Worcester Councilor Filed Conflict Forms Amid Eviction Ban Debate

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester city councilor who is a landlord and an adviser to a statewide landlord group filed a conflict of interest statement during a recent debate over an eviction moratorium — but never spoke publicly about any potential conflict during debates on the housing issue.

At-Large Councilor Morris Bergman owns rental properties in Worcester and has given speeches to the landlord advocacy group MassLandlords Inc. He was set to talk to the group on Wednesday night about housing issues in Worcester.

Bergman filed a conflict-of-interest statement on Jan. 24, about one week after the council first debated the eviction moratorium. Bergman said he tried to file a conflict statement on Jan. 18 but didn't because of a miscommunication with City Clerk Niko Vangjeli over how much time he had to do so.

But Bergman said he didn't feel he had any real conflict because he wasn't involved in any eviction proceeding at the time the council discussed the moratorium. He filed the statement as a precaution because of his real estate affairs, he said.

"While I do have an ownership interest in residential real property, I have no current or anticipated evictions due to COVID surge (current) regarding any tenants," Bergman said in his Jan. 24 conflict disclosure.

The filing came a little over 24 hours before the council voted to scuttle the eviction moratorium on Jan. 25. Bergman did not mention the filing — or the one he intended to file on Jan. 18 — during discussions about the moratorium at that meeting.

"None of us ever mention it in public. All the requirement I've understood is we give it to the City Clerk," he said of the disclosure forms. Bergman said he files three to four each year. Vangjeli could not immediately say how many disclosures each councilor typically files.

Moratorium Debate

The Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team (WAFT) brought the eviction moratorium to the Worcester City Council as a measure to help residents during the recent coronavirus omicron surge. WAFT coordinator Grace Ross said the measure was supposed to help people with COVID-19 stay in their homes.

The City Council first discussed the moratorium on Jan. 18. At that meeting, Bergman used his personal privilege as a councilor to delay the eviction moratorium item by a week.

"It leans very hard toward the tenant side, and it doesn't really lean in any direction, except wishful thinking, that at some point landlords will be made whole," he said at the meeting, referring to a potential loss of rental income.

At the next meeting on Jan. 25, Bergman was part of an 11-0 vote that halted the proposal. In a separate vote, the council agreed 11-0 to hold a general discussion in the Economic Development Committee about eviction and foreclosure prevention.

Ross said WAFT members were "shocked" to see the proposal framed as anti-landlord. Some of the team's members were landlords and agreed with the policy, she said. Bergman, who works as an attorney, has also volunteered for the Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team in foreclosure proceedings.

"We were shocked a few divisive voices drowned out the clear purpose of a proposal put out by an organization that represents those diverse voices," Ross said.

Bergman said his opposition to the moratorium was largely based on advice from City Solicitor Michael Traynor, who said the council didn't have the authority to enact it and that it might be challenged in court. Traynor offered a version of this argument in the council meeting.

MassLandlords Speaker

Bergman's talk with MassLandlords on Wednesday night was about "housing issues coming before the Worcester City Council" and what "proposals [that] may be brought forward again or in the future, and how landlords can best represent their perspective," according to the event listing.

Bergman said he volunteers for the organization and has never been paid for his insights.

"I have a right to talk to whatever group I want to talk to," he said.

In September 2019, Bergman spoke to MassLandlords about opposing rent control in Worcester.

"[Bergman] will be asking for owner support for a City Council resolution against rent control, or other housing partisanship," MassLandlords said in a bulletin about the talk.

He also spoke to the landlords about a state House bill that would have allowed communities to enact local rent control via ballot measure. He told MassLandlords members to call elected officials to oppose the bill and called rent control "a disaster" where it has been enacted.

"You should contact all of your city councilors, particularly the city councilors in the district where your property is located, and you should tell them that you’re aware of the proposed legislation at the state House they have been advocating to pass," he said during the talk. "You do not want the city of Worcester to adopt, that’s assuming none of you wanted to adopt it."

That bill, H1316, has not moved out of committee on Beacon Hill.

State Ethics Law

Bergman isn't the only councilor who disclosed a potential ethical problem.

During the Jan. 18 discussion about the eviction ban, District 3 Councilor George Russell said he had asked Traynor about a possible conflict. Russell is a Realtor and owner of George Russell Realty, which sometimes offers properties to lease.

At the Jan. 18 meeting, Russell said Traynor had advised him that it was OK for him to participate in discussions and votes on the matter. Russell said he also sometimes buys property to rent in Worcester and felt he needed to disclose his involvement in the real estate industry during the meeting.

Asked about his advice to Russell, Traynor said he only spoke informally to Russell about the relevant state ethics law.

Worcester does not have its own ethics laws, but state ethics codes apply to elected officials in general.

The wide-ranging law bars elected officials from voting on items that might financially benefit them or their families. One portion of the law bans municipal officials from acting "in a manner which would cause a reasonable person ... to conclude that any person can improperly influence or unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties, or that he is likely to act or fail to act as a result of kinship, rank, position or undue influence of any party or person," the law said.

State ethics laws became a campaign issue in Worcester in 2021. Worcester police Sgt. Richard Cipro sought the opinion of the state Ethics Commission about whether he could vote on police-related issues if he won the District 1 council seat. The commission told Cipro he generally could not get involved in votes on police policy because of his job as an officer.

Bergman, who won a fifth term in November, emphasized that he went out of his way to document any conflict he might have had. He also questioned whether councilors who rent should make a disclosure because they could benefit from a moratorium.

"I am a landlord, but at the same time, I feel I can vote fairly on any City Council item," he said. "It's no secret I own property. I've never hidden that."