< Back to front page
Text size
–
+
Aldermen erupt over failure to put veteran on hiring list
Tempers are still flaring over the question of an
Iraq War veteran's right to have preferred status on the Somerville
firefighter reserve list, and an inflamed exchange at the Nov. 9 Board
of Aldermen meeting failed to clear up the confusion.
As a veteran, Sean O'Brien should have been put at the top of the firefighter reserve list. However, he was not among the 10 men appointed to the list last winter.
The aldermen approved the appointments Feb. 25. O'Brien appealed to the state Civil Service Commission (case E-10-139). In a decision issued Sept. 23, chairman Christopher C. Bowman granted the appellant relief, stating that O'Brien would be at the top of the list for employment “until such time as he has been selected or bypassed,” according to a document provided by Alderman Bill White.
This led to anger among the aldermen, who approved the appointments not knowing the background. At the Nov. 9 meeting, White read the riot act to assistant city solicitor Matt Buckley and director of personnel Jessie Baker.
Buckley contended that by the time city staff learned of the rule giving preference to vets, they had already extended legally binding conditional offers to the eventual hires. He and Baker discussed the situation with a staff member of the state Human Resources Division Feb. 24, right before the aldermen's committee on appointments met to consider the 10 men, he said.
As a veteran, Sean O'Brien should have been put at the top of the firefighter reserve list. However, he was not among the 10 men appointed to the list last winter.
The aldermen approved the appointments Feb. 25. O'Brien appealed to the state Civil Service Commission (case E-10-139). In a decision issued Sept. 23, chairman Christopher C. Bowman granted the appellant relief, stating that O'Brien would be at the top of the list for employment “until such time as he has been selected or bypassed,” according to a document provided by Alderman Bill White.
This led to anger among the aldermen, who approved the appointments not knowing the background. At the Nov. 9 meeting, White read the riot act to assistant city solicitor Matt Buckley and director of personnel Jessie Baker.
Buckley contended that by the time city staff learned of the rule giving preference to vets, they had already extended legally binding conditional offers to the eventual hires. He and Baker discussed the situation with a staff member of the state Human Resources Division Feb. 24, right before the aldermen's committee on appointments met to consider the 10 men, he said.
“Their response was ... we have to go forward with those appointments,"
Buckley said. Everything would be OK, HRD said, once the city faxed
over the job offer letters for the files.
However, though the state gave the written OK to go ahead with the hires Feb. 25, the Feb. 24 conversation wasn't set down in writing until Oct. 27. That meant the approval "wasn't solidified" at the time the aldermen's committee met," White said. "You didn't get anything in written form here."
"It was a dead letter," Buckley protested.
"You're a lawyer," White countered, and thus should know the power of the written word. Without the on-paper stamp of approval, Alderwoman Rebekah Gewirtz said, "We didn't have the legal authority to appoint those people."
Andrew Puglia, O'Brien's father-in-law and legal consultant, disputed the city's account of events altogether, asking why O'Brien hadn't been at the top of the list to begin with.
Mayor Joe Curtatone appeared at the meeting to defend his employees against Puglia's contention that the hiring process lacked integrity.
In the end, O'Brien remains at the top of the list but not employed by Somerville. "It sounds like he's getting 'process'-ed to death," said Alderman Bob Trane. "It seems, as a city, we owe something to this young man."
However, though the state gave the written OK to go ahead with the hires Feb. 25, the Feb. 24 conversation wasn't set down in writing until Oct. 27. That meant the approval "wasn't solidified" at the time the aldermen's committee met," White said. "You didn't get anything in written form here."
"It was a dead letter," Buckley protested.
"You're a lawyer," White countered, and thus should know the power of the written word. Without the on-paper stamp of approval, Alderwoman Rebekah Gewirtz said, "We didn't have the legal authority to appoint those people."
Andrew Puglia, O'Brien's father-in-law and legal consultant, disputed the city's account of events altogether, asking why O'Brien hadn't been at the top of the list to begin with.
Mayor Joe Curtatone appeared at the meeting to defend his employees against Puglia's contention that the hiring process lacked integrity.
In the end, O'Brien remains at the top of the list but not employed by Somerville. "It sounds like he's getting 'process'-ed to death," said Alderman Bob Trane. "It seems, as a city, we owe something to this young man."
Advertisement
Advertisement
Waiting for Twitter to feed in the latest...