SWAMPSCOTT — Town Meeting member Charles Patsios has filed a challenge to Monday night’s vote allowing Swampscott’s police and fire departments to opt out of the civil service system, claiming that the town offered union members a payment in their contracts to support the proposal.
While Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald confirmed each police officer and firefighter will receive a one-time payment in addition to their cost of living increase as part of their new contract, he said the payment is unrelated to civil service and is instead a concession tied to a reduction in overtime and staffing levels.
The one-time payment, which sources put at $5,000, was negotiated between the town and its police and fire unions as part of their new collective bargaining agreement. The tentative one-year deal would become effective on July 1, 2021, pending a Town Meeting vote next spring, according to Fitzgerald.
But Patsios said he finds it suspicious that the one-time payment included in the agreement was never disclosed, and asserted that the town offered the payment to “bribe” members of the police and fire union to leave civil service.
“I think that paying someone for a decision that you find favorable is akin to coercion or bribery,” said Patsios. “You’re paying someone to do something. The exact reason that civil service was created was not to influence police to do something that is contrary to the public welfare. It’s nepotism.”
Currently, the town’s hiring process for police and fire jobs is dependent on applicants’ test scores on a standardized civil service exam, administered by the civil service unit of the state’s Human Resources Division.
Proponents, including Fitzgerald, Police Chief Ronald Madigan and Fire Chief Graham Archer, say leaving the civil service system — which tests applicants for promotions to leadership positions in public safety departments — will create a more inclusive hiring process that will allow Swampscott to draw from a larger pool of candidates in the future.
Despite support from the two chiefs, the police and fire unions both initially opposed leaving the civil service, but ultimately voted in favor of opting out this past weekend.
On Monday, Town Meeting members voted to allow the town to start the process of exempting its police and fire departments from civil service. Patsios challenged the vote the next morning by filing a motion for reconsideration with the Town Clerk’s office.
His motion was denied by Town Moderator Michael McClung because Patsios asked for reconsideration for the wrong article. The civil service article was listed as the seventh article on the warrant, but Patsios filed for reconsideration of Warrant 12, which was not discussed until Tuesday, according to Town Clerk Susan Duplin.
“I filed a reconsideration of the vote because I heard and I wanted them to either confirm or deny the claim that $5,000 is being paid to every police and firefighter, and I was denied that, so I’m seeking other remedies,” said Patsios.
While Fitzgerald said it was fair to make the connection between the payment being offered based on concessions made by both unions in their contracts, he said Patsios is “incorrect” about the payment being related to negotiations surrounding civil service.
“He’s been misinformed,” said Fitzgerald. “This is a negotiation settlement that is based on some significant concessions both unions have made regarding guaranteed overtime language that allows the chief to have more discretion when it comes to how we staff both departments.”
Although civil service was discussed during collective bargaining sessions, Fitzgerald said the topic was part of a broader contract negotiation. The town and its two unions discussed the economics of both contracts, which ultimately resulted in a “grand bargain” between both sides, he said.
The one-time payments that each member of the police and fire departments will be receiving — there are approximately 60 members between both departments — is less than the payment that was offered for cost concessions they agreed to in their last contract three years ago.
“This is part of a past practice that we’ve put in place over the past cycles to address some of the high structural costs of these contracts,” said Fitzgerald, noting that reductions in overtime and staffing levels were the significant cost items that were negotiated this time.
“This reflects the give-to-get type of philosophy that will allow Swampscott to manage some of our structural costs over time in a much more sustainable way. I really appreciate the leadership that both the Swampscott Police and Fire departments have shown over a series of contracts to balance the important financial responsibilities we share.”
Fitzgerald said Swampscott chose not to follow the path of a number of Massachusetts communities that have provided compensation for union members to agree to leave civil service, which was discussed during contract negotiations.
“We made it clear that we were not going to be able to simply pay members to leave civil service,” said Fitzgerald. “It would have to be an economic benefit for the town if we were going to try to settle a contract.
“We did what we have done. We bargained a contract in good faith that allowed both the unions to receive certain benefits and for the town to receive certain benefits. At the end of the day, I think we’ve struck a fair bargain.”
With Monday’s Town Meeting vote, the town will begin the process of leaving a civil service system that has determined hiring practices for the town’s public safety departments for more than a century. The change would become effective on July 1 of next year, which would be dependent on passage of the state legislation.