An legal professional for the Medford fireplace union is accusing Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn of breaking the regulation by providing a firefighter from exterior the town to function interim chief, however the mayor says she’s in the fitting as she adopted the town constitution.
The Medford Fire Department has been working with out a chief since John Freedman retired Wednesday after almost 30 years of service, serving because the division’s chief within the closing two.
Uncertainty is rising round whether or not the following chief will probably be employed from inside the division as Lungo-Koehn is pushing for the town’s elimination from civil service regulation which requires promotions be made internally solely.
Lungo-Koehn dropped at mild how a candidate from exterior the division declined a proposal she made him to behave as interim chief on account of potential detrimental pushback throughout a heated City Council dialogue on her proposal final week.
The council despatched the mayor’s request to a committee for additional dialogue.
Medford has been divided since a wave of sick callouts inside the fireplace division earlier this month price the town almost $100,000, Lungo-Koehn alleges. The mayor has described the scenario as an “orchestrated event.”
Freedman introduced his retirement on Feb. 6, the day Lungo-Koehn knowledgeable union President Walter “Eddie” Buckley the town was reviewing the wave of sick calls between Feb. 2 and 6 that triggered “costs to the city of over $92,000 — $58,000 of which was overtime.”
Lungo-Koehn advised councilors she thought the candidate may “really work” with the union in explaining “why something like the beginning of February is just not helpful.”
The Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts despatched a letter earlier this week to native unions, “imploring members from outside departments to refrain from applying for Interim Fire Chief and Fire Chief positions” in Medford.
“He will no longer accept the position because he knows he’s going to get major pushback if he does accept,” Lungo-Koehn advised the council.
The revelation got here after Councilor George Scarpelli blasted the mayor and questioned whether or not she had a rent “pre-arranged.”
“If that’s the truth, that’s against the law,” he mentioned. “If she’s already pre-approved somebody to come in that has declined the job today, that should be alarming to all of us.”
When requested if the mayor had the authorized authority to supply the interim job to an out of doors candidate, Attorney Leah Barrault, whose agency represents Medford Firefighters Local 1032, mentioned “No. That was illegal.”
Barrault, chatting with the Herald on Friday, outlined how she believes Lungo-Koehn has to adjust to the civil service regulation by selling from inside the division. A metropolis ordinance additionally highlights that in a chief’s absence, the senior deputy chief assumes management.
Promoting a firefighter to the chief’s place within the interim is difficult in Medford because the division “doesn’t have a civil service eligible list,” Lungo-Koehn advised the Herald later Friday. 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 with the intention to be on the civil service eligible record for the place.
When there isn’t a such record the “hiring department” may fill a emptiness on a “provisional basis” by appointing somebody exterior the division, based on the state Civil Service Commission.
The division for now’s treating the vacant chief’s place equally to when the chief can be on trip by having a deputy in cost every day, Lungo-Koehn mentioned. She expects to announce an performing chief someday this week.
“The ordinance is trumped by the city charter which states that the mayor has the full authority to appoint all department heads,” Lungo-Koehn mentioned. “The ordinance is almost like policies, bylaws whereas the charter is our constitution. That’s how it’s been explained to me by legal counsel.”
Not having an interim chief is placing the division at an “administrative standstill,” Buckley, the union president, mentioned Friday. He believes the senior deputy chief ought to have already been appointed.
“Our Deputy Chiefs are experienced, capable, qualified and ready to step up, but without a defined singular leader, we are adrift,” Buckley mentioned. “This decision should not be a political one, it’s a public safety need that this administration is refusing to address.”
Buckley declined to reveal what prompted the collection of callouts. City officers have mentioned whereas firefighters missed work within the morning, they returned to satisfy night and night time shifts.
The union is demanding the mayor to cut price with the deputy chiefs on the choice to press the chief’s duties onto them, based on a letter Barrault wrote to Lungo-Koehn on Friday.
Firefighters filed an unfair labor observe grievance towards Lungo-Koehn with the state Department of Labor Relations final Tuesday, alleging the mayor “defamed” the union on the town’s web site and within the media, amongst different prices.
The grievance got here after Lungo-Koehn introduced the town’s assessment of the alleged “work stoppage.”
Specifically, 21 of 23 firefighters scheduled to work that Saturday referred to as out sick, with three lacking work “due to a sickness in the member’s family,” Lungo-Koehn has mentioned. The wave started that Friday and lasted by the next Tuesday.
The mayor is seeking to get out of civil service to make the method of filling the vacant chief’s place “more open and competitive.” For that to occur, the City Council would wish to log off on it earlier than a house rule petition is shipped to the State House.
Roughly 50 of greater than 350 fireplace departments throughout the Bay State are in civil service.
When requested Friday whether or not she’s assured that the town division may kind a top quality candidate pool, Lungo-Koehn responded by combining hesitation with a contact of optimism.
“I believe there potentially could be a good candidate or two or three from the department, and I would want them to pursue that,” she mentioned. “I am deeply concerned by the culture in the department. There was just a work stoppage over a five-day period where close to 70 people called out. I find that illegal.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”