The Worcester City Council meets Tuesday at 6:30pm. The agenda is here.
Some union and community groups are holding a May Day rally outside City Hall at 5:30pm (and down the street at 145 Front Street at 4:45pm) in support of the jobs fund, a stronger wage theft ordinance, and equity in hiring.
This week: Wage theft, Dan Dick, lots of items held over from last week.
“We have three crops in New England: trees, rocks, and water.”
–Dan Dick, Worcester legend and environmentalist
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- City Clerk Election: The Council will “elect” the City Clerk tomorrow to a 2-year term. Presumably we will keep the same clerk?
- Executive Session: At some point the Council will begin a private session to discuss a property deal, “having been advised by the City Manager that a public discussion will have a detrimental effect on the City’s negotiation position.”
- Dan Dick Bridge: State Rep Kate Campanale, Tatnuck Brook Watershed Association president John Reed, and John Stewart have a citizen petition to rename Coes Reservoir Dam and Bridge “Dan Dick Bridge and Dam”, after the late, great Worcester environmentalist.
- Wage Theft: The Mayor celebrates May Day by calling for a stronger ordinance against not paying workers for all their work, aka “wage theft.”
- Hiring Disparities: Councilor Rivera celebrates May Day by asking the City Manager for a study on hiring disparities for public construction projects, “to include race, gender, residency and veterans.”
- Exit Interviews: The Mayor would like to know if we can have a process for interviewing companies leaving the city.
- Municipal Turnover: Councilor Toomey would like to have a report on the turnover for city employees.
Items Discussed Last Week that Weren’t on the Agenda
- Nip Bottles: Councilor Lukes would like a report from the Board of Health about why there are so many nip bottles being sold nowadays.
Held Over from Last Week to this Week
- Let’s Not Expand the Library: Councilor Rosen wants a report on how much taxpayers would save if we put the $8 million expansion and renovation of the main library “on hold.” (It has been suggested to me that the savings are likely $8 million.)
- Unrelated Occupants: Held over from last week–Councilors Russell and Rivera would like to know if we can let landlords with RG-5 apartments apply for a special permit to allow more than 3 unrelated persons live in a unit.
- Vintage Streetcars: Councilor Rose has an item asking if we could create a mile-long “trolley or street car system.” The T&G clarifies this would be more about making a bus look cool than actually installing train tracks.