Batista agrees to two-year Worcester city manager contract, gets $50K raise
Eric Batista, Worcester city manager
The Worcester City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday evening to approve Eric Batista’s contract to become the city’s permanent city manager. The contract is for two years and $275,000 annually.
Batista becomes the city’s first nonwhite permanent city manager.
The City Council voted 8-3 at its Nov. 15 meeting to make Batista’s position as acting city manager permanent. At Tuesday’s meeting, the council entered executive session to negotiate his contract and agreed to terms that includes a cost-of-living increase after the first year. If the City Council wants to negotiate a subsequent contract with Batista, it will have to provide notice of intent by June 20, 2024.
As acting city manager, Batista’s salary was $225,000.
As part of Batista’s new contract, he will receive five weeks vacation leave, use of a city-owned vehicle, and payment of $3,750 toward the cost of disability insurance and the cost of life insurance. The city will make the maximum payment allowed by the Internal Revenue Service toward a deferred-compensation plan, and if Batista is removed from office, he will receive a severance equivalent to six months of salary and benefits.
Batista, a member of WBJ’s 40 Under Forty Class of 2019, worked for the city government for 10 years. He started as a project manager and was appointed assistant city manager in October 2021 to serve alongside Assistant City Manager Nicole Valentine. He was appointed acting city manager when former city manager Edward Augustus announced in March he was leaving the position in May. Augustus subsequently took the role of chancellor at Dean College in Franklin.
In May, the City Council voted 10-1 to do a nationwide search for a permanent city manager, but Mayor Joseph Petty upended that process in September when he said he wanted to hire Batista permanently and forgo the search. The council voted in November to approve Batista for the role and has now made him permanent city manager for at least the next two years.
The City of Worcester uses a Plan E form of government, where the city manager is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the city and answers to the elected city council. The mayor is part of the city council, and the job is part-time. This makes the city manager one of the most important and powerful people when it comes to shaping the city, if not the most powerful.
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$550K and outrageous bennies to someone who was instrumental in the WRTA and Woo Sox boondoggles. Great country we have here.
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