WORCESTER – Acting City Manager Eric Batista was appointed the City Manager of Worcester for a two-year term by the city council on Tuesday evening, pending contract negotiations. The term may change through the process of negotiating a contract with Batista.
Batista has been the Acting City Manager since June and a city employee for 10 years. He was previously assistant city manager to former City Manager Ed Augustus.
An extended debate preceded the vote to appoint Batista.
In July, city councilors voted 10 to 1 to conduct a nationwide search for a new city manager, with Batista also a candidate.
Batista publicly said he supported a search process being conducted.
Request for proposals were answered by only one search firm. According to City Councilor At-Large Khrystian King, who chairs the Municipal Operations Committee, the search process was expected to take three months and could have been engaged in late August.
City Council didn’t meet again until Sept. 20. Items related to the search were held and prevented from discussion, per council rules, on Sept. 29 and Oct. 12.
According to city council procedure, councilors can hold items for the next meeting under certain circumstances.
On Oct. 25, Mayor Petty moved to end the search process and name Batista the new City Manager. Mayor Petty and councilors Bergman, Colorio, Mero-Carlson, Russell, and Toomey voted to end the search.
King held the item to make the appointment and asked for councilors to agree to a series of community meetings to allow Batista, for the first time, to outline his vision for the city before appointing him to the position permanently.
On Tuesday night, councilors rejected King’s proposal and moved forward with the appointment. The vote was 8 to 3, with King, Nguyen, and Haxhiaj voting no.
