To the editor:
Dear Town Meeting members,
I write to you to inform you that the Town Administrator and Select Board intentionally deceived and lied to Town Meeting members about the reason the Fire Union and the Police Union decided to support the Civil Service Study Committee’s report to withdraw the full police and fire departments from the Massachusetts Civil Service system.
You will all recall the letters we received in May from the unions opposing the removal of just the two chiefs from Civil Service. The entire two departments were not even on the table for discussion. Were you as astounded as I was when Kevin Reen and Jim Snow spoke out in support of the withdrawal of, not only the chiefs, but the entire police and fire departments?
Some of us thought the unions must have had an epiphany and they decided it was time to bring fairness and justice to the hiring process in Swampscott. But, once again all that glitters is not gold. As is often the case, what you see is not what you get.
Behind our backs, the Town Administrator and Select Board went to the two unions and offered them a bonus of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) for each police officer and firefighter, payable over two years, but only if the unions publicly supported at the Town Meeting the Article to approve the withdrawal as proposed by the Select Board and the Article was actually approved by Town Meeting members. This one-time bonus will cost the Town about $350,000.
I strongly supported the request to remove our public safety departments from Civil Service and would have still supported it if I had known the Town Administrator and Select Board purchased the support of the Unions and all financial ramifications were revealed to Town Meeting members.
There was no miraculous epiphany. I am embarrassed for the members of both public safety departments that their support is for sale. Too bad, but sometimes reality is difficult to accept.
The Finance Committee was told about the financial incentive one hour before the commencement of Town Meeting and went along with a conspiracy of intentional agreement of nondisclosure. The Swampscott Charter commands the Finance Committee must report on any Article that has a financial impact. This arrangement obviously has financial impact. I can’t believe they would be so derelict, but they were. Although the money to pay won’t be appropriated until next May, this Article does have financial implications and Town Meeting members should have been alerted and informed of the known details by the Finance Committee.
The good news is that the members of the Civil Service Study Committee appeared to be as stunned by the union support as many Town Meeting members. The Study Committee did an excellent job and I think the Article would have passed without the financial incentive to gain the support of the two unions.
I have confirmed a signed Memorandum of Agreement has not been signed but all the terms of a one-year extension of the fire contract and a new one year police contract are final. I will obtain a copy of the new contracts as soon as they reach public record status.
Once again, my complaint is not with the collective bargaining. My complaint is the actions of our leaders to deceive. They apparently were so worried if the truth were known, it would not pass. They didn’t think we could handle the truth. Not informing Town Meeting was discussed and they all agreed not to disclose details. That was an ethical mistake they must live with.
How does it feel to be deceived? For me, not good, but sadly not surprised. How do you feel?
This significant change of position came without warning to the elected Town Meeting members in light of both unions’ aggressive and adamant opposition to removing the chiefs from Civil Service at the May 2020 Annual Meeting.
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, several Town Meeting members questioned friends who were members of either the fire union or the police union as to why the change of heart. Members were informed that the Town Administrator on Friday the 13th of November, (how ironic) went to the unions and offered each member a Five Thousand Dollar ($5,000.00) bonus, to be paid over two years, if the unions publicly supported the Withdrawal Article at the following Monday night, Nov. 16, 2020 Special Town Meeting.
Both union presidents spoke in support of the Article.
Nobody, not one person, including the union presidents, the two chiefs, the Town Administrator, the five members of the Select Board or any member of the nine-member Finance Committee rose to disclose the financial ramifications, nor the full facts. Each was complicit in the nondisclosure.
What concerns me is the lack of disclosure of the financial inducement offered by the Town Administrator, approved by the Select Board, and silently assented to by the Finance Committee and then accepted by the members of both unions.
I ask if these individuals and public bodies, charged by law with full disclosure, ever considered the morality or legality of obtaining support for a Town Meeting Article by doling out Five Thousand Dollar($5,000.00 ) bonuses to each member of two unions for their support of the Article and then not disclosing the truth to Town Meeting members? You will hear there were other changes to the contracts but the lynchpin was the $5000 to each member of the two unions. That fact is inescapable.
Is the Massachusetts state Legislature going to approve this Home Rule Petition knowing money was paid under the premise of “labor contracts” specifically intended to gain the support of the two unions? How will this sit with Governor Baker?
The larger question is, forgetting the $350,000 which is gone, what else did they withhold from us?
Numerous people were knowledgeable about these facts and the truth may have never come to public attention had it not been for a few union members having loose lips.
Is this the type of Town Meeting and government we have in Swampscott?
Town Meeting members don’t deserve to be deceived. Learning over the last two weeks the deception was willful and with the complicity of several elected and appointed officials just makes it worse.
Machiavellian belief that the ends justify the means is plainly wrong. The road we take and the means we use to reach a good result is more important than the result itself. Swampscott has made significant progress in many areas under the leadership of Peter Spellios and it is more than unfortunate that the “ends” became more important than the “means.”
It is my hope the Massachusetts Legislature approves the Home Rule Petition and Governor Baker signs it into law. The damage is done.
It is also my hope our leaders accept responsibility for the lapse of judgment and will refrain from intentional and unintentional deception before it costs us a new elementary school. Keep it up and it will.
Bill DiMento
Swampscott Town Meeting member
Precinct One
