by Brian Keaney
The position of Fire Chief will remain within civil service after a proposal by Town Administrator Bill Keegan to remove it was defeated at Town Meeting last night, 126-80. Keegan's proposal would have allowed him to hire and dismiss a chief, as he can with other department heads.
The 30 minute debate was determined by a standing vote, the only of the evening. The article was indefinitely postponed on a motion by Selectman Jim MacDonald, who then asked Fire Chief and Town Meeting Representative Jim Driscoll to take the podium.
Speaking forcefully, Driscoll said he had an excellent relationship with both Keegan and the Board of Selectmen. He added that the Board or the administrator could change, and along with them that positive relationship with the chief.
“The job of fire chief has become much more complex than when I first started 37 years ago,” Driscoll said. “We really need a professional administration that can be provided for in the testing service the civil service has provided for the Town so far.”
Driscoll, who will be retiring this summer, said similar proposals have been put forward four times during his tenure on the force and defeated each time. The four deputy chiefs each took the exam to replace him, though only two are reportedly interested in the position.
Keegan said that he had “tremendous respect” for both the Department and for Driscoll, and that they were not the driving factor behind the article. Keegan said he would be limited in who he could choose under civil service, and that ultimately a panel in Boston had the final say.
“The simple issue is that this is a management decision,” Keegan said. “The Town [has] a professional form of government in which a professional administrator [is] hired to make the hiring decisions. That decision has served this town well in that we have excellent department heads.”
Keegan added that he could choose from the top three scorers on the exam, but that if he chose the second or third place scorer that his decision could be appealed to the state Civil Service Commission “that knows nothing about the Town of Dedham for the most part.”
Keegan said that if he chose a lower scoring candidate, who then appealed to the Commission, that the decision would likely be based “on technical considerations more than anything else.” He added that he would judge a candidate based on the technical skills as tested on the exam, but also on their practical, leadership, and financial skills.
David Martin, chairman of the Finance Committee, also framed his committee's vote in favor of the proposal in terms of giving the town administrator the widest possible pool of candidates.
“The Town has made considerable strides towards professionalizing our management staff,” Martin said, “and we felt it important to continue this trend by giving the town administrator the freedom to select the best candidate for the job.”
Martin continued by saying that the civil service exam “would reduce a candidate's skill to a number.”
District six Representative Bob Chaffee took exception to that particular comment, approaching the microphone for a second time to assert that the four deputy chiefs, who he said have more than 100 years combined service to the Town, were each “a professional, not a number.”
Chaffee said that each of the four deputy chiefs was qualified for the position, and that by choosing the “best of the best” from among them that “the real winners will the the citizens of Dedham and the Dedham Fire Department.”
Every Town Meeting Representatives who spoke on the issue favored keeping the position within civil service.
“I want someone as our fire chief who knows this town inside and out,” said Katie Casey, a Representative from District Five. “[I want someone] who has worked here, who knows the history of the area, the buildings, and the people involved.”
Selectmen Mike Butler, the lone member of the Board to support Keegan's article, said it was important to him for the town administrator to retain as much control as possible over the hiring and possibly sanctioning or firing of the chief as possible.
“The intent,” Butler said, is “to emphasize how important we believe it is to take on more control over the contracts we sign and the type of control we exercise through the Town Administrator's office for all his department heads.”
Several firefighters held an informational picket outside the doors of the auditorium before Town Meeting asking Representatives to keep the position in civil service. They also handed out letters from Fred Loewen, president of the firefighters union, which had been mailed to Representatives earlier this month.
“A civil service chief goes through the most comprehensive and competitive examination process the state can offer,” Loewen wrote. “Dedham needs a fire chief able to represent the firefighters and townspeople fairly and safely regardless of changing political tides.”
The four deputy chiefs expect to hear the scores of their exams in June.
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