Embattled Burke Administration Fought for Chief of Staff position

Embattled Muccini-Burke Administration Scrambling over something.


By Joe Viglione

With the Chief of Staff exiting without her staff knowing that their chief was gone 2/12/16, and only found out after this Facebook page at around 1:07 pm Thursday, 2/18/16 outlined it for them, the question is, will another shoe drop in the embattled Muccini-Burke administration?

Word on the street, and it's just a rumor, is that in January there were reports of scrambling inside the corner office, and - purportedly - the issue has not been made public, and has nothing to do with any of the items we've already discussed.

The 2 questions are: 

a) is the rumor of a dark cloud hanging over the Burke administration  true?

b)is it tied to Attorney Teresa Jeanne Walsh's alleged "resignation" on 2/12.

The answer is, at this time, I don't know. 

How can you have an Administration that keeps itself in the dark?  The staff doesn't know that there's no chief, the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing, and if there were any sense to it - walking away from $212,840.00 for two years (106,420.00 per year) - walking away from that sweet lottery ticket with no known safety net - a new position elsewhere for more money, City Hall ready to issue a press release before the exit, then you could say, "Ok, Teresa got a better gig within six weeks.

But keep this in mind.  A friend talks on the phone yesterday and says "Joe, she wasn't with her for just six weeks. She was the campaign advisor for Muccini-Burke."   So a quick Google search brings up the Medford Transcript and lo and behold, Teresa Jeanne Walsh, Atty. "...served as campaign advisor for Burke in last year's mayoral election." 

Not only that, look at these goodies from the Transcript article:





http://medford.wickedlocal.com/article/20160120/NEWS/160129645

 (Editor's note: Alex Ruppenthal's article posted  1/20/16, Walsh exited 2/12/16, a mere 23 days later.  The items / information from city hall on the position incorporated into Ruppenthal's article are here:

Posted Jan. 20, 2016 at 12:04 PM


         Most notably, the revised personnel ordinance would create a new position, chief of staff and policy, to serve as the mayor’s right-hand staff member.

        According to the proposed changes, the chief of staff and policy would:

        Advise the mayor on matters of municipal policy;

        Manage communication and information both to and from the office of the mayor;

        Act as director of personnel, responsible for advising the mayor on matters of employee compensation, benefits administration and fostering employee services, safety and welfare;

        Advise the mayor and department heads on matters of employee discipline;

        Be responsible for representing the mayor in all collective bargaining sessions, including all grievances and arbitrations.

Rumley said the position would give employees a liaison for expressing concerns or criticisms they might be hesitant to communicate directly to the mayor, who has sole authority over personnel changes.
 
Credit to the source:
http://medford.wickedlocal.com/article/20160120/NEWS/160129645

So Mrs. Muccini-Burke's "right hand," which she put the City Council through so much effort for, is gone, yet Burke had all that time to get to know Teresa Jeanne Walsh.   What the heck is going on, citizens, and why isn't Mr. Rumley upfront about it?