Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has promoted a deputy fireplace chief to fill in because the division’s interim chief, ending a two-week stretch wherein firefighters have been with no prime chief.
Deputy Chief Todd Evans has been chosen to function provisional fireplace chief, Lungo-Koehn wrote in a letter to the City Council Thursday morning. The swearing-in shall be happening later at this time, she mentioned.
The fireplace division had been working with no chief since John Freedman retired on Feb. 21 after practically 30 years of service, serving because the division’s chief within the closing two.
“I’m extremely hopeful that Chief Evans will move the department in the right direction,” Lungo-Koehn wrote in her letter. “He is committed and dedicated to doing the work.”
Controversy has surrounded the division since a wave of sick calls in early February price town practically $100,000, a state of affairs the mayor believes “forced” Freedman to retire.
The fireplace union on Feb. 20 filed an unfair labor observe criticism in opposition to Lungo-Koehn with the state Department of Labor Relations, alleging the mayor “defamed” the union on town’s web site and within the media, amongst different prices.
An lawyer for the Medford fireplace union accused Lungo-Koehn of breaking the regulation by initially providing a firefighter from exterior town to function interim chief. The division follows civil service regulation which requires promotions be made internally solely.
The Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts despatched a letter on the time of Freedman’s retirement to native unions, “imploring members from outside departments to refrain from applying for Interim Fire Chief and Fire Chief positions” in Medford.
“As you all know we contracted with an interim outside of the department who was (supposed) to start Feb. 26th, but he was dissuaded,” Lungo-Koehn wrote in her letter.
Promoting a firefighter to the chief’s place within the interim was difficult in Medford because the division “doesn’t have a civil service eligible list,” the mayor informed the Herald late final month.
Two years in the past, 4 deputies signed as much as take the required chief’s examination, however solely Freedman ended up taking it, that means he was the “only option” for the rent, the mayor mentioned.
Taking a chief’s examination is required as a way to be on the civil service eligible listing for the place.
When there isn’t a such listing, the “hiring department” may fill a emptiness on a “provisional basis” by appointing somebody from inside or exterior the division, in line with the state Civil Service Commission.
Lungo-Koehn informed the Herald on Wednesday that town is “not close” to hiring a everlasting chief.
In a press release to the Herald on Wednesday, union President Walter “Eddy” Buckley mentioned members have been happy the mayor “finally started looking internally within our department for candidates for Chief.” But he accused her of not following the regulation by not appointing the “most senior deputy chief.”
A metropolis ordinance highlights that in a chief’s absence, the senior deputy chief would tackle management. But Lungo-Koehn has argued town constitution provides her “full authority to appoint all department heads,”
“The Union cannot allow her to do as she pleases because she doesn’t agree with the law regardless of if that candidate is internal or external,” Buckley mentioned.
Before Evans’ appointment as provisional chief, the State Fire Marshal’s Office delegated sure allowing and inspection capabilities of the division to Lungo-Koehn final week, a procedural transfer that prompted backlash from the union and critics on social media.
“Under state law, the State Fire Marshal has authority over certain fire safety permitting and inspection functions,” an workplace spokesperson informed the Herald Wednesday. “Delegating that authority to local officials is the standard administrative process to ensure that these functions continue uninterrupted.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”