City Council backs labor

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD The City Council affirmed its support of organized labor with two actions at Monday night's meeting.

With the exception of Council President Timothy Rooke, the City Council voted to maintain the position of police chief as a civil service job.

The Council also voted in favor of including binding arbitration in legislation designed to move the contract talks forward between the Finance Control Board and the teacher's union.

Several hundred people packed the Council Chamber, spilling into an adjacent room and a hallway. Many wore t-shirts identifying themselves as union members and many carried signs expressing their displeasure with the Finance Control Board.

After approving four appointments to city commissions and boards, the Council voted unanimously in favor of the measure affecting negotiations for the teachers.

The room emptied out with less than forty people remaining for the discussion and vote on the civil service issue.

One by one the councilors rose to voice their concern over the legislation that had been filed by Rooke after the release of the report commissioned by the Finance Control Board that examined the management of the Police Department.

Among the report's 200 recommendations was making the chief's job contractual and having the chief report directly to the mayor, rather than to the Police Commission. Mayor Charles Ryan is in support of this change.

Councilor Daniel Kelly, who described himself as a critic of Police Chief Paula Meara said that he "didn't want a rush to judgement" and opposed the measure.

Councilor Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty said that if the chief's job became contractual, while the deputy chief's positions remained civil service, the deputies could express their displeasure with the chief by not working with him or her.

Mazza-Moriarty also noted that she had not yet received a full copy of the 400-plus page report.

Councilor Domenic Sarno also was in opposition of the move, but urged that improvements to the Department be made.

"The day of reckoning has come and people want action," Sarno said. He suggested that the Council receive a regular report about what changes were being implemented.

Councilor William Foley said that civil service has worked well for the city and should continue, while Councilor Angelo Puppulo said that he would never support such an action no matter how many times it came before the Council for a vote.

Puppulo went on to say that the Finance Control Board has racked up by mid-March some $300,000 in legal fees to "fight the unions" in the city. He said that the Fire Department is next due for an outside evaluation by a consulting form and he predicted that millions of dollars in consultant and legal fees will ultimately be spent.

"It's money thrown away," he added.

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The vote was foreshadowed at a meeting last Thursday designed to give police officials an opportunity to comment on the management report given to the Finance Control Board. Much of the discussion centered on removing the chief's position from civil service.

City Councilors Kateri Walsh, Bud Williams and William Foley chaired the Thursday meeting of the Council's Public Health and Safety Committee. Members of the Police Department management team as well as representatives of the Patrolmen's Union also attended.

In her opening remarks, Walsh said that she was opposed to making the chief's position contractual because the chief couldn't make a decision "without political pressure."

Williams expressed objection to the word "dysfunctional," which was used by consultant Carroll Buracker in describing the Department.

When Police Chief Paula Meara was asked if she was opposed to change, she replied, "Absolutely not. I'm all about change."

She said she was prepared to meet with city officials and the members of the department to see which of the report's recommendations are "practical and reasonable" for the city. She emphasized that the issue of funding some of the recommendations needed to be addressed.

Meara said in regards to removing her job from civil service, "it would be an impossible task to be chief of police in this city without civil service" because of municipal corruption and politics.

The move would be a "huge step backward of 50 to 60 years," she added. She predicted the Department would lose many supervisors who view their jobs in Springfield as a career track towards the chief's position.

Williams reminded the chief that if the job were no longer civil service that will not mean a Springfield officer would be exempt from consideration for the chief's position.

Deputy Chief Elmer McMahon said that the subject brought up "mixed emotions" in him as he described himself as a "product of civil service," yet he can see that the trend in larger cities is to have a police chief on contract.

"I'm not going to come down on either side," he said.

Attorney Kevin Coyle who works with the Patrolmen's Union told the councilors that a municipality can remove a police chief who is protected by civil service if a timeline with goals and objectives is established for a chief. If the chief fails to meet those goals, they can be held accountable and be terminated.

The police also discussed the legitimacy of the report and the background of the people who evaluated the Department.

Meara said that Springfield officers receive more experience in six months than many others do in 20 years.

"Everyone in this room has more experience than Carroll Buracker & Associates [the writers of the report]," Sgt. Peter Albano stated. He added the city paid $171,000 for a "personal opinion."