Mayor Marty Walsh has signed an agreement with the United States Olympic Committee that bans city employees from making critical statements about Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid and requires them to promote it. However, the mayor says he won’t enforce the “boilerplate” ban.

The ban came as part of the city’s agreement with the United States Olympic Committee. Walsh’s spokeswoman, Laura Oggeri, addressed the agreement in a statement:

Mayor Walsh is not looking to limit the free speech of his employees and, as residents of Boston, he fully supports them participating in the community process. This was standard boilerplate language for the Joinder Agreement with the USOC that all applicant cities have historically signed. The Mayor looks forward to the first citywide community meeting that will be held next week.

The Boston Globe discovered the agreement in documents obtained through a public records request to City Hall.

The “joinder agreement” the Globe reports, from writing or speaking in a way that would “reflect unfavorably upon, denigrate or disparage, or are detrimental to the reputation” of the International Olympic Committee, the USOC, or the Games. Mayor Walsh’s administration and the USOC, instead, must “work cooperatively together to manage, complete, and promote” Boston’s bid to the IOC; city employees must also, individually, promote and speak positively about the bid.

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