City Council Approves New 4-Year Contract for City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05

The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to renew its contract for City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 for an additional four years on Monday, despite previous internal disagreements about the length of the contract.

While the final vote to ratify Huang’s contract was unanimous, four City Councilors voted to reduce Huang’s contract by a year in a closed-door executive session. Councilors Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Sumbul Siddiqui, Ayesha M. Wilson, and Mayor E. Denise Simmons reported that they voted for the three-year duration.

The renewal comes after Huang earned high scores from the council on his annual performance review in December, also marking the start of negotiations on his contract. In the December meeting, Councilors were in favor of at least a two-year extension.

Councilor Patty M. Nolan ’80 also pointed to the City Manager’s reviews from city staff, which showed broad support.

“Staff at every level showed that they appreciated the city manager's leadership,” Nolan said.

In his new contract, Huang is set to earn $327,000 in the first year and $349,000 by the last. If the contract is terminated by the council without cause, the city would be required to pay Huang 6 months salary.

Councilor Burhan Azeem largely focused on the contract’s implications for the city’s budget. He highlighted that Huang will “not really see a pay increase” when adjusting his new salary for inflation.

“In this process, by prioritizing budget, we were able to say that in the fourth year, for example, we only have a 1.2 percent raise, which is lower than most raises in the city and certainly lower than inflation,” Azeem said. “That is something that we were able to achieve with the longer contract length,” he added.

Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern said he favored the four-year contract to ensure stability in city leadership amid turmoil at the federal level.

“The federal administration is going to be throwing all kinds of junk at us over the next four years. So I think having the city manager here for that length of time and having that position be stable is important,” McGovern said.

“You don’t see huge turnovers in City Council, but the Council is not necessarily stable,” he added.

Simmons said she originally opposed the four-year contract, as the three-year term gives the next council more leeway to choose the next city manager at the start of their tenure.

“I hope it’s not going to be problematic if the council were to change radically,” Simmons said of the four-year term. “It would be three, maybe, people voting on a contract on someone that they don’t know as well, and that’s my concern.”

Sobrinho-Wheeler said he also originally voted for the three-year contract to “ensure that the city manager is responsible to the residents and to the folks who elect them.”

But despite original disagreement on the term length, officials repeatedly emphasized that they voted on what would be best for the residents of Cambridge.

“We will do all we can to make sure that we do the best for the citizens of Cambridge because at the end of the day, that's what this vote is about,” Simmons said.

​​— Staff writer Jack B. Reardon can be reached at jack.reardon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @JackBReardon.

— Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.