A preliminary election Sept. 20 will narrow the field of four candidates for mayor to the top two vote-getters, who will face off on Election Day Nov. 8.
HOLYOKE – The four candidates for mayor pitched their experience and plans at a senior citizens forum Wednesday.
The appeals came six days before the preliminary election Tuesday that will narrow the field – Mayor Elaine A. Pluta and challengers Alex B. Morse, Daniel C. Boyle and Daniel C. Burns – to the top two vote-getters, who will move onto the Election Day ballot Nov. 8.
The Holyoke Golden Seniors forum at the War Memorial, 310 Appleton St., also had four City Council candidates, including an incumbent who is unopposed for reelection.
Boyle, 63, is a business consultant. He said he has experience as co-owner of the former Diamond Fiber Products Co., in Palmer, where he managed a $7 million annual payroll and a $19 million total budget, hired employees and negotiated contracts.
Among his skills, he said, is knowing the best resource is employees.
“So I would organize and lead labor-management committees in every department,” Boyle said.
Mayor Elaine A. Pluta, 67, said other candidates discuss plans, but she can cite actions. That includes hiring new Police Chief James M. Neiswanger on July 19, submitting two balanced budgets without employee layoffs or furloughs, and forming a task force to study ways to cut property taxes, said Pluta, who is in her first two-year term.
“While others tell you what they will do, I can tell you what I’ve done,” Pluta said.
Morse, 22, a former career counselor, said he would be mayor based on residents having told him they want open government, innovative thinking to create jobs and bold leadership.
He would promote Holyoke as a place to operate to high-tech and other kinds of businesses, he said, and keep people informed with an “online checkbook” that allows for tracking of city spending.
“This is not a question of age, it’s a question of vision,” Morse said.
Burns, 54, a former city councilor and former business owner, said as mayor he wouldn’t be able to do anything about high gas prices but, “I can certainly reduce property taxes in the city of Holyoke.”
Burns didn’t specify how he would cut property taxes beyond discussing the importance of creating jobs.
About 50 senior citizens attended the forum.
Remarks also were made by Ward 3 City Council candidate Richard P. Purcell, Council at Large candidate Yasser Menwer, Councilor at Large Peter R. Tallman and Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon, who is unopposed.
Purcell and Menwer have previously run unsuccessfully for city offices.
Purcell is running against David K. Bartley, of 25 Hillcrest Ave. for the Ward 3 council seat. Incumbent Anthony M. Keane isn’t seeking reelection.
Purcell said he is “not a true politician” and is running so the people’s voice can be heard. He criticized Washington, D.C. politicians for talking about cutting Social Security, an issue over which Holyoke city councilors have no say but Purcell’s comments seemed to play well to the crowd of senior citizens.
“I mean it from right here, from the heart ... doing it just for the people, just for the people,” said Purcell, a U.S. Army veteran.
Menwer belongs to the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Barnes Air National Guard Base, in Westfield, and was 2004 Massachusetts Air National Guard Airman of the Year.
The key issue is the need to turn around poverty, said Menwer, who suggested providing more tax incentives to businesses than is now the case to attract jobs.
Those businesses, in turn, could provide apprenticeships to students from Dean Technical High School, he said.
“They would start to have a love and passion for the city, and why? Because they’re actually doing something,” Menwer said.
Tallman has been a councilor since the City Council voted to appoint him to a vacancy in February 2001. He also was on the board from 1992 to 1994.
Tallman is a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in Westfield.
His philosophy is that the council works for the people, he said.
“It’s not about us....It’s about listening to you and your problems,” Tallman said.
Vacon urged voters to approve a Nov. 8 ballot question to establish a new city charter, which supporters say would modernize and make government more effective.