SWAMPSCOTT — Members for a Civil Service Study Committee are being sought by the town, with meetings set to start in July.
The committee members will study the Massachusetts Civil Service system and make a recommendation at the next town meeting on whether or not the town’s police and fire chiefs should be removed from civil service.
Civil service is a system administered by the state’s Human Resources Division that handles the testing of job applicants and employees seeking promotion in towns that use the system. In Swampscott, both the police and fire departments use civil service. If the chiefs of those departments were removed from civil service, Swampscott would no longer follow the system’s laws, which currently restrict the town to either hiring chiefs from within its current police and fire ranks, or hiring sitting chiefs in other communities.
The committee’s formation comes in the wake of a June 22 town meeting article asking residents to remove the town’s police and fire chiefs from the state-run civil service system. The article was supported by some, including the sitting Police Chief Ron Madigan and Fire Chief Graham Archer, but opposed by others, including the local firefighters union. Ultimately, a vote was postponed after an amendment was passed that called for the creation of the Civil Service Study Committee to research the topic and give a report at the next town meeting, which is expected to be in September.
If interested, residents should submit an “expression of interest, including your contact information, a brief statement on why you are interested in taking part in this study committee, and provide any specific background or experience that you would like the Select Board to take into consideration,” according to a statement from the Swampscott Select Board.
The study committee will include five voting members, including one member jointly appointed by the police and fire unions, one member appointed by the select board, and three town meeting members appointed by the town moderator, who is currently Michael McClung.
The deadline to apply is Friday, July 10, at noon. Expressions of interest should be emailed to [email protected].
Proponents of removing the chiefs from civil service, including the chiefs themselves and Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald, say leaving the system would allow the town to broaden its applicant pool — up to 75 applicants instead of three or four — when hiring the next police or fire chief. Neither sitting chief has made an announcement about retirement, but Madigan is set to reach the state-mandated retirement age of 65 next year.
Opponents, however, say the system protects against nepotism, because it is run by the state, and that using civil service costs the town less money when making hires because the town does not have to have its own hiring process and personnel.
The Swampscott Firefighters Union sent a letter to residents prior to town meeting opposing leaving civil service for the town’s police and fire chiefs.
“We believe this is the first step in attempting to remove the entire departments from civil service,” the letter reads. “We want the town to be aware of this rushed vote and to be aware that this change is not welcomed by the Swampscott firefighters on the basis that it will cost the town more money, change the community-oriented culture, it will discourage and oppose veterans coming out of service looking for employment, and lead to potential nepotism.”
Both Madigan and Archer have consistently said leaving civil service does not mean internal candidates will not be considered as future chief hires.
