Worcester Ballpark Commission Safe After Council Votes No On Change

WORCESTER, MA — A proposal to delete a city commission that oversees activities at Polar Park was denied Tuesday during a special city council meeting — but the Ballpark Commission may still change at some point in the future.

The Ballpark Commission was created by the city in spring 2021 to oversee several aspects of Polar Park, including events, the lease with the Worcester Red Sox and rules for using the facility. In July, City Manager Eric Batista proposed deleting the commission, which has only met eight times since 2022, with no meeting minutes available online.

Batista asked the council to approve placing Polar Park under the guise of the Department of Public Facilities, which oversees buildings like City Hall, the library and the city-owned DCU Center.

At Tuesday's special meeting, District 3 Councilor George Russell said the Department of Public Facilities wasn't ready to take Polar Park under its belt. Russell, who chairs the council subcommittee that debated Batista's proposal, said city leaders needed to come up with a better plan for the management of Polar Park and return to councilors with a new proposal. Russell had voted against the creation of the commission in April 2021.

Batista told councilors that there was no other option in place if they voted to delete the commission.

"We're still having discussions internally in terms of what options there are for council to review if this commission were to be denied," he said.

Part of the deal between the Worcester Red Sox and the city, which financed the nearly $160 million stadium for the team, was a community benefits agreement allowing public use of Polar Park. For the first five years of the CBA, Worcester was granted eight "revenue-generating" events per year, plus 10 community days and 15 community meetings.

The clock on those community benefits will run out in three years, and Worcester has yet to host a revenue-generating event at Polar Park, although community events like graduations have taken place there.

The council ultimately voted 8 to 1 to turn down the proposal to delete the commission, with At-Large Councilor Khrystian King voting no, and District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj and At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen absent.

The council had to meet in special session Tuesday because Batista's July ordinance proposal would've automatically gone into effect after 90 days on Oct. 16. The council was not scheduled to meet Tuesday due to the Monday holiday and a special election, but wasn't set to meet again until Oct. 17.