SWAMPSCOTT — At the annual Town Meeting in 1909, voters chose to adopt the state’s Civil Service system for the offices of the police chief and fire chief.
But over the past century, that set of rules has restricted the town in its hiring practices, and Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald says it is time for a change. Both Police Chief Ron Madigan and Fire Chief Graham Archer are on board.
An article will appear on the June 22 annual Town Meeting warrant asking residents to petition the state legislature for a special act that would allow it to drop the Civil Service system for its police and fire chiefs. Massachusetts Civil Service, administered by the state’s Human Resources Division, handles testing of job applicants and employees seeking promotion in towns that use the system. The Civil Service Commission also handles appeals from employees who have been disciplined or bypassed for promotion.
In Swampscott, which uses Civil Service for the hiring of police chiefs and fire chiefs, the system restricts the town to hiring chiefs from within its current police and fire ranks, or hire sitting chiefs in other communities. Dropping the system could broaden the town’s applicant pool for the jobs from just a few to 50 to 75 applicants.
“That would help us look at a much more inclusive and open process for these extremely valuable positions,” Fitzgerald said.
Neither chief has made an announcement about retiring, but, according to Select Board Chairman Peter Spellios, Madigan will reach the state-mandated retirement age of 65 in 2021. Archer was just named fire chief last year.
Under the Civil Service system, if the town were to choose to hire a chief internally, the most likely candidates would be the police captain and four lieutenants, and deputy fire chief and four fire captains. If fewer than four apply to either chief position, the applicant pool can expand to include police sergeants and fire lieutenants, but the town would be unable to consider a “lateral transfer” of a sitting chief in another community if it chooses the internal hiring option.
The system was created in 1884, when the state was “at the forefront of the battle against patronage in government hiring,” according to Fitzgerald. The primary purpose of Civil Service was instituting a “merit system” to protect against such hirings.
Over the last century, however, the system has “fallen well behind best practices in public safety and public sector hiring,” Fitzgerald said, and comprehensive policies and anti-discrimination laws in place today already protect against the “patronage” hirings seen in the 19th century.
Madigan and Archer support the change, and both said dropping Civil Service does not mean internal candidates won’t be considered.
“It makes sense that the town be able to consider candidates from a larger pool,” Madigan said. “Such a change does not preclude internal candidates. We at the police department have exceptional candidates and people here now who are more than prepared to assume the chief position upon my leaving.”
“To me, it does make sense,” Archer said. “It’s a change, but it’s a change for the better, a change for the future.”
According to Julie DeLillo, the town’s HR director, the change would have one drawback — the town’s search and candidate-vetting processes would necessarily become “far more intensive.”
Fitzgerald said without Civil Service, the town would be able to dictate its own hiring practices. Also, most cities and towns in Massachusetts do not use the system — 54 fire chiefs are in Civil Service, while 297 are not, and 63 police chiefs are in civil service, while 288 are not.
“Civil Service is no longer up to the important task of enforcing hiring standards, especially at the chief level,” Fitzgerald said.
