What Do You Make of Rumley's Handiwork??? Is it Fair to the Citizens of Medford?

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COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 
One Ashburton Place: Room 503 Boston, MA 02108 (617) 727-2293

RE: Tracking Number: I-19-096

Request by: Justin Albano & Joshua Colby to investigate the decision by the City of Medford to reduce the number of candidates to be appointed as firefighters from Certification No. 04954.

Appearance for Petitioners: Jillian Ryan, Esq. Pyle Rome 2 Liberty Square: 10th Floor Boston, MA 02351


Appearance for City of Medford: Mark E. Rumley, Esq. Kimberly Scanlon, Esq. City of Medford Law Department 85 George P. Hassett Drive Medford, MA 02155 

Commissioner: Christopher C. Bowman RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION




1. On April 19, 2019, the Petitioners, Joshua Colby and Justin Albano (Petitioners), filed a Petition with the Civil Service Commission (Commission), asking the Commission to exercise its discretion under G.L. c. 31, s. 2(a) to initiate an investigation into the City’s November 7, 2018 decision to reduce the number of firefighters to be appointed from Certification No. 04954, which was set to expire on November 30, 2018, from 13 to 11.


2. On April 30, 2019, I held a Show Cause Conference at the offices of the Commission which was attended by the City’s Mayor, co-counsel for the City; the Petitioners; their counsel; and counsel for the state’s Human Resources Division.

When the Fire Chief met with the Mayor on November 7, 2018 and recommended the appointment of one of the Petitioners and one other candidate, the Medford Police Department had not completed the background investigations of the candidates and, thus, the Fire Chief had not completed his normal review of those background investigations.


In fact, it is unclear whether the Fire Chief, at any point prior to the expiration of the eligible list on November 30, 2018, ever had the opportunity to review the background investigations of all the firefighter candidates. It would have been inappropriate for the Mayor to make any appointments prior to the completion of the background investigations, particularly considering that the appointment of the candidates recommended by the Fire Chief would have resulted in a bypass of higher ranked candidates, which requires sound and sufficient reasons by the Appointing Authority.

Her decision not to go forward with the full complement of appointments that had been authorized from the prior eligible list was justified. Further, after a careful review of all the information presented, including the statements of the Mayor who voluntarily appeared before the Commission on two (2) different occasions regarding this matter, I do not believe that her decision here was based on any personal or political reasons. 

 For these reasons, I have concluded that an investigation by the Commission is not warranted and this matter, docketed under Tracking No. I-19-096, is closed.



https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2019/07/18/medford_fire_investigation_071819.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2vP5P0Y2HIuJFwVZQ5peoARnCtAWFJxX5LYmqu6vkYYbFFUyGN_xTY1U0