Where

Esther Howland (South) Chamber

Watch the recording (opens in new tab) of this meeting on YouTube.

What was decided

The council ordained 23 ordinances on parking, traffic signs, and trash placement. It referred dozens of resident petitions to committees and denied reconsideration of two orders on civil immigration enforcement signage. It placed a civilian review board item on file after adopting two police reporting orders.

Decisions recorded

• Approved the minutes of the July 21, 2026 City Council meeting, 11-0. p. 1page 1 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Granted National Grid permission for a conduit location on Velander St., 11-0. p. 4page 4 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Granted National Grid permission for a conduit location at Washington Sq., 11-0. p. 4page 4 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Granted National Grid and Verizon New England permission for a jointly-owned pole on Christine St., 11-0. p. 4page 4 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied reconsideration of the August 18, 2026 vote on King's order for signage saying property may not be used for civil immigration enforcement, 5-6. p. 5page 5 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied reconsideration of King's order on multilingual signage in the ordinance, 4-7. p. 5page 5 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Approved reconsideration of King's multilingual signage order, 11-0. p. 5page 5 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied adoption of King's multilingual signage order after reconsideration, 5-6. p. 5page 5 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petitions 10a through 10c, including a shade tree and tree removals, to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cemetery, 11-0. p. 5page 5 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petition 10d on cat roaming regulations to the Public Health and Human Services Committee, 11-0. p. 6page 6 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petitions 10e through 10x, including streetlight, road repair, and street naming requests, to the Public Works Committee, 11-0. p. 6page 6 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petitions 10y and 10z on speed limit signage to the Traffic and Parking Committee, 11-0. p. 7page 7 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petitions 11a through 11z on signs, speed humps, and parking to the Traffic and Parking Committee, 11-0. p. 8page 8 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petitions 12a through 12n on truck restrictions, parking, and traffic calming to the Traffic and Parking Committee, 11-0. p. 10page 10 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred petition 12o on the European Starling population to the Veterans' Memorials, Parks and Recreation Committee, 11-0. p. 12page 12 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Placed two constable appointment communications on file, 11-0. p. 13page 13 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Confirmed Lauren Tiberio, Jennifer Maddox, and John Finn to the Accessibility Advisory Committee, 11-0 for each. p. 13page 13 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Voted to advertise three proposed ordinances to amend the Salary Ordinance, 11-0. p. 13page 13 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred the DCU Special Tax District Borrowing communication to the Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee, 11-0. p. 16page 16 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Adopted resolutions on grants and donations, including a $1,923,714.10 state transportation grant, plus related transfers and payments, 11-0. p. 17page 17 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Adopted 18 committee chairman's orders, including reports on ordinance changes, tobacco revenue, and traffic signs, 11-0. p. 19page 19 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred the Borenstein petition to amend off-street parking requirements for dwellings to the Economic Development Committee, 11-0. p. 24page 24 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Accepted two Municipal and Legislative Operations reports recommending communications be placed on file, 11-0. p. 25page 25 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Accepted and adopted Traffic and Parking Committee orders for items 19a through 19g, including signs, speed limits, and crosswalks, 11-0. p. 25page 25 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Accepted Traffic and Parking reports recommending that petitions 19h through 19z be placed on file, 11-0. p. 26page 26 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Accepted Traffic and Parking reports recommending that petitions 20a through 20n be placed on file, 11-0. p. 28page 28 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied Petty's motion to suspend Rule 21 so King could speak beyond 10 minutes on the civilian review board item, 5-6. p. 38page 38 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Adopted Councilor Mitra's order asking for a biannual report on Worcester Police Department goals and misconduct, 11-0. p. 35page 35 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Adopted Councilor Ojeda's order asking the Police Chief for a report on rising arrests, 11-0. p. 35page 35 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Placed the civilian review board report item on file, 8-3, on Rosen's motion. p. 35page 35 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Placed the Toomey order on a public discussion of the DOJ investigation closure on file, 8-3. p. 35page 35 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied reconsideration of the Toomey order on the DOJ investigation, 7-4. p. 35page 35 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Adopted King and Economou order asking for research on in-road warning light crosswalk systems, 10-0 with Bilotta absent. p. 36page 36 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Denied King's order to postpone the August 18, 2026 meeting and move its items to September 8, 2026, 5-5. p. 37page 37 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Approved suspending the rules to extend the public participation section by one hour, 11-0. p. 37page 37 of the minutes (opens in new tab)
• Referred King's motion on joint meetings with the School Committee to the Education Committee, 10-0 with Bilotta absent. p. 38page 38 of the minutes (opens in new tab)

2 decisions aren't shown: they couldn't be matched to the minutes.

The full text is in the city's PDF, linked below.

Minutes posted on the city website (PDF, 209 KB). Saved copy (opens in new tab), saved October 27, 2026.

Agenda

A copy of the agenda wasn't saved here. It is on the city website (opens in new tab).

Terms used here

ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law on access for people with disabilities.

CDBG

Community Development Block Grant: federal money, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for housing and neighborhood projects that serve low- and moderate-income residents.

tabled

Set aside by a vote, to take up later. A tabled item comes back when the board votes to take it off the table.

TIF

Tax increment financing: a district where some of the new property tax from development is set aside, for public projects or for the development itself.

All the terms in the glossary

Source

This meeting on the City of Worcester calendar (opens in new tab). First recorded by Worcester Publick on October 27, 2026.