WORCESTER – The City of Worcester Human Rights Commission voted to retain legal counsel and to recommend City Manager Eric Batista and the Worcester City Council prioritize the creation of a citizen advisory board during its meeting on Monday.
An independent report on the Worcester Police Department released in March included the establishment of a citizen advisory board as one of its 34 recommendations.
The commission decided that its legal counsel, which will serve pro bono (Latin which translates to “for the public good”), will take action to secure the release of documents related to internal investigation information from the Worcester Police Department. The commission declined to authorize that attorney to file legal action in court without another vote of commissioners.
During its meeting on Aug. 26, the commissioners discussed that in 2023 the commission requested documents on disciplinary investigations within the Worcester Police Department during 2022, but has yet to receive them. The commission seeks the same documents for investigations in 2023.
Ellen Shemitz, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, said that in both cases the police department provided those records to the office of the City Manager, but the city manager’s office has not released the documents to the commission.
The Human Rights Commission sued the city in a case decided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1976. In that case, the court ruled that “a municipal ordinance which established a human rights commission gave the commission the power and duty to receive and investigate complaints of violations of civil rights, a complaint charging excessive use of force by police was within the scope of the commission’s authority to investigate.”
Batista Sought Reduced Oversight in 2023
As This Week in Worcester previously reported, during the Human Rights Commission meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, commissioners were informed of a recent meeting between the city manager and the Commission Chair, Ellen Shemitz, Vice Chairperson Elizabeth O’Callahan, and Commissioner Guillermo Creamer.
Batista followed the meeting with a letter to the commission, where he wrote of the new priorities he sought the Human Rights Commission to focus on:
- The creation of a Worcester Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and a revision of the Affirmative Action Policy;
- Pay equity for City of Worcester employees;
- The creation of education materials on topics such as fair housing, workplace harassment prevention, and addressing implicit bias; and
- Addressing reported patterns of discrimination and harassment against Worcester Public Library staff from members of the public, including residents who are unhoused, dealing
with mental health issues, and/or substance abuse issues.
In a letter on Nov. 30, 2023, to the commission, Batista provided what he says is a summary of what the Human Rights Commission is able to do:
“The HRC has the ability to review, provide feedback and make recommendations on DEI policies; investigate human rights complaints related to denial of equal access and discrimination in employment, housing, education, recreation, and public accommodation against private entities; hold hearings; conduct mediations; and issue orders and reports upon completion of any investigations or hearings. This does not include investigations on City employees or departments. The new framework for the EODEI gives the HRC more resources to investigate complaints against private entities.” (emphasis added)
In the city’s Revised Ordinances of 2015, Article 15, §10 establishes the Human Rights Commission. In that section, number (6) says, in part:
“review departmental disciplinary actions: to review the results of any internal disciplinary action taken by any department, board, commission or agency of the city, including reports of the internal affairs division of the police department, and to make comments, conclusions and recommendations jointly to the city manager and the head or executive officer of any such department or agency to the extent such internal disciplinary investigations relate to the human rights ordinance of the city.”
It also says:
“The head or executive officer of any city department or agency shall also furnish, subject to the provisions of this ordinance and with the advice and consent of the city solicitor, any other such records and information that the director may request relative to any internal disciplinary action. The director shall furnish the commission with copies of any internal disciplinary action report so received and may disclose to the commission, in an appropriate manner or setting as permitted or required by law,”
In the same section, number (5) also provides the commission with the responsibility to review departmental policies.
Article 1, Section 3 of the Worcester City Charter defines the city’s distribution of powers as:
The administration of the fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs of the city of Worcester, with the government thereof, shall be vested in an executive branch headed by a city manager, and a legislative branch to consist of a city council.
A city charter is the foundational document that establishes a city government, similar to the federal or a state constitution. Worcester’s charter vests the power to create ordinances exclusively in the Worcester City Council. The administration can recommend changes to ordinances to the city council, but cannot unilaterally change them. Ordinances have the power of law at the local level.
