By THOMAS GRILLO
An Essex Superior Court Judge has ordered the city to fully fund the Lynn Fire Department contract.
The ruling by Judge Salim Tabit on Monday is in response to a suit filed last week by the Lynn Firefighters Union Local 739 against the city and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy.
Tabit not only ruled in favor of the union, but he will oversee its implementation over the next year.
The 17-page complaint asked the court to compel the city to comply with the collective bargaining agreement that calls for 35 firefighters and officers on each shift.
Last month, the union was informed that the mayor would submit a budget request for the next fiscal year to level fund the department. The union wrote to the mayor twice requesting an assurance the budget would be sufficient to meet the terms of the contract, according to court documents. The mayor did not respond and the union went to court.
“It is now clear that the mayor does not intend to submit an appropriation request to the City Council sufficient to the staffing clause of the contract,” the union said in court documents. “A failure to provide appropriate staffing places firefighters and residents of Lynn at risk of irreparable harm…”
Attorneys for the city argued the mayor has always intended to meet the contract requirements. The mayor will recommend an appropriation of $618,000 for the department in fiscal year 2018, a sufficient amount to fully fund all staffing provisions, according to the city’s filing.
Still, that number is less than the 2017 budget of $628,000.
Kennedy and the union’s lawyer, Leah M. Barrault, declined to comment.
Union President Michael O’Connor and Fire Chief James McDonald did not return calls seeking comment.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].