City Councilor Jason Grow has promised an initiative petition campaign to break uniformed career insiders' exclusive access to the chiefs' positions in Gloucester's Police and Fire departments.
Grow scoffed at warnings by officers of both departments that opening up the process would politicize the system, and asserted that politics always plays a role, and did so in the selection of police Chief Robert Beaudette and his predecessor, Michael McLeod, by former Mayor John Bell. (See related story).
"If we need signatures, I'll get them," Grow announced in the middle of the debate Monday night on his proposal to remove the selection of chiefs from the Civil Service process. The current system bars any candidates from outside the departments from applying for the chiefs' posts.
Acting City Solicitor Suzanne Egan told the committee the only ways to remove the selection from Civil Service and open it to department outsiders were either a public referendum or getting a home-rule petition from City Council approved by the state Legislature. Grow conceded that the deep division within the council on his proposal made any hope of a home-rule petition futile.
At least 2,000, or 5 percent, of registered voters would be required to sign the petition to force the referendum. The earliest date for such a vote would be the 2009 municipal elections.
Grow's idea, shaped by last summer's revelations about the costly and flawed process of disciplining of a patrolman, had been debated most recently in February by the same Ordinance and Administration Committee that brought it up again Monday at the urging of Council President Bruce Tobey.
Paying for nearly two years of paid leave for Patrolman Steve Lamberis and a settlement of Lamberis' possible legal claims, including discrimination, cost the city more than $135,000.
Lamberis is the city's only black employee. His difficulties with the city began while McLeod, a former councilor, was acting interim police chief; they were resolved on Beaudette's watch in an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit, over Beaudette's objections.
The discussion of Grow's order for a home-rule petition to take the selection of chiefs out of Civil Service left committee Chairman John "Gus" Foote and Beaudette angry and frustrated at an idea they described as insulting and at odds with the nature and values of the city.
Tobey and Ward 5 Councilor Phil Devlin defended the debate as useful.
"I'm not afraid of knowledge," Tobey said.
At the very least, there will be one more go-round on Grow's order. On June 2, at Tobey's direction, personnel director David Bain will report on the precise meaning of a 1976 referendum that brought the police chief under Civil Service, and the kinds of communities that do it differently.
Grow noted that only 90 of the state's 351 municipalities limit their selection of chiefs to the officers in the chain of command under Civil Service rules.
Tobey also asked the chiefs — Beaudette and fire Chief Barry McKay — to gather and report on the views of their colleagues in professional organizations on the different processes, open selection versus Civil Service.
Beaudette was resentful that the subject was even broached, and said he was insulted that Grow wanted to change the system that led to his appointment as chief.
"Why are we discussing this?" Beaudette asked. He said he was doing a good job despite getting a smaller budget than he needed.
"To me," he said, "this is a slap in the face."
Beaudette added that he was prepared to remain as police chief for 10 years.
After rising through the ranks, he became chief in November 2004.
He was ranked third on the Civil Service list, yet selected by Mayor John Bell to succeed McLeod, whom Bell had named acting interim chief in 2003.
Union officials have complained publicly that Beaudette plays favorites with overtime and grant money.
A number of police officers and firefighters at the hearing chimed in with warnings that removing the selection process from Civil Service and allowing for a national search for successors to the incumbents would politicize positions with extraordinary powers.
"You don't need any more politicization," said firefighter and union official Phil Bouchie.
The selection of the fire chief has been governed by the Civil Service laws and system since 1921.
The police chief's position was outside Civil Service until a referendum in 1976, a year after the adoption of the modern City Charter, which ushered in the strong mayor and council system in use today.
The mandate was clear. By 5,448 to 3,451, voters decided to bring the selection under Civil Service rules and limit the candidates to senior officers scoring in the top three on tests and interviews to qualify for appointment by the mayor.
McLeod, a losing candidate for mayor last year, sat next to Beaudette at the hearing and argued that a police survey in the '90s recorded strong confidence in the force.
Foote argued that Gloucester was a "close-knit city" unsuited to outsiders holding positions of authority.
"They don't understand the people, and they don't understand the system," Foote said. "What's the matter with the people of Gloucester?"
The husband of the chief meter maid and father of two police officers, Foote was cleared to participate in the debate by the state Ethics Commission.
Bain, the personnel director, agreed with Foote. "An outsider, if Einstein, will take six months (to get up to speed)," he said.
Councilor Joseph Ciolino wondered why the issue remained unresolved and argued that the public showed no interest in it during last year's elections. But Devlin said, "There's a quiet talk about it."
"People elected us to look into it," he said.
"How long?" Foote asked.
"Not until eternity," was Devlin's answer. "We have to have that conversation."
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Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
