Worcester City Council authorizes mayor to execute city manager contract, advertises salary ordinance amid public criticism

The Worcester City Council held a special meeting to authorize the mayor to execute a senior management employment contract and to advertise an ordinance to amend the city manager's salary, approving both measures in roll call votes despite public criticism of the manager's performance.

Mayor Petty opened the meeting and said the session's purpose was twofold: to authorize the mayor to execute an already-agreed senior management employment contract and to authorize advertising of an accompanying salary ordinance. The mayor said the agreement referenced was entered on 12/10/2024 and that the authorization was being taken pursuant to the city charter (section 3-1b).

The votes: In separate roll calls the council approved the mayor's authorization to execute the employment contract and voted to advertise the salary-ordinance amendment. Most councilors recorded "yes"; Councilor Russell was recorded as voting "no" on each measure. The motions carried by roll call; specific salary figures or contract compensation were not specified in the meeting transcript.

Public comment at the start of the meeting focused heavily on the city manager and on city services. Fred Nathan of Worcester urged the council to keep the manager's pay at its current rate, warning that continuing financial pressure "could lead to police layoffs, fire layoffs, school department layoffs." Fianna Jiten Singh said she had been denied meetings with the city manager and alleged the city purchased contaminated land intended for a parking lot and sidewalk on Sunderland Road without an inspection, which she said has delayed construction of an approved sidewalk near a school: "the city purchased a piece of land that was contaminated without doing an inspection before purchasing that land?"

David Webb cited recent communications from the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice and said those communications indicated "reasonable cause to believe in a pattern of practice of misconduct that violates the constitution," urging accountability and personnel changes. Tom Marino objected to the timing and transparency of recent actions, saying it was "odd" that council members and the public sometimes learned important reports from the press first.

Councilor King asked for clarification that the vote would ratify an already-entered agreement; the mayor confirmed the vote was an authorization to formalize an agreement already reached on 12/10/2024 under the charter. The council completed roll-call votes on both items and then adjourned.

The meeting transcript does not provide the contract's compensation details, the proposed salary ordinance's numeric amendment, or further staff responses to the public's criticisms. The council closed the meeting with holiday wishes and no additional schedule for further public hearings on the salary ordinance was announced during the session.