Mayoral change not always basis for staff defection

LYNN – There’s a general misconception that when a new mayor takes office changes in key municipal personnel immediately follow suit. More likely, the incoming mayor must learn to work with those department heads and agency directors already in place.Presuming Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. does not seek a recount, or that he does and still comes up short of votes, Judith Flanagan Kennedy will take over as the city’s top official in January.”There are a very limited number of people you can change when you take office,” said Albert DiVirgilio Jr., Lynn mayor for three terms of two years each from 1986 to 1992. “Most of the key people have contracts or tenure and are pretty well-entrenched. Given that, it would be expensive for the city if she were to try to remove them.”Exceptions do occur.DiVirgilio noted the case of William Kyriakakis, then city economic development director, who was removed in 1992 by then-Mayor Patrick McManus through a hefty buyout.”That decision cost the city a lot of money and, in retrospect, you have to ask how smart it was because today Bill is economic development director for all of Dade County in Florida, which is a lot bigger than the city of Lynn,” DiVirgilio said.James Cowdell is currently the executive director of the Lynn Economic and Industrial Corp. (EDIC). The executive director is appointed and given a contract by the EDIC board, whose members are appointed by the mayor. The EDIC also has its own source of funding outside the municipal budget.Cowdell’s contract does not expire until 2012 and would seemingly require a buyout.A six-figure buyout of former School Superintendent James Mazareas also cost the city in 2002. The mayor has little control over the School Department, although as mayor he or she is de facto chairman of the seven-member School Committee. In choosing a school superintendent, the mayor would have only one of those seven votes.DiVirgilio said Kennedy, if she becomes the city’s next mayor, must make amends and learn to work with the City Council and the many municipal departments. “She has to go in there and say, ?I’m you’re new mayor and there are things I need to accomplish. I made promises and I need your help to fulfill them. I’m your boss for the next four years. Like it or not, the people of Lynn have spoken.’ That’s how I handled it. As mayor, you’re in charge, but everybody needs to work together for the betterment of the whole city.”Looking back at his six years as mayor, DiVirgilio said layoffs and cutbacks are often inevitable. “People sometimes think these decisions are personal, but more often they are economic necessity,” he said. “There’s never enough money to do all the things you want. Over four years, Judy will have her opportunities to make appointment to boards and that will bring change. That’s how the system was set up.”City Solicitor Michael Barry offered a similar view regarding change of personnel. For example, the city currently has an acting fire chief and acting police chief ? both jobs reliant on the state Civil Service Commission for input and process.Barry further explained that the chiefs of these departments must be selected from a Civil Service list, although the choice does not necessarily go to the candidate with the highest test score.”What the mayor can do is call for an exam her first day in office,” DiVirgilio said. “Judy can’t remove a police chief or an acting police chief without cause because there’s no list. I would tend to think both chiefs will remain in their acting positions for another year, if they want it.”Barry noted that the City Council appoints the city clerk, city solicitor and two assessors. “Those jobs have nothing to do with the mayor and they can only be removed by the council,” he said.James Marsh, former chief of staff to Clancy, is the city’s community development director, which makes him head of a department under the mayor’s jurisdiction. Marsh also has a contract that does not expire for at least a year.Richar