HOLLY — Following renewed debate over a previously completed DDA advertising purchase, Holly officials announced the creation of a new municipal department responsible for approving things that have already happened.
The Office of Retroactive Authorization will review purchases that have been paid, services that have been rendered and decisions that have already produced whatever they were supposed to produce, then determine whether everyone was sufficiently authorized several months earlier.
Officials said the department’s first case will involve the advertising purchase that inspired its creation. The ad was purchased, published and paid for in 2025, leaving only the considerably more difficult task of determining whether it was allowed to have been purchased, published and paid for in 2025.
The office is expected to quickly expand its workload. Staff will begin reviewing old ribbon cuttings to verify the ribbons were authorized before being cut, completed road repairs to determine whether the potholes were properly removed, and several boxes of printer toner whose current legal status remains unclear.
Residents will also be permitted to request retroactive municipal approval through Form RA-1, Application To Have Already Done Something. Village officials cautioned that approval is not guaranteed, particularly for decks, fences and sheds that have spent years operating under the assumption that physical existence constituted adequate paperwork.
Under the new process, disputed actions can be referred back to the appropriate board, committee or official until someone eventually votes to confirm that the thing everyone remembers happening did, in fact, happen.
Officials said the Office of Retroactive Authorization became operational immediately Monday.
Its creation is expected to be formally approved next month.