WORCESTER — After a month-long leave, City Councilor Thu Nguyen returned to the council chambers Tuesday night, using the meeting to call out what they described as a toxic and discriminatory culture within the council.
Nguyen, the state’s first nonbinary elected official, reiterated allegations of transphobia and disparaging remarks, criticizing fellow councilors, the city clerk, and the city manager – and calling for more apologies.
Nguyen and Councilor Etel Haxhiaj pushed for a third-party investigation into allegations that Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson used a derogatory term to refer to Nguyen.
Haxhiaj criticized the council’s lack of response, calling it a failure of accountability and transparency.
Nguyen also questioned City Clerk Niko Vangjeli about decisions they believe were retaliatory following the allegations. This included new restrictions on meetings with aides and the handling of agenda items.
Nguyen then pressed City Manager Eric Batista for a firm commitment on the previously approved $500,000 for the Queer and Trans Resilience Fund.
Batista stated that while the motion asked his office to “consider” the allocation, it would be part of broader budget discussions for fiscal year 2026.
Meanwhile, Mayor Joseph Petty issued another apology, but Mero-Carlson refused to do so, instead suggesting that any grievances be taken to legal authorities.
Haxhiaj says allegations ignored
Haxhiaj said the allegations have been met with “deflection, avoidance, victim-blaming, and outright silence” by her colleagues — except for Vice Chair Khrystian King.
“Will this council body make a decision to investigate these allegations?” Haxhiaj asked. “Will this council body take them seriously? … Doing anything other than this sends the message that it is permissible for any of us, any future elected officials, to allegedly hurl slurs, to allegedly attack any one of us in a protected class, while facing zero accountability for their actions.”
Nguyen followed Haxhiaj’s remarks by saying that the elected body of a community should model accountability and transparency and that the past month had left them with “zero faith” in the council.
Nguyen’s criticism of Vangjeli
Nguyen asked Vangjeli if he had complained that councilors attending meetings remotely — as Nguyen had done — made his job more difficult.
Vangjeli said he did not know what Nguyen was referring to, but Nguyen persisted. Petty explained that verifying which councilors were online before taking votes, especially during roll call votes, caused delays since he had to check with the clerk.
Vangjeli was also asked why he didn’t allow a citizen petition for a third-party investigation. He responded that such a request needed to go through the council first.
“I do think the nature of that conversation should be with this body,” he said. “If you don’t agree with my interpretation, you could certainly amend those rules of the city council.”
Nguyen then suggested that the line of questioning highlighted the toxic environment within the council.
Vangjeli responded firmly
“If you’re accusing me of being part of the toxic council culture, I don’t appreciate that,” he said.
Nguyen continued pressing, questioning why Vangjeli appeared to exclude agenda items despite the city’s legal team advising that the council should make that decision.
“If you have an issue with how I run my department, you can certainly make a motion for me to bring back a report,” Vangjeli said.
Nguyen continued to say they had experienced “textbook retaliation,” including several new rules that had surfaced since the allegation was first made.
Nguyen said the rules prohibited them from meeting their city council aide outside City Hall and required their statements to go through the city clerk’s office.
Focus shifted to Batista
Nguyen asked Batista to clarify what the commitment was regarding the approved $500,000 in funding for the Queer and Trans Resilience Fund.
Batista said he planned to meet with the city’s equity officer and members of the community to determine how that funding would be used.
Nguyen expressed skepticism and called for a stronger commitment. Batista responded that the motion only asked his office to “consider” allocating funds.
Nguyen calls for apologies, Haxhiaj and Nguyen push for investigation
Haxhiaj pushed for a third-party investigation into allegations brought forth by Nguyen regarding the use of derogatory terms and a toxic council culture, insisting that the council should vote on the matter publicly rather than in executive session.
“I don’t really know how my colleagues feel about the allegations,” Haxhiaj said, “because other than one city councilor, and that’s Councilor King, no one has reached out. But what we have seen is weeks of avoidance and deflection and victim-blaming or outright silence about allegations of a colleague reducing another colleague to an ‘it’ multiple times, while allegedly accusing another of lying. We are now faced with a final choice, which is what this order is all about. Will the council body make the decision to investigate these allegations? Will this council body take them seriously?”
Haxhiaj added that if Mero-Carlson “had an ounce of the courage Councilor Nguyen has,” an official apology would have already been given.
“This decision is to be made public, Mr. Chair,” Haxhiaj said. “I didn’t cause this—four weeks of community members asking for genuine acceptance of harm done—and neither did Councilor Nguyen.”
Councilor Nguyen echoed the push for transparency.
“I don’t see why this would even need to go to an executive session if we are voting for an investigation,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen then asked both Mero-Carlson and Petty to issue apologies.
Mero-Carlson declined, pushing back.
“You’re not going to bully me,” she said. “That’s not going to happen. As I said, allegations….never at one point has the clerk brought anything to me in regard to issues whatsoever….If people feel that I did something so disparaging, I will say to you that you have the opportunity to go to MCAD [Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination] or the Attorney General’s office. If you believe that those are the things that I said, I welcome you to do that.”
Petty, however, reiterated his previous apology.
“I do apologize. I did apologize to you, and I stand by that apology,” he said to Nguyen.
“We need to be strong here as a community as we move forward,” Petty added, shifting focus to national politics. “We have one enemy, and that’s down in Washington.”
Haxhiaj’s item asking for an investigation was filed on a motion by Councilor Donna Colorio.
Steve Smith is a veteran reporter from Connecticut with 17 years of experience at The Hartford Courant.
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