SWAMPSCOTT — Hiring outside of civil service has not been going smoothly for the fire and police departments, according to the people involved in the process.
The Executive Board of the Local 1459 Swampscott Fire Union sent a letter to the Select Board last week to voice its concerns about hiring for the department.
“With this round of hiring being the first since leaving civil service, it is expected that mistakes may be made,” the letter said. “We feel it is important to reflect, provide feedback, and voice questions and concerns in hopes of improving the hiring process.”
According to the letter, the union was granted a limited involvement in the selection of candidates for two vacant positions in the department, including access to the list of applicants and observation of interviews. Fire Chief Graham Archer was given “virtually full control” during the hiring process, including access to test scores and manually sending results to applicants.
“We feel this absolute power leaves room for manipulation and potential nepotism,” said the Fire Union.
Archer made a list of “top prospects” before the test was administered, the letter said.
“What was especially unsettling was the list did not appear to be based on merit,” the Fire Union said.
For example, a veteran candidate with Firefighter 1 and 2 certifications, a Fire Academy accreditation, an EMT certification, and a fire-science degree was not invited for an interview, the letter stated. As applicants on the hiring list were selected, they were taken off the hiring website and the union members were not able to review information about them again.
The Fire Union urged the Select Board to conduct an audit to ensure that the Fire Department is in fact interviewing and selecting the best candidates based on experience and qualifications. The union suggested that interim Police Chief David Kurz be tasked with such an audit.
Archer said that he was surprised to see the letter, as the concerns were not brought to his attention and union participation has been completely in line with the draft policy on selection and hiring.
“I hope this letter does not cast a shadow on these candidates,” said Archer.
He said that the department is committed to hiring candidates of high caliber, unquestioned integrity and with a commitment to public service.
“I believe once the firefighters welcome the new hires into their ranks and get to work with them, and get to know them, and break bread with them and laugh with them, they are going to recognize that there was nothing to be afraid of,” said Archer.
The Fire Department received about 80 applications; Archer said there was such an ample supply of highly-qualified candidates that any different administrator might have picked different finalists. This pool of candidates can be used for the next round of hiring, Archer said.
He did say that he restricted access to the online platform with the applicants’ information once the interviews were done out of privacy concerns.
“Chief Archer has done an amazing job supporting the entire process. He should be very proud of the work that he and his team have done to support these recommendations,” said Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald. “I’m happy to look into the concerns of Local 1459, but I want to urge the union to not make this political. It’s uncomfortable and, really, a personnel matter. I agreed to include them because I really thought that it would be educational and helpful.”
Select Board member Peter Spellios said that Archer and Fitzgerald have earned his complete confidence and are the right leaders to see Swampscott through this long-overdue change.
The Police Department has run into a different issue with the hiring process.
Officer Kevin Reen, president of the Local 417 Swampscott Police Union, said that Kurz has helped the department to update and come up with the promotional and hiring policy that corresponds to the new, 21st-century policing model focused on community, transparency and great communications with the residents. The hiring process took some hard work, but it was worth it, he said.
“We were confident that the candidates we selected were the best out there,” Reen said.
However, Fitzgerald has made a conditional offer to only one candidate out of the three whom the chief and the hiring board composed of police officers and community representatives recommended to him. Fitzgerald asked Kurz to go back to the hiring process and identify more candidates whom he would be more favorable towards, with specific traits he would like to see.
“It is frustrating on our end because we were short-staffed for 18 months,” Reen said. “We delivered what was expected from us.”
It is hard to get new hires into police academies currently and if Swampscott sends them to the academy in July, they won’t be able to start working as full-time police officers for another nine to 10 months.
“The three candidates we presented would never have arisen were we still in civil service,” said Kurz, characterizing the candidates as extraordinarily qualified. “I was very excited to present them.”
Having residents of Swampscott be part of the new hiring process was a wonderful attribute, Kurz said, which should be a common practice. Kurz said that the town administrator has the prerogative to issue or not issue conditional offers of employment or ask to see additional candidates; however, it has not been Kurz’s experience as a consultant that the top candidates who went through a comprehensive hiring process would not get an offer after being recommended.
The full hiring process, including a proctored test, a proctored agility exam, and participation in the oral interview with a board and background investigation costs $7,000, Kurz said.
Fitzgerald said interviews are confidential and that, ethically, he is not in a position to discuss the reasons why individuals were not presented with conditional offers.
“I understand and I respect the fact that everybody may have a difference of opinion about what really reflects a strong candidate or what reflects a job candidate,” said Fitzgerald. “I hope both members of the police and fire department embrace the change and really do their best to work constructively through any of the issues that we need to continue to have a dialogue about.”
