A year after Town Meeting voted to have Belmont’s patrol officers exit the Civil Service program — a move it hoped would solve the department’s hiring problem — town administrators and police unions have arrived at an impasse in negotiations.
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With that, state law requires the “last, best effort” offered by the town to take effect, according to Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne. The decision to declare an impasse followed an executive session of the Select Board on Oct. 28.
“The town has worked hard to offer fair and balanced proposals to the Patrol and Supervisors unions,” Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne wrote in a statement. “We are disappointed we have been unable to reach an agreement, but we believe that what is being implemented will benefit both the BPD and the bargaining members.”
The “last, best effort” includes details on a one-time $2,000 payment to each member of the patrol and supervisor unions, an expanded education incentive, and extensive safeguards and procedures related to hiring, discipline, and promotions. Dionne noted the town would also immediately offer several promotions that have been on hold during the past year of negotiations.
“It wasn’t done the right way, and it’s definitely causing issues within the department,” said Officer Cory Taylor, president of the Belmont Police Patrolman’s Association, who said department morale remains low. “It’s too bad because it could be a great place to work. I work with a great bunch of men and women, but … no one wants to work because we don’t feel like we’re supported or backed by the town administration or a lot of the residents that voted to take these steps.”
A major sticking point for the union has been salary and wages, according to Taylor. While the town has, in the past, argued Belmont offers competitive wages, union members disagree.
“We’ve been losing people to other departments where they’re making more money,” Taylor said, noting he anticipates at least two more officers will leave in the coming months.
As of Monday, there remain seven vacancies to be filled, according to Chief James MacIsaac. The department has four student officers attending the Lynnfield Academy who will graduate in January.
“We have three candidates who have Conditional Offers of Employment, preparing for an academy that will begin in January,” he said in an email statement to The Voice. “If all works out, we will have seven new officers.”
One Year Later
The impasse comes almost exactly a year since the Town Meeting voted to abandon the Civil Service program — the state’s hiring system for public service employees — in an attempt to fill the growing number of vacancies in the police department.
The Civil Service program, first adopted in 1915, required Belmont to make hires from a list of people who passed the Civil Service exam, with preference given to Belmont residents. Applicants were also required to be 31 years old or younger.
During the special Town Meeting last year on Nov. 6, members criticized the program for being archaic, while the Belmont Police Patrolmen’s Association said it protects its members from nepotism and discrimination. Union members urged Town Meeting members to vote against the change, arguing a hiring policy and contract negotiations should precede the vote.
Instead, Town Meeting members approved leaving Civil Service by a vote of 160-100-1, leading Belmont to join dozens of Massachusetts communities that have abandoned the program in recent years. In the year since, union leaders have felt their voice was left out of the bargaining process.
“It’s not the picture the town painted for the residents for how this was all going to go,” Taylor said. “We were never really given a voice during those Town Meetings.”
In November, MacIsaac said while union support would’ve been “preferred” before leaving Civil Service, the hiring situation was too dire to wait. It was a problem he said he “couldn’t turn a blind eye to.”
“The police chief has been put in an impossible position because he also answers to the Select Board, but he’s in charge of the officers,” Taylor said. “I kind of feel for him a little because I know he’s getting it on both ends.”
In a letter to Town Meeting members, union leaders said they “remain open to meaningful discussions with the Town over how to solve the Town’s recruitment and retention challenges.”
“But we don’t agree,” the letter reads, “that walking away from contractual obligations is the way to do it.”
