Kennedy: I’m not targeting ‘Clancy People’

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy on Monday was adamant in an interview with The Daily Item that she suspended Chief Financial Officer Richard Fortucci last week for just grounds, which she intends to present to the City Council, and denies any notion that she has it out for department heads who served in her predecessor’s administration.Fortucci, contacted Monday evening, said he plans today to formally request a City Council hearing to contest his suspension.”I’m going to request a hearing tomorrow with Mr. Phelan,” Fortucci said, referring to City Council President Timothy Phelan. In the meantime, he said, “I’m still working as treasurer. People think I’m sitting at home collecting my pay and that’s not the case. I’m still there working the same hours that I’ve always worked.”Fortucci added, “The one thing people really need to understand is the mayor is my boss and obviously, regardless of our positions, I respect my boss.”With regard to Fortucci, Kennedy said, “I think what he has done would warrant his removal as CFO, but I don’t want that to play out in the newspaper. I want to be able to (make that case) at a (City Council) hearing.”You will see nothing there about wandering around the halls or taking long coffee breaks. I’m not petty like that. These are substantive concerns about performance,” she said.”I have given everybody here a chance to prove themselves, that they are capable of handling the positions they are in,” Kennedy said. “I know there was a lot of fear in City Hall that I would come in and wipe the slate clean of the so-called ‘Clancy People.’ But if you look around City Hall right now you can see Joe Driscoll (personnel director), Mike Sweeney (veterans director), Mike Barry (city solicitor), Jim Cowdell (director of the Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corp.) and Mike Donovan (inspectional services director). I can name a number of people who are still here and they are doing good jobs.”Kennedy said her hope is that city councilors remain objective and do not make up their mind “without hearing me out.”The mayor said she presented a “partial list” of causes for the disciplinary action to Fortucci, who also serves as city treasurer, and gave him a weekend to consider resigning as CFO. “When he came back he said he would rather have a hearing,” she said.Kennedy pointed out she does not oppose Fortucci staying on as city treasurer, provided there is a CFO in place to give him direction.Phelan said Monday he anticipates Fortucci’s request for a hearing.”All indications are he is going to request a hearing and, from that date, a public hearing will be scheduled no earlier than 14 days and no later than 21 days,” Phelan said. “My intent is to schedule this on a night by itself.”Phelan said Kennedy and a labor attorney will have the opportunity to lay out all of the evidence supporting Fortucci’s removal, and that Fortucci and his attorney, if he chooses to have legal representation, will have the opportunity to submit evidence and testimony in defense.”This will be an open, thorough and fair process,” Phelan said.Phelan also said he plans to encourage Kennedy to submit all supporting evidence to the Council and to Fortucci in advance of a public hearing.Phelan didn’t respond directly to whether he believes Kennedy is targeting “Clancy People,” but said, “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t had a number of people call me to say that’s what’s going on.”As for the temporary appointment of Pace to the position he was fired from by an 8-2 vote of the City Council in 2003, Kennedy explained she was bound by the City Charter to make that appointment.”Under terms of the City Charter, the Chief Financial Officer can either be someone from the outside or it can be someone who holds a current position in City Hall. I’m certainly not going outside because within a matter of weeks I could possibly have Rich Fortucci back here,” she said.”Under the charter I have the following choices (to appoint from within): th