Roundtable: $30M Sewer Lawsuit, Trash Cleanup Failures, and Partisan City

By-Hank Stolz

Photo-Radio Worcester

WORCESTER, MA– Hank and “Big” Ben are joined by Guillermo Creamer and John Keough on the Radio Roundtable to talk about the municipal election and top local topics. This week the Roundtable looks at the city’s recent loss of a $30 million lawsuit to the town of Holden over sewer fees. Acknowledging Monday morning quarterbacking there were questions and criticism of the previous administration’s overconfidence and poor legal strategy that led to the massive payout.

The Roundtable also discussed the city’s ongoing cleanup effort, arguing that while it was a positive step, it failed to address systemic issues with trash collection, poor contractor performance, and inadequate infrastructure. The panelists also critiqued the city’s communication strategy for the initiative.

Finally, the conversation shifted to the upcoming nonpartisan city council election, where the panelists asserted that the election was functionally partisan, marked by political pandering, and influenced by a divide between moderate and progressive Democrats. They discussed the need for a charter revision to empower the council and expressed expectations of low voter turnout for the preliminary election.