City Council Preview - 1/26/16 meeting

Thinking of attending the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26? Heres a sampling of some of the
more interesting items on the agenda the full rundown is here. This week is a City Manager agenda.
PETITIONS (14 total)
6L: Bill Coleman, in one of his four petitions, wants the City Council to order the city administration
to support the African American community in its attempts to establish a World War II memorial
honoring Worcesters citizens of color who served their country.
6N: Bill Coleman also wants the city administration to provide closed captioning for City Council
meetings to assist citizens who may have trouble hearing. As a side note, the video player overall for
City Council meetings might need revamping to make this happen although normal players like
YouTube already come with closed captioning services.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS (8 total)
7.3A: The Human Resources department has a summary of the citys Employee Wellness Programs.
Employees of the City of Worcester get free Yoga, Tai Chi, Salsa and Smoking Cessation classes, in
addition to weekly basketball and subsidized memberships to the YMCA. The city also reimburses
$200 ($400 for families) for anything that gets people moving, like gym memberships or home cardio
equipment. The full list of perks is exhaustive, and also includes a battery of health tests and classes.
Some of the money may come back to the city in the form of controlling the cost of health insurance,
according to the report. And since July 2015 more than 1100 employees have participated in the
offerings.
7.4A: Noted photographer Steven King, Worcester Magazines own, is one of many people to be
awarded money from the Worcester Arts Council, which doled out $122,812 to 58 recipients. There
are a wide variety of projects and recipients included on the final list, ranging from the EcoTarium to
All Saints Church, with a number of individuals in between.
Powerpoints: There will be two PowerPoint presentations one by the Worcester Police Department
on 2015 crime statistics and one by the Health Department on the Gun Buyback program. Neither
presentation seems to have been included in the agenda posted online.

7.36B: There is a huge report for the quarterly update on the citys commitment to diversity. The
hiring of Dr. Malika Carter as Chief Diversity Officer is highlighted, as is the citys hiring of 23
minorities and 45 women out of the 79 new hires made since April. The city has also entered into a
contract with Ascentria Care Alliance to provide translation services in 90 languages. Job programs
and the police/clergy alliance reconstitution were also mentioned, as is the Mayors Civic Academy,
scheduled for next month (send nominations to mayor@worcesterma.gov by Wednesday). Moneywise, there is $75,000 in matching state funding for pre-apprenticeship training and $112,000 from
the Federal Transportation Authority.
FINANCE ITEMS (10 total)
7.33B: Worcester Fire Department Chief Geoff Gardell is asking for $150,000 to pay expected
overtime for firefighters. The reasoning is that WFD manpower has been reduced through attrition
to 365 people.
7.33C: The city manager is asking for a transfer of $100,000 to, among other things, pay for new
cameras at City Hall and the Common. This comes just after a drug arrest by the Midtown Mall and
the designation of the Common as an area to keep an eye on now it appears the city will be
upgrading its surveillance there.
FINANCE COMMITTEE (4 total)
8.8A: The assessor has, as requested, provided a tax recap using the proposed Fiscal Year 2016 tax
levy as well as actual FY15 assessed values. The upshot for those not familiar with the jargon is that
the maximum 2.5 percent tax raise would result, using those numbers, in a nearly $6.8 million levy
increase. Thats where the councilors who argued against an order asking the manager to consider
not raising taxes were going with their questioning thats the amount that would have to be cut from
the biggest possible budget.
LEFTOVERS
After being held last meeting, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is back on the table.

http://worcestermag.com/2016/01/25/city-council-preview-12616-meeting/39799