The town of Swampscott is exploring the possibility of aligning its veterans’ services department with the city of Lynn, following the retirement of the town’s veterans agent, Jim Schultz.
Under state law, the town is required to fill the position, according to Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald. Schultz was a part-time veterans agent and state law requires that the position be filled as full-time, he said.
Fitzgerald said a regional veterans service district, another option, would make sense and Lynn would help the town meet its needs. He said Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee has invited him to talk to Lynn officials about putting that together.
“There are opportunities for us to be more efficient with how we coordinate some regional initiatives and how we just share some of the responsibilities that each community faces,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re looking to see where we can consolidate some functions and really be more efficient with how we support this important position.”
Fitzgerald said Swampscott and Lynn have a number of great partnerships, including a regional dispatch agreement the two municipalities recently negotiated. He said he would like to think there would be more opportunities to work together on a joint project. The two municipalities would likely have to negotiate an agreement — Lynn and Swampscott would have the same veterans department.
Fitzgerald said the town is not projecting any cost savings with the consolidation — the town would be paying the Lynn veterans staff for their services that would be absorbed.
“(We’re) looking for ways to enhance our veterans services,” Fitzgerald said. “It makes good economic sense, but also good problematic sense for us to take a look at Lynn as a partner. Lynn has one of the best veterans services departments in the commonwealth and certainly it would be a great opportunity for us to just explore a partnership with our neighbor.”
McGee said the city wants to see if there’s an ability to make the shared services happen, while making sure the veterans have access to the resources the department makes available.
“It’s something that’s allowed in the state to share services if need be,” McGee said. “We’re in preliminary discussions with Swampscott to see if that would work for the city and the town … We’re exploring that and I think there’s an opportunity here to build a relationship between the town and the city.”
