Swampscott board passes petition on to Town Meeting

SWAMPSCOTT – The vote to add Selectman Barry Greenfield’s proposed home rule petition to the Town Meeting warrant passed in a 3-2 vote in a heavily attended meeting at the Swampscott High School auditorium.The home rule petition would allow the town of Swampscott the option to negotiate retirement pensions for new town employees (but not school employees) through collective bargaining if Town Meeting allows it to pass to the state legislature through a majority vote on May 6.Selectman David Van Dam received applause when he opposed the petition, echoing several town employees and union leaders when he questioned if the board was moving too quickly.”What I’m hearing is ‘What’s the rush?'” he said. “People want to have a collaborative discussion ? I think we should talk. I think people look to the selectmen to lead and certainly to listen. I’m not sure this has to go to Town Meeting this year. We should form a committee to discuss it. I think we need to slow down and listen to the people that are here.”Chairman Rich Malagrifa, Selectman Jill Sullivan and Selectman Barry Greenfield voted for the petition to be placed on the warrant, agreeing that the current system is unsustainable, taking up 7 percent of the town’s 2014 budget.Sullivan argued that to keep the discussion democratic Town Meeting was the perfect place to discuss the petition, calling it the Congress of Swampscott. “I don’t know why everyone is afraid of Town Meeting,” she said. “We’re making the proposal because we’re afraid of what will happen if we don’t do anything.”Sullivan said one of her biggest concerns was because of the increase in pension costs, the town couldn’t afford to give the schools a 5 percent increase and therefore cannot help prevent teacher layoffs.When asked by a town employee why the selectmen wanted the petition on the upcoming Town Meeting warrant and not one in the future, Greenfield replied, “The time is right. Why not?”Greenfield said he believed forming a committee or hiring an actuary would be “putting the cart before the horse.” He added that unions would not “take the discussion seriously until we have a seat at the table,” and in terms of legislation, “If we don’t tell them we need help we will continue to be ignored.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].