WORCESTER—The Worcester City Council delivered its third annual evaluation of City Manager Eric Batista during Tuesday night’s meeting, offering an overall positive assessment of his leadership while also addressing ongoing challenges facing the city.
Councilors praised Batista’s transparency, accessibility, and collaborative approach in leading Massachusetts’ second-largest city. The feedback echoed consistent themes from prior evaluations, highlighting Batista’s communication skills and fiscal responsibility, along with calls to improve city cleanliness and small business support.
“I just want to start by saying that, and also in terms of management skills, I think that the city manager certainly displays fabulous management skills, and he’s outlined that in his five-year strategic plan in great detail,” said Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson. “I don’t think that this city has seen somebody who was more of a team builder than the current city manager.”
Councilor Khrystian King added, “Our city manager brings operational insight, fiscal responsibility, and a clear presence in our community. There’s been a call for some more presence, but there is a presence in our community. He has demonstrated the ability to manage under tight constraints, while remaining accessible, and as visible, as he can be.”
Councilors acknowledged the intense political and economic environment facing municipalities, including Worcester, but credited Batista with helping to keep Worcester on track.
“It’s been a challenging and tumultuous year with more to come that may impact our economy, but you have presented solid visions, goals and objectives and plans with the ability to pivot when there is a challenge,” said Councilor Kathleen Toomey.
Councilor Mero-Carlson also emphasized the need to expand cleanliness efforts in the city. “The Quality of Life team does a fabulous job,” she said. “We’re a little bit bigger today than we were a couple of years ago, but we really need to expand that. One of the things that I hear all the time is we have a dirty city. We don’t want to hear it, but I think we need to recognize that we don’t have control of it — yet.”
Councilor Luis Ojeda pointed to a need for more creative strategies to support local entrepreneurs. “In terms of economic development, I think that’s an area where we could do better, especially for our small businesses… I’m just hoping we can get a little bit more creative in that area,” he said.
Mero-Carlson also spoke to the city’s financial stability: “In terms of financial forecasting, we certainly are doing a great job there… In terms of budget, planning and development, as you know since I first got elected, we’ve come a long way with the budget process.”
Batista previously reported several key accomplishments from the past year, including a $1 million investment in small businesses that generated $3.7 million in private investment, continued job growth, and steady progress toward building 12,000 new housing units by 2033.
He also highlighted Worcester’s standing as one of the safest midsized cities in the nation, citing the police department’s seizure of 90 illegal firearms and the city’s assistance to 276 people accessing detox services.
“Being a public servant is not easy,” Batista said during the meeting. “Especially when there are extreme issues and challenges that are outside of our hands… that are dropped in front of our lap, and we have to figure that out.”
He also shared a broader message for the community: “The strength of any organization, whether it’s nonprofit, private sector, etc., is learning how to be better in the moments of fire — how to come better prepared, how to work together as a team and how to deliver exceptional service.”
The city manager noted recent traffic safety initiatives, including reducing the statutory speed limit to 25 mph and installing 60 speed humps, with more planned in the coming year.
During the meeting, Councilor Etel Haxhiaj injected a more critical note, referencing community concerns in the wake of a U.S. Department of Justice report released in December 2024. That report, based on a federal investigation of the Worcester Police Department, alleged a range of misconduct — including excessive use of force, abuse of sex workers, and other civil rights violations. The release of the report brought throngs of residents and police officers to city hall.
“I do have to say that I am discouraged by the response of the DOJ report,” Haxhiaj said, “even though I appreciate several policies implemented by Chief [Paul] Saucier, more than one council member have expressed serious concerns about transphobic slurs and xenophobic comments made by sitting city councilors.”
Despite her concerns, Haxhiaj stressed that she’s always willing to engage. “I continue to be a partner in this work,” she said. “We will have disagreements. We will have difficult discussions. I am committed to sitting through those difficult discussions, no matter how hard they get.”
This year’s evaluation follows the city council’s December approval of Batista’s new three-year contract, which increased his base salary to approximately $293,868 — a 4.5% raise — with built-in annual increases of up to 3%. The new deal has the potential to bring his salary above $300,000. Batista’s contract was first renegotiated in December 2022, when he transitioned from acting to permanent city manager under a two-year agreement at a base salary of $275,000.
Batista was officially appointed to the city’s top administrative role on Dec. 6, 2022. The council has now completed two annual performance evaluations since his permanent appointment, including one in mid-2023 and the current review in June 2024.
“I’m a strong believer in performance evaluations,” Batista said. “We want to implement it into our staff, into our teams, and this year with the FY26 budget we’re starting that process to do that. We have more work to do.”
Matt Olszewski is a freelance content and news writer based in Boston, MA. In his free time, Matt enjoys running, hiking or skiing. Matt recently graduated with his MPH from Tufts University. He can be reached at mattoskier@gmail.com
