WORCESTER—This week’s city council agenda includes several key items. An informational communication about the Nov. 7, 2023, municipal election will be discussed, focusing on strategies to boost voter turnout.
Additionally, council will receive a report on the process and costs of the hand recount of Republican ballots from the March 5, 2024, presidential primary election for the office of Republican, State Committee Woman, First Worcester District. Also via the city clerk, a detailed communication will be provided, outlining all traffic ordinances passed by the city council over the past six years and the pending ordinances currently being drafted by the Department of Transportation and Mobility (DTM).
Numerous items on the agenda for Worcester City Council this week are led by the Committee on Traffic and Parking and the Committee on Public Works.
More than 50 reports from the Committee on Traffic and Parking are on the docket that range from requests to make Jackson Street a one-way to “no parking” signage and handicapped parking spaces on a number of streets and lots to the installation of a stop sign at the intersection of Fourth Street and Mill Street.
The Committee on Public Works presents several reports, which include the city manager’s recommendation of the FY2025 sewer and water rate, and the renaming of the section of Salisbury Street from West Street to Boynton Street for Daniel L. Gaskin, who co-founded the Worcester Caribbean American Carnival Association.
Other items on the council agenda Tuesday, all brought forth under the “suspension of rules”:
- Councilor Thu Nguyen requests from the city manager a report concerning ways in which the city has funded and supported the black community over the past few years, as well as how the city plans to fund and support the Black community in the future.
- A request per Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson to not begin the implementation of the city’s rental property registration program and period inspection programs until Sept. 1, 2024.
- Councilor Khrystian King has several requests of the city manager related to the rental program, including a report concerning the creation of a process to identify and verify whether a rental property includes a unit that is owner-occupied.
- A request via Councilor Morris Bergman to ensure that the old Doherty Memorial High School building signage is retained for historical purposes.
- King also submitted a request that the city manager provide council with a report concerning the parameters in place to protect appointed officials in the event that a conflict arises between a member/members of the public and said appointed official(s).
Worcester City Council meets on Tuesday, July 16, at City Hall in the Esther Howland (south) Chamber at 6:30 p.m.
