voting members (half plus one). Commissioners reviewed the two council-approved budget line items — $14,000 for professional services and $22,000 for supplies and equipment — discussed how previously adopted priorities map to those buckets, and set a timetable for the survey, including translation and accessibility options.

Body: Lynn, chair of the Holyoke Commission on Disability, said the commission sought legal clarification after concerns that some subcommittee budget discussions might have triggered open meeting law requirements. "The ADA city employee officer is not a voting member," Lynn said, citing guidance she received from the city solicitor's office and the Massachusetts office of disability. Lynn summarized the quorum calculation: voting members only count toward the quorum, and a simple majority is "half plus one." She noted the commission has not at any time had the four voting members necessary to establish a quorum under that rule.

Commissioners reviewed budget line items that were approved by the mayor and city council for the fiscal year running through June 2026. Kelly Curran summarized the two buckets currently in the mayor's budget: "professional services is $14,000, and supplies and equipment is $22,000." Commissioners said the four priority areas the commission previously identified — accessible transportation, education/outreach, aid to students, and accessible city buildings/grounds — were placed into those two line items based on the nature of the expense (services vs. supplies/equipment). Marlene said, "Elements that include someone helping with the survey or doing translation would be in that professional services category, where Zoom and other things would be a supply side."

Commissioners discussed procurement thresholds and where to get guidance on allowable expenses. Kelly Curran advised the group to consult the city's chief procurement officer for questions about permissible purchases and said the commission's small budget would likely remain under typical competitive-procurement thresholds.

On survey planning, Lynn said the commission has discussed outreach to community organizations before launching a public survey and named SurveyMonkey and Google Forms as possible platforms. Commissioners flagged translation and closed-captioning as priorities: Curran noted Zoom closed captioning is free and that a translation package is available through Zoom's vendor packages; commissioners asked staff to identify local translation resources and whether translation could be paid from commission funds.

Lynn reminded commissioners that the fiscal-year funds are not revolving: "This money has to be gone at the end of that fiscal year," she said, and contrasted that with a separate '22g' revolving account option that would allow more flexibility if the commission pursues it later. Commissioners agreed to hold off on a formal '22g' push until the finance committee's legal questions and the city election season settle.

Ending: Commissioners asked staff to place the clarified operating guidelines and supporting legal correspondence in the commission drive and to circulate the budget breakout document. They also agreed to continue outreach work before finalizing a survey instrument and to return to the '22g' discussion after the finance committee and council legal review.