O'Keefe's is out as local police chief
Published on July 12th, 2006
STONEHAM,MA - Police Chief Gregory O'Keefe rejected an offer from Town Administrator Ron Florino for a one-year contract extension after the Selectmen reportedly refused to endorse a request for a multi-year deal.
According to Town Administrator Ron Florino, O'Keefe informed him of his refusal to accept the one-year offer - which would have mimicked the terms of the chief's pre-existing agreement with the town that expired on July 1 - on Friday, June 30.
And although Florino wouldn't go as far as saying that the negotiations had reached an end-point, meaning a search for a new police department leader was imminent, the Town Administrator confirmed that he has elevated Stoneham Police Lt. Herb Moore to the position of Interim Chief of Police.
"It's still premature," the Town Administrator commented, when asked if he plans to begin advertising for O'Keefe's replacement. "I don't know if the Chief still wants to talk or what. We were hoping to come to an agreement."
"We made an offer and it doesn't look like he's going to accept it. He hasn't reported to work this past week. The town was hoping to reach an agreement, and I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong," added Florino, who was notified of O'Keefe's decision after a last-minute Board of Selectmen executive session the morning of June 30 failed to break the negotiation impasse.
Reached at his home on Tuesday evening, the 32-year police force veteran defended his decision to decline the offer, claiming that he was left with little choice during the last-minute talks.
Scoffing at Florino's and other town officials' contention that they were shocked by his refusal, O'Keefe insisted that he offered to enter into a 30-day contract extension so that discussions could continue before his agreement expired.
"They're going to say that they offered me a one-year deal and that I walked away. And technically that's true. But they started talking to me in June, a week-and-a-half before my contract expired," O'Keefe said.
"This was something that absolutely, positively could have been avoided. And I could not believe that the town was not willing to extend my contract for thirty-days so we could work this out."
"I want to make this clear. I did not want to leave. I've been on this job for 32 years, and I felt like I deserved more," the former Police Chief added. "I think it was disgraceful what they did not only to me, but to the department. Anything can be done if people are talking. And that's exactly why I said, 'Let's do three more months.' I mean c'mon, give me a chance here."
According to both sides, the impasse between the two sides had nothing to do with the Chief's job performance over the past five-years- which the Town Administrator and various Selectmen praised.
Instead, the main disagreement stemmed from the town's insistence that O'Keefe drop a contract clause guaranteeing him one-year's severance pay if he wasn't notified of plans not to rehire him at least nine-months in advance.
"The severance package was a big part of it. The town can't continue to afford to offer the same benefits it has in the past," Florino commented. "So this wasn't a performance issue. It was more about addressing the tough times we're in and entering into agreements that we can better afford."
"Me and the Selectmen have agreed that we have to start taking some cost-saving measures. And these types of benefits, health insurance being a big one, as well as severance pay and liability, need to be addressed," the Town Administrator added.
However, according to O'Keefe, he was more than willing to make the concession, but wanted a longer contract term in return.
And a big part of that demand, the Stoneham resident insisted, stemmed from the fact that for the past two-years, talks about his employment status haven't commenced until the town was right up against the deadline.
Responding to questions about why he just wouldn't agree to the one-year deal offered to him - which would continue to include the severance provision - the police force veteran claimed that he feared that the Selectmen would order Florino to give the Chief his notice right after he agreed to the terms.
"I felt very uncomfortable with where they were going with this," recalled O'Keefe. "I told them that I felt like they were trying to shove this down my throat. They [the Selectmen] want you under their thumb. And I'm not the only department head who feels that way."
"I said [to Ron], will you give me your personal word that if I sign this contract, and the Selectmen turn around and order you to terminate my contract, that you won't? And he told me that he couldn't promise that," the police chief charged, saying that the only reason he signed a one-year deal the year before was because the Town Administrator had agreed to that promise.
Florino, when asked about those aspects of the negotiations, refused to comment directly on what transpired.
However, according to Selectmen Tony Kennedy and John DePinto, board members were extremely satisfied with O'Keefe's leadership of the police force, and had every intention of keeping him in the role.
"I think it's very unfortunate. There's a process, and it's too bad we couldn't come to terms. I thought the offer was very fair, considering what we're giving other employees," DePinto remarked on Tuesday.
"The Chief does an excellent job. He was a great employee and we wanted to keep him," Kennedy commented in a separate interview. "And unfortunately, something broke down where he thought we wanted to get rid of him. The board never entertained that idea."
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