MANCHESTER — Two of the articles put on the annual Town Meeting warrant by police Chief Glenn McKiel took divergent paths Monday night.
The town moved to cast off Civil Service protection from future police hires, as petitioned by McKiel, but amended an article which sought to add a $300 fine for public consumption of marijuana, deciding instead that the issue should be handled by the town Board of Health.
Town officials said yesterday there is some uncertainty about what action was taken by the Town Meeting regarding public consumption of marijuana. The five-hour meeting extended beyond midnight into early yesterday morning.
Article 14, which aimed to add a $300 fine for public consumption of marijuana on top of a $100 fine for possession and create a provision requiring individuals caught consuming marijuana in public to provide proper identification if asked, was amended twice on the floor.
James Starkey first asked that the article be amended to be put before the voters at the annual town election on May 19; resident Sam Adams later asked that the article be amended and sent to the Board of Health to add a provision regarding public consumption of marijuana, or tetrahydrocannabinol, to the existing regulation prohibiting public consumption of tobacco.
McKiel told residents his aim was to try to create a "sensible bylaw that works to protect the town," and make public restrictions on consumption of marijuana similar to those for public consumption of tobacco.
In the November election, roughly 65 percent of Massachusetts voters voted to pass Question 2, which made possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine. The new law went into effect at the start of January; it does not include provisions for public consumption but does allow towns to levy higher fines for persons caught smoking in public places.
Adams suggested that, rather than create a separate law to deal with public consumption of marijuana, the existing Board of Health regulations regarding public consumption should simply be amended to include the drug.
Town Meeting then voted on the article three times, once on the first amendment to send the matter to voters in May's election, the other times with the intent of sending the matter to the Board of Health.
Town Administrator Wayne Melville said yesterday he believes the town approved an article that would send the issue of public consumption directly to the Board of Health for consideration, without requiring a vote at the annual town election. However, added Melville, there's a sense among some in town that the matter still needs to be voted on by the town election before it would go to the Board of Health.
Melville said selectmen only intend to have one question from Town Meeting go to the town election — the acquisition of three Pine Street properties — and that the true outcome of the vote on the public consumption question needs to be confirmed.
The town's desire to cast off Civil Service protection for future police officers hired by the town was made quite clear on Monday night.
McKiel called the Civil Service hiring process "bureaucratic and cumbersome" and reiterated that the process requires departments to hire officers from a statewide list produced from a Civil Service examination administered every three years.
McKiel told Town Meeting that the department's most recent Civil Service hire took 15 months to complete and that he believes he and selectmen would be better suited to select candidates of their choosing.
Furthermore, McKiel, said he would prefer to be able to offer full-time employment to officers who have served the Manchester Police Department in an auxiliary or part-time capacity but might be not be available for hire due to Civil Service ranking.
The Police Department currently has two openings.
Manchester police Sgt. Neil Andrews told Town Meeting there's no urge to get out of Civil Service and advised Town Meeting not to "rush into changing something that's been here almost a hundred years — it works."
However, Town Meeting opted to do away with Civil Service, and since it was adopted in 1910 by a town meeting vote, that was all that was required to remove it.
Robert Cann can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
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