ATHOL — Two articles that would have removed full-time police officers from the requirements of Civil Service were not taken up at the Special Town Meeting Monday night after all. Voters approved release of the department’s part-time officers from Civil Service requirements last fall.
No motion was made nor action taken on an article asking the town to rescind the March 20, 1916 Annual Town Meeting vote, which included full-time officers under the provisions of the Civil Service law and regulations. The companion article would have authorized the selectmen to file a petition with the Legislature for special legislation to remove the full-time officers from the provisions of the Civil Service law.
Police Chief Russell Kleber has said that the change would allow more flexibility in hiring new officers, shorten the timeline to get them on the force and ensure more local input and control in the hiring process.
“Because of the imminent retirement of the incumbent lieutenant, I see a need to fill the second-in-command position well before the June Town Meeting, and I was, and did, make time to work on a collaborative policy,” said Kleber. “The Board of Selectmen sets the policy for the Police Department and have up to 30 days from the time it is submitted to approve or reject it. I felt this additional 30 days was enough time to come up with an agreeable policy. However, I did agree to pass over the articles until June.”
He said that if the town passes the request, the remaining incumbents will continue to serve under the Civil Service requirements “until they retire.”
Lee Chauvette, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said, “The warrant for the special town meeting was approved by the entire board. There wasn’t an issue with the timing for submittal and approval. The police officers union submitted a letter last week asking if the articles could be passed over until the June Annual Town Meeting because they wanted additional time to review policies and procedures that still needed to be developed. As chairman of the Selectboard, I found that to be a reasonable request.”
The Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee took a stance of “No Motion, No Action” on both articles. Chauvette said he sought clarification from FWAC Chairman Ken Duffy and he was aware of the police union letter. He said, “He concurred with a delay in the motions. The committee, at the time, didn’t have enough information on the articles. We asked Town Manager Shaun Suhoski to let Chief Kleber know that we felt that waiting to the June meeting would not hurt the hiring/promotion process. In the end, the police chief did make the decision not to proceed.”
The Finance Committee’s “no motion, no action” simply means they were not presenting the official motions and they were not taking any official action at the time.
Chauvette said, “I do not oppose the removal of the full-time officers from Civil Service just like the part-time officers were as well as the call firefighters. Full-timers are protected by union representation. The part-timers are not. However, I concur with the notion that all information and policies and procedures should have been in place before voting on the articles. I did ask at a selectmen meeting for policies and procedures to review, but they were not ready.
“As the former deputy fire chief, I can attest to the fact that the system is antiquated and not too user friendly from the town’s end, he said. “However, a department can still promote on a provisional basis, and we are only speaking about a delay until June. Further, to clarify, there should have only been one article dealing with this action on the warrant but two were submitted; one that simply eliminated participation by rescinding a previous vote from 1916 and the other requiring special legislation from Boston. The Town of Orange recently voted via the first method to remove the police from civil service.
“I did research on other towns prior to even mentioning anything to the town manager that almost every community that has withdrawn from Civil Service, whether police or fire took the initiative and time to work out every detail of the process with management and the employees affected long before voting. In my experience, not doing so could result in labor concerns that could of tied up the process. It’s always more efficient and better working relations to have all parties on the same page for these types of things.”
Suhoski said Kleber put together a “thorough and clear” proposal, which he shared with the police union. He said, “It might require some tweaking. The union was not opposed to it, but want to clarify the process.”
Suhoski said he supports the elimination of the Civil Service system.
“It’s an inefficient system,” he said. “We need an open, fair, and transparent hiring process.”
Civil Service law requires police departments to fill positions from the state’s list of candidates who take the Civil Service Exam and score the highest, wherever they hail from.
The chief said it is likely the matter will appear as a single article on the June 11, annual Town Meeting warrant, “but the language has to be specific,” he said.