City Council Agrees to Remove Chiefs From Civil Service

Peabody is moving forward with removing its police and fire chiefs from the rules and regulations of Civil Service.

The City Council voted in favor of Mayor Ted Bettencourt's request last week, with the exception of Anne Manning-Martin (Rico Mello was absent from the meeting), as councilors generally agreed the mayor should be able to choose his own department heads and that lifetime posts should be an exception, not the norm.

A request for a home rule petition will be sent to the state legislature for a vote and, if approved, a signature from Gov. Deval Patrick.

With just two months until longtime Police Chief Robert Champagne retires June 1, Bettencourt is now looking to move quickly and develop a plan of action.

Bettencourt thoroughly researched the issue since last fall after learning of Champagne's plans to retire and has spoken with other mayors and town managers as well as police and fire chiefs (primarily retired ones) about the best way to find a new chief.

The general consensus, he said, was strongly in favor of moving away from Civil Service.

"This is not an attack on Civil Service," said Bettencourt. "I have no intention of withdrawing police and fire departments as a whole from Civil Service, but I believe the chief positions should be held to a different standard."

"Nobody has a job for life, not in the real world," said councilor Michael Garabedian last week. "If I'm going to hire a chief, I don’t just want to choose from three people, I want to choose from 300. I want the best person in the country."

Bettencourt argued there is little flexibility under Civil Service to appoint a candidate other than the top scorer on a promotional exam, which doesn't necessarily account for other talents and abilities. It's also very difficult to remove a chief from his or her post unless that person is guilty of some egregious behavior.

Garabedian and other councilors said removing Civil Service from the process creates more opportunities for all officers who might be dreaming of making Chief one day, and while now a contracted position might attract outside candidates, they do hope Bettencourt still promotes from within the ranks.

"I don’t disagree with the mayor’s plan, but I strongly feel that the next chief should come from within the department. I know there are qualified people who can take the reins," said Barry Sinewitz.

Sinewitz also cautioned that removing a chief from office should not be taken lightly. "You never want to go that route unless there’s outrageous behavior. We can’t just have the new mayor come in and say, 'You’re out, you’re in,'" Sinewitz said.

"If you make a bad choice, it’s going to make you and the police look bad," he told Bettencourt.

Dave Gravel, while supporting Bettencourt's request, said he would still like to know what exactly Bettencourt was going to now use for criteria in hiring a new chief if they were going to abandon the standardized criteria that exists now.

He said the reality is that politics will eventually come into play, if not with Bettencourt then a future mayor.

The council's Legal Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Manning-Martin, first debated the proposal two days before the full vote.

None of the committee members actually attended that meeting and none of Manning-Martin's concerns were enough to sway Jim Liacos and Bob Driscoll, who sat in on the session and voted to support the mayor.

Bettencourt said the selection process should account for a candidate’s entire skill set, which could be achieved with an assessment center tailored to unique needs and issues in Peabody. He said candidates could be evaluated on "real-world skills," high-pressure scenarios, leadership, media savvy and conflict resolution, in addition to an exam.

Bettencourt also noted Civil Service only allows a chief to be dismissed for three reasons: malfeasance, dishonesty or misconduct.

"It is certainly conceivable that there could be a chief that is not exhibiting any of those traits, but is, nevertheless, failing to do the job. And that could hurt morale of the department," he said.

Manning-Martin noted again that Civil Service provides regional assessment centers at no cost to the city that would seem to satisfy all of Bettencourt's concerns on hiring a well-rounded candidate and she didn't see why there's a need to abandon a process the city has used for decades.

"I feel it will just [hurt] morale for individuals who have played by these rules their entire career and now the rules change," she said. "The opportunity now is right before them, but we’re taking that away from them... I don’t think it’s fair."

She also pointed to a decades-old court case that prevailed against a police chief on the grounds of incompetence -- Bettencourt argued, however, that was just a court case and has no bearing on Civil Service, which operates by its own rules and regulations.

She also argued both key public safety jobs will be much more susceptible to political whims and can harm morale.

Liacos said Thursday, however, that fractious divides already exist within both departments and he's just "sick of it."

"You talk about morale problems? That’s all I hear about," he said, adding that most of what he hears from officers and firefighters are complaints and internal alliances. "Morale is being destroyed now."

"Every councilor here knows this. I am just sick of this situation," he said.

Liacos argued that the move away from Civil Service could actually solve the problem and keep morale up and politics out of the department.

"Now we will just have a chief who answers to the mayor and to the people," Liacos said. "This way, I think the mayor will pick somebody who hopefully will break these divisions, but if that person doesn’t do it then he should go."

Liacos then qualified his remarks to say he didn't believe current public safety officials are at fault.

Bettencourt says he understands the difficulties of the job and likewise is careful to note he's not criticizing the current chiefs, but instead arguing on principle.

He was noncommital when asked afterward if he agreed with Liacos' assessment of morale.

"My decision on moving forward with this request was not based on dissatisfaction with the current chiefs. This was based on what I think is best for the future of both departments and ensuring we get the best candidates for both," he said.

Bettencourt added that one benefit of an assessment center is that it could also identify which candidate is best at handling internal disputes and grievances.

He says he's not committed to a plan of action at this point, but is considering the option of appointing an interim chief until state lawmakers sign off on Peabody's petition and a permanent replacement is then found.

He said he isn't considering any administrative consolidation of both departments or hiring a public safety commissioner, as some other cities have done. "My focus is on finding the best candidate for police chief," said Bettencourt.

"It's always important to me to get the best person. I'm not opposed to additional contracts -- several contracts -- for the right person," he said. "If that person is doing a good job and he's meeting the needs of our community, then I want to keep that person."

"I don't think someone should just be appointed chief because of a test score and that person is a lifetime appointment," he said.

Bettencourt said he would act quickly to contact state Rep. Ted Speliotis to introduce the home rule petition on Beacon Hill and then meet with his own advisors and department heads to form a strategy.

"The only politics I'm interested in is making sure we get the best candidate," said Bettencourt. "I've been elected by the citizens, and for me to be successful, and for the city to be successful, we need to have the right candidates in place -- I need to have the best possible candidates around me."