Deja vu, all over again!
The only thing missing is the television trucks from Boston stationed in front of City Hall like when Willie Lantigua was mayor of Lawrence, accosting him daily and making up stories.
Mayor Brian DePeña appeared before the Civil Service Commission on the issue involving the Fire Department and it became harvest time for the media. The worst part is that once someone publishes something, the copycats run away with it adding more. They tend to take it for granted that somebody did his or her homework and take it as gospel.
But, leave it to me to look into it. I read the 15-page decision from the Civil Service Commission and then started again making notes of discrepancies and contradictions. Mind you that this is a warning for everyone: If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, you should find somebody to interpret it for you. There is a difference between learning to read and being able to comprehend what you are reading and most people cannot read legalese.
Certain fiery words attract attention for their explosive connotation: Racist, corruption, patronage, political payback, etc. The moment we hear them, our opinion is slanted one way or another.
The case involved the promotion of Fire Captain Wayne Leduc alleging that “Mayor DePeña did not promote him before the expiration of the eligible list for Deputy Fire Chief because of Leduc’s opposition to the Mayor’s proposed non-civil service Assistant Fire Chief position. The Commission opened an investigation to determine whether the Mayor acted for political reasons in allowing the eligible list to expire, despite a vacancy for Deputy Chief and Chief Moriarty’s recommendation to promote the Petitioner to the vacant position.”
The Mayor is the appointing authority for non-union positions as the one he was creating for an Assistant Fire Chief. The Deputy Fire Chief job for which he was eligible was union. Remember, Captain Leduc wanted to be promoted to Deputy Chief but since the list expired, he is now number one on the next list to get the nod.
Point #7 – Not long after Mayor DePeña took office, he tried to create a new appointed position of “Assistant Fire Chief” outside of the civil service system and outside of the agreement between the City and the Lawrence firefighters union, Local 146. According to the job description, the incumbent of the Assistant Chief position would “be appointed by the mayor.”
I am not talking about the Deputy Chief union position to which Captain Leduc will be appointed next time the list is published.
Point #8 – Contrary to the provision within the job description that the Assistant Chief position would “be appointed by the mayor,” Mayor DePeña testified that the position would be appointed by the City Council.
There you have the first contradiction. It clearly said that it will be appointed by the Mayor but the Mayor testified that it will be the City Council.
Point #9 – The Assistant Fire Chief position would serve as the Chief’s second-in-command and as acting chief when the Chief was absent or away.
So much for that. From the beginning, when the words ‘political payback’ were mentioned, it was concluded by the Fire Department that the job was being created for Firefighter Pat Ruiz who worked on the mayoral campaign. Then the discussion about the requirements and qualifications for this position began.
Point #11 – Local 146 questioned the “watered down” job description and qualifications that seemed catered to allow one firefighter to be selected over higher-ranked Deputy Chiefs, Captains, and Lieutenants to become Assistant Chief. Union members asserted that it was “absolutely no secret” that the Mayor had proposed the position as a “political favor” for firefighter Pat Ruiz to boost his salary and subsequent pension.
Mayor DePeña insists that the job requirements were the result of meetings with the Department and at their request although Chief Moriarty denies it.
Point #17 – Chief Moriarty was not consulted about the Assistant Fire Chief position and expressed his opposition to Mayor DePeña and the Mayor’s senior advisor on numerous occasions.
Point #18 – Chief Moriarty tried to work with the Mayor and “change the name [of the position] to just a title of fire marshal rather than a rank, so Ruiz could stay in fire investigation which he was good at and qualified for but he would not have any disciplinary power over rank and file.” The Chief “tried to make sure this new position had no supervisory role over operations,” and he “tried to protect union membership from somebody who shouldn’t be there.”
So, which is it? On point #17 Chief Moriarty said he was not consulted and then on point #18 he testified that he tried to work with the Mayor and even change the name of the position.
Point #19 – The Mayor did not accept the chief’s suggestions.
Point #20 – Chief Moriarty spoke about the position at a City Council meeting on March 8, 2022. The Chief was not happy about the Assistant Fire Chief position being created.
Point #21 – Mayor DePeña testified that Chief Moriarty defended the position because it was necessary. The Mayor also testified that the idea to create an Assistant Fire Chief position came from him and the Chief.
The document goes on and on revisiting what everyone said including comments involving others that were not the source of any investigation such as Chief Moriarty’s statement that Mayor DePeña had said that he would never promote Captain Zahn to Deputy Chief something that the Mayor denied saying.
In the final analysis, the Commission ruled “I do not credit much of Mayor DePeña’s testimony and I do not believe his claim that he did not act deliberately to injure the Petitioner.”
At one point, the Mayor was asked how he runs the city with his lack of language skills (I’m paraphrasing) which I believe was uncalled for.
I have lots of respect for the Fire Department but I believe the Commission acted irresponsibly by not clarifying those contradictions.
And of course, the media jumped on it upon hearing the keywords.
Councilor, great idea!
City Councilor at-Large Richard Russell came up with a suggestion that we can easily go for. Mr. Russell believes that the ARPA funds that are being distributed by the mayor’s office should be given to all residents that received a COVID vaccine.
After all, this was to mitigate the losses caused by the disease and every person who received a COVID shot should receive $100.
That’s one city councilor who thinks about the people!
Hallelujah!
Councilor Maria De La Cruz has checked out from her responsibilities in the City Council. She has missed many meetings in the past couple of months, including the final vote on the city budget.
If the City Council is going to give her a little plaque in December for “her services to the city,” why not do it now in case she won’t show up for that one either?
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