WORCESTER—Worcester’s charter has been raised several times during the debates leading up to the city’s Nov. 7 municipal election. In response, members of the Worcester Regional Research Bureau last week released a brief on the topic.
In “Understanding Worcester’s Charter,” released on Oct. 24, the WRRB leads off with a breakdown on what exactly a charter is.
Massachusetts General Laws allow municipalities to choose their own charter, which is used to create and define their government and has the ability to create and distribute powers and responsibilities to local offices and establish procedures for the government to follow.
State laws related to charters include six model charters for cities: A, B, C, D, E, and F, according to the WRRB’s brief. Cities can choose to follow one of the models, but aren’t required to.
Candidates on the campaign trail have called for both the continuation of and the end to Worcester’s modified Plan E form of government.
In Plans A, B, and F, the mayor is the Chief Executive Officer of the city; in Plan C city councilors act as a city’s executives and in Plans D and E there is a city council and mayor, but a city manager takes on executive and administrative powers.
The largest difference between D and E is the number of city council votes taken to remove the city manager, according to the research bureau. In Plan D, two-thirds of the city council needs to vote for the removal for it to go into effect while in Plan E, it just takes a majority of the vote, according to the brief.
Only 15 cities in the state use a council-manager form of government, according to the research bureau, and Worcester is the largest.
Worcester adopted a Plan E form of government in 1947. In 1983, Worcester residents voted to reexamine the charter and adopted a modified Plan E charter two years later that went into effect in 1987, the brief relays.
The changes to the charter included moving from a council with nine at-large members to one with six at-large councilors and five district councilors, with a mayor elected by voters from among the at-large candidates who also choose to run for the city’s highest elected office.
WRRB’s brief details the responsibilities that fall to the council and the mayor and those that fall to the city manager.
The council holds the legislative powers of the city that aren’t reserved for voters and the school committee, and as such can pass ordinances and set policies in the city. In that role, councilors can request the city manager give them information regarding municipal matters that are under their control.
The mayor serves as the ceremonial head of the city and chairs the council and the school committee. The mayor has the same ability to vote on council matters as other councilors, but according to the charter has no veto power and cannot make appointments other than to positions directly connected to their office.
The council is responsible for hiring the city manager and conducting an annual review of them. The body can remove the manager with a majority vote.
In Worcester, the manager possesses all the powers and duties associated with chief executive or administrative officers, according to the brief, which the charter explicitly states.
Those powers and duties include ensuring the laws put in place by the council are faithfully executed, making recommendations to the council about things they may deem necessary or desirable, giving the council reports on the goings on of the city including its financials, and acting as “chief conservator of peace” which includes overseeing the city’s first responders.
One of the city manager’s tasks is creating a budget, which the council has the ability to remove or reject amounts in before voting on whether to adopt it. The council does not have the ability to increase any of the suggested amounts in the budget the manager prepares.
The manager is able to present plans for the reorganization of city agencies as well as the creation of new ones, but the city council has to vote to approve or reject the plans.
In the role, the manager can appoint or remove department heads, officers, employees and members of boards and commissions.
“As both the chief administrative and chief executive officer of Worcester, the city manager has an enormous responsibility to guide the day-to-day affairs of the city, as well as to set yearly priorities through the creation of a budget,” the WRRB concludes. “As chief executive, the manager may also need to interpret and implement the ordinances and policies passed by the city council. The city manager, in that sense, plays an important role guiding the affairs of the city.”
The brief is available on the WRRB’s website.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s 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
