Ray Mariano: Worcester City Council is rudderless

It means to drift aimlessly or to lack a clear sense of direction. "Rudderless" is the perfect word to describe the Worcester City Council and the course that it sets for the city. However, if you prefer, you could select "adrift," "aimless" or "directionless."

In Worcester’s form of government, the City Council gives direction to the city manager, who holds all of the executive power, and then he or she carries out its directives.

Whatever a City Council wants to accomplish — more police protection, more street repair, more investment in the school system — it needs the city manager to get anything done.

In my experience, when the council gives its executive clear direction, he does everything in his power to get it done. But what happens when the council gives no real direction or the 11 councilors tell the manager 11 different things? What’s the poor guy supposed to do?

Last year’s public evaluation of city manager Eric Batista was an embarrassment. The process was so bad that several city councilors didn’t even bother to submit the evaluation form on time. Others only wrote a few words or letters on the evaluation form with absolutely no detail. When it was over, the manager was given no direction as to what the council collectively wanted done.

This year’s process was marginally better, with about half of the council actually detailing its thinking in writing (including one councilor who just scribbled a few words in the margins). Weeks later, one councilor — Khrystian King — still hadn’t even been bothered to complete the ridiculously simple form and submit it.

In the end, poor Eric was left looking around the room wondering what his bosses want him to accomplish.

No clear goals, objectives

District 3 Councilor George Russell is mad that the snack shack at the Little League on Vernon Hill is still missing a door. So what? District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj submitted four typed pages covering six broad topics. Again, so what?

None of that matters when it only comes from an individual city councilor. For any of these requests to be taken seriously, the council needs to prepare a comprehensive list of goals and objectives for the manager with timelines — as a group. Not as individual councilors.

Unfortunately, the City Council is either too lazy or hapless to do that. And since the manager can’t do everything at once, he’s left wondering what he should prioritize and what he should leave for another day.

That means that any councilor is free to whack away at Batista for not doing what they individually think is important.

For example: Councilor Thu Nguyen wants the manager to be “bold enough” to allow “sanctuary encampments.” I’m guessing a number of councilors strongly disagree. So what’s Batista supposed to do? If the council voted on whether that should be a priority, Batista would have his marching orders. As it stands now, Batista probably won’t be bold enough and Nguyen will be able to criticize him for it again next year.

So what are the priorities of the City Council? Well, depending on the direction of the wind, everything and nothing. That leaves poor Eric twisting in the wind.

Putting a list of goals and objectives for 11 elected officials — some with wildly different views — is not an easy assignment. My problem is that the council doesn’t even try. And to the best of my knowledge, it doesn’t ask the manager to submit one for its consideration.

Councilors typically say that they’re in favor of everything — better streets, more attention to the neighborhoods, more police protection but not too much, less litter. You get the idea. But ask them to prioritize what they want and put it on a list and they run like cats from water because then they can’t be for everything and that doesn’t look good come election time.

If the City Council gave Batista a list of things it wanted accomplished, I’m betting he would move heaven and earth to get them completed. But as it stands now, the city’s ship is essentially, what’s the word, oh yeah, rudderless.

Batista could help himself

But there’s still hope. Batista could help himself and prepare his own prioritized list of measurable goals and objectives and then submit it to the City Council for its review and approval. This would force the council’s hand. It could debate it, send it to a committee for review, amend it, approve it or simply put it in the circular file. But whatever it decides, the city manager will have set an agenda against which he can be measured and evaluated.

The goals and objectives approved by the City Council would become a road map for the manager and his team. Everyone, including the City Council, would be singing off of the same song sheet.

Conversely, the Worcester School Committee does it right, getting measurable goals and objectives from its executive and using them as part of the evaluation process.

When I was executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority, I submitted a detailed list of goals and objectives to the Board of Commissioners for its review and approval. The next year, my annual evaluation was based on whether or not I had accomplished what we collectively had agreed to do.

Now Batista is moving forward for his third year, in exactly the same way as he started, rudderless and without clear direction from his bosses. He deserves better and so does Worcester.

One more thing, Mr. Manager, get the kids on Vernon Hill a door for their snack shack.

Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His column appears weekly in the Sunday Telegram.His endorsements do not necessarily reflect the position of the Telegram & Gazette.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ray Mariano: Worcester City Council is rudderless