Petition asks: Should Worcester city councilors lose their pay for missing meetings?

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

WORCESTER ― The City Council is slated to vote Tuesday on whether to adopt two rules that address councilors’ absence from meetings. 

One rule would create a log to track city councilors’ attendance at meetings; another would withhold a councilor’s salary and benefits in case of unauthorized leave. 

The items were put forth by the Standing Committee on Municipal & Legislative Operations, which is chaired by Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman and also includes Councilor-at-Large Donna M. Colorio and District 4 Councilor Luis A. Ojeda. 

The committee took up the items during its Wednesday session. In February, resident and former City Council candidate Johanna L. Hampton-Dance urged the city charter be amended to allow recall elections in cases of “lack of fitness, incompetence and neglect of duties,” among other reasons. 

Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen has attended only one council meeting since mid-January, most recently citing the city’s decision to not pursue an investigation into allegations of transphobia and discrimination within the council. 

In a social media post Saturday, Nguyen called the proposed rules "retaliatory," and threatened to sue the city.

"I have been experiencing what I consider textbook retaliation from an increased hostile work environment to rules added to prevent me from doing my work efficiently such as not being able to meet my council aide outside the office," Nguyen wrote, "and now, it is becoming a threat to withhold pay and benefits for taking a hiatus to seek accountability.

"I’ve sought many routes so far, and I never wanted it to come down to this but if it must come down to a lawsuit for accountability, I will see the City of Worcester in court."

While Hampton-Dance in February did not directly refer to Nguyen’s absence when filing the petition, councilors made the connection, with Council Vice Chair Khrystian E. King saying, “The timing of this is not coincidental.” District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj echoed King. 

One of the suggested rules that council will consider Tuesday states that if a councilor misses three council meetings or a total of six council and committee meetings in one year “without notification and good cause,” it would be defined as unauthorized leave. 

In a case of unauthorized leave the other proposed rule states the council could hold a two-thirds vote to withhold the councilor’s salary and benefits. 

All councilors, regardless of their tenure, receive a monthly stipend of $2,641, according to the city clerk. 

If the absence persists, the council may set forth “additional action,” the order says.   

“The best outcome of all,” said Bergman at Wednesday’s meeting, “would be that everybody shows up regularly because they understand there’s a rule now, then we all benefit from that.” 

Bid to save Charter call center

Charter Communications' recent decision to shutter a call center operation in the city that employs 174 people is also on the Tuesday agenda.

An order filed by Mayor Joseph M. Petty would urge City Manager Eric D. Batista to prevent the location from closing. 

Charter plans to move call center operations out of the Worcester location by June 26; it has said it will give its employees the option to relocate to other locations out of state. 

Operations of field technicians and Spectrum News TV will remain at the 95 Higgins St. building, a spokesperson for the company has said. 

Police detail assignments

Police Chief Paul B. Saucier is expected to give an update Tuesday on Police Department detail work. 

In a report to Batista, Saucier wrote that the department recorded 650 unfilled detail jobs in 2024, compared to 1,765 the year before. He attributes the difference to a higher rate of detail work by recent academy graduates. 

Saucier added that the department filled 22,993 detail job assignments in 2024 and 22,630 in 2023. 

In calendar 2024, the top 25 list of municipal earners included 22 members of the Police Department, whose gross salaries of over $253,000 each included significant income from detail work.