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Police union considers injunction against chief hire
Banner Daily Update posted Sat. Oct. 13
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – The local police union is considering filing an injunction against the town to stop it from hiring a new police chief while a labor dispute works its way through the courts.
Jodi Rapose, Provincetown police officer and president of New England Police Benevolent Association Local 67, said the union submitted papers last week to its attorney to file an unfair labor practice grievance against the town. As part of that filing, the attorney will also consider whether to ask a Massachusetts Superior Court for an injunction against the police chief selection process, which began last month when the board of selectmen instructed town manager Sharon Lynn to hire an executive search consultant to manage the interview process.
While a decision on whether to file the injunction, which could hold up the police chief hiring process for months, has not been finalized, Rapose said the stop order would “hopefully get them to do what they’re supposed to do.” Rapose was referring to a 1993 impact bargaining agreement negotiated with the police union that calls for the town manager to consult with the union about the overall design of the selection procedure and to obtain the unit’s input on the hiring of a new police chief.
Acting police chief Warren Tobias, who is a candidate for the permanent position, spoke publicly for the first time last week about the labor dispute, saying that even if the 1993 agreement was not legally binding – as town counsel has opined – “it’s at least morally binding” because the agreement was approved by then-town manager Keith Bergman in return for exempting the position of police chief from civil service provisions.
Tobias also voiced objections to the selectmen’s decision to look both internally and externally for a permanent chief. Tobias said only a chief hired from the existing ranks of police officers could do the job effectively.
“I do not want to see an outside chief here again. No disrespect to [former] Chief [Ted] Meyer, but anybody who comes here from the outside is at an extreme disadvantage. They won’t know the people, the organizations, the political circles,” he said.
Mary Jo Avellar, chair of the board of selectmen, said the board’s priority is to hire the best possible chief for Provincetown and that the only way to do that is to have an open hiring process that includes all interested candidates. She pointed out that former chief Meyer was hired from the outside while his predecessor, Robert Anthony, rose through the ranks of the Provincetown Police Department to the top position.
“We want an open process. That’s what we instructed the town manager to do. If the police don’t like it, that’s their problem,” Avellar said.
For more on this story, see the Oct. 18 Provincetown Banner.
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Oct 11th, 2007