Worcester City Council Stalls City Manager Decision
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor
Will Augustus stay on as City Manager long term? |
At the most recent city council meeting, Mayor Joe Petty asked the other city councilors of Worcester to suspend the process of voting for one of the three city manager finalists, in the hopes that an outpouring of support for interim city manager Ed Augustus will get him to reconsider and take on a long term role as Worcester’s city manager.
“As city councilors, there is no more important job than hiring a new city manager and I really believe that we already have the right person for the job,” said Petty. “We need someone who move the city foreword. At the end of the day, I think that we have the right person and that is why I am asking the council to support and try to initiate negotiations for a long term contract for Ed.”
While there is an outpouring of support for Augustus throughout Worcester, it is still unclear as to whether or not he would like to take the job on a permanent basis. In previous conversations, Augustus has refrained from being a candidate, preferring to return to his previous job at Holy Cross. The city council will hold a special meeting on Thursday, hoping to get verbal confirmation from Augustus that he would like to stay on long term.
Unfair Process
While many are supportive of pleading with Augustus to stay on as city manager, two city councilors voiced their opposition in diverting from a process that began last spring.
While neither Philip Palmieri nor Konstantina Lukes announced displeasure for Ed Augustus, they both admitted that the deviation from the process set forth by the city council during the spring is both unfair to the three finalists for the city manager search and disappointing overall.
“I think that this city has a black eye,” said Councilor Lukes. “I would like to say publically that I am disappointed – not in any person in particular – but this city is going to take a while to recover from this. In all my years of public service, this is the biggest fiasco I have ever seen; I feel bad for everyone involved.”
Lack of a Clear Candidate
While there may be issues brought up about deviating from the initial city manager search process, many of those calling for Augustus to stay on as city manager are making that declaration because not one of the three finalists – Oscar Rodriguez, Peter Graczykowski, and David Moore – did anything to separate themselves from the pack.
Rather than tying themselves down to one of the three finalists, many city councilors are in agreement that Worcester’s best option may have not surfaced through this search for a new city manager. Whether blowing up the search and starting over or convincing Augustus to stay, most are in agreement that the search should continue.
“We are now down to three finalists, and I haven’t heard a consensus decision about any of the three,” said City Councilor Gary Rosen. “Some would like us to believe that our hands are tied with one of those three finalists, but that doesn’t make any sense. All three finalists had pros and cons, but if one stood out then I feel that we would be choosing them.”