WORCESTER—Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty announced City Council standing committee assignments for the 2024-2025 term Thursday.
The 11-member council can send items to the three-member standing committees for further discussion, public hearings, and to develop recommendations on how the full council should move forward.
Each councilor is named chair of one committee and a member of two others.
Of the ten committees, Petty kept only the chairs of three the same as the 2022-2023 term – Councilor At-Large Donna Colorio as chair of traffic and parking, Councilor At-Large Kate Toomey as chair of public safety, and District 3 Councilor George Russell as chair of public Works.
Newcomers District 1 Councilor Jenny Pacillo and District 4 Councilor Luis Ojeda were named chairs of the Veteran’s Memorial, Parks and Recreation Committee and the Public Health and Human Services Committee, respectively.
Councilor At-Large Khrystian King, the new vice chair of the council, was named chair of Urban Technologies, Innovation and Environment, with Councilor At-Large Morris Bergman taking over as chair of Municipal and Legislative Operations.
District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson was named chair of the Economic Development Committee, taking over for departing District 1 Councilor Sean Rose.
District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj was named chair of the Education Committee and Councilor At-Large Thu Nguyen was named chair of Public Service and Transportation.
The full list of standing committee assignments is as follows:
Economic Development:
- Candy Mero-Carlson, chairperson
- Jenny Pacillo
- Kathleen Toomey
Education:
- Etel Haxhiaj, chairperson
- Thu Nguyen
- Khrystian King
Municipal and Legislative Operations:
- Morris Bergman, chairperson
- Luis Ojeda
- Donna Colorio
Public Health and Human Services:
- Luis Ojeda, chairperson
- Etel Haxhiaj
- Candy Mero-Carlson
Public Safety:
- Kate Toomey, chairperson
- Morris Bergman
- Luis Ojeda
Public Service and Transportation:
- Thu Nguyen, chairperson
- Donna Colorio
- George Russell
Public Works:
- George Russell, chairperson
- Candy Mero-Carlson
- Jenny Pacillo
Traffic and Parking:
- Donna Colorio, chairperson
- Khrystian King
- Thu Nguyen
Urban Technologies, Innovation and Environment:
- Khrystian King, chairperson
- George Russell
- Morris Bergman
Veterans’ Memorial, Parks, and Recreation
- Jenny Pacillo, Chairperson
- Kate Toomey
- Etel Haxhiaj
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford, and Antigua and Barbuda. Her work has been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
