A matter-of-fact vote Thursday by Somerville city councilors appropriated $2.5 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit race discrimination lawsuit by three former Public Works employees.
The Middlesex Superior Court suit said Richard Nurse, the highway department’s first Black foreman, was called the N-word and “monkey” by supervisors and deprived of the tools needed to lead the work of his tree crews.
Nurse suffered the abuse for seven years, during which time white colleagues Ronald Bonney and Michael Browne complained to supervisors about the racist behavior and were retaliated against, according to the suit. An investigation against Bonney and Browne on allegations they were raiding the city “snow budget” remains with the state Inspector General’s Office, according to a 2024 filing.
The councilors paused their usual meeting Thursday to go into a closed-door session to discuss the issue, with president Lance Davis telling attendees, “I don’t expect this will be a lengthy executive session as our executive sessions go, in the grand scheme of things. We hope to be back out here very quickly.” When they returned to chambers around 40 minutes later, they took a 9-1 vote to, at the request of major Jake Wilson, settle the claim.
Ward 1 councilor Matt McLaughlin was the sole vote against paying the settlement out of the city’s free cash reserves.
The three men tried to stop the abuse, including Nurse and another black employee meeting with then mayor Joe Curtatone in 2019, according to the complaint. When that didn’t work, and Bonney and Browne instead were accused of misusing city funds and property – they managed the Public Works fleet of vehicles – the lawsuit was filed, naming Curtatone as a defendant along with the city and two DPW supervisors.
One Public Works defendant, Steven MacEachern, died in May.
After passage in the council, Wilson said:
“I believe Richard Nurse’s account of the racism he experienced working for the city through 2020, and I’m disgusted by it. On behalf of the city, I want to apologize to Mr. Nurse and be clear we’re out to make sure no one else experiences such unacceptable treatment while working for us. I hope this case remains a lasting reminder of the values of equality and decency we need to uphold in Somerville.”
McLaughlin, the vote against against settlement made a distinction among the three plaintiffs in the suit. “I believe Richard Nurse was a victim of discrimination and racism and is entitled to compensation,” McLaughlin said Friday. “And I personally do not believe the story of the other two. I think it’s a miscarriage of justice that they receive a penny from the city.”
To the contrary, McLaughlin said, Bonney and Browne should give back whatever money they’ve received.
“I don’t think they’re victims. I don’t think they’re whistleblowers,” McLaughlin said.
An email seeking comment was sent Friday to Curtatone at Tufts University, where he is a professor of the practice at the Tisch College of Civic Life, and to the plaintiffs’ attorney at Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein in Boston.
This post was updated Oct. 26, 2026, with a statement from mayor Jake Wilson.
