Moore comes to term with the town
Published on August 2nd, 2006
Will fill out a two-month term as acting Chief before being named Chief
STONEHAM, MA - While the Selectmen informally declared it too early to begin looking for a new Town Administrator last week, the board established concrete plans to replace former Police Chief Greg O'Keefe.
According to Town Administrator Ron Florino, he recently hammered out a short-term deal with interim Police Chief Herb Moore that will ensure the veteran officer leads the department until October.
"It doesn't look like that. He hasn't communicated with me at all," the Town Administrator responded, when asked if the replacement plans meant that O'Keefe would not be returning to the safety office post.
"We have to move on now. We can't be waiting two to three weeks for someone to return to work," Florino added. "Chief Moore has been doing a great job. He's really stepped up to keep things going."
According to the Town Administrator and Selectmen Chair Bob Sweeney, town officials will place advertisements for a new Police Chief within the next three weeks.
However, unlike previous postings, the job offering will only be for a ten-month term, as the Selectmen hope to explore the feasibility of creating a joint fire and police department Safety Commissioner post.
"We can't tie our hands right now, because the Selectmen are looking at every way to run the pubic safety departments more efficiently," Florino explained, referring to the need to explore combining both fire and police chief roles into one position.
"We want to look at the possibility of having a public safety commissioner. And this is the only time in recent history where there are two chief positions vacant at the same time," Sweeney commented in a separate interview.
According to one source within the Stoneham Police Department, Moore will be tapped as O'Keefe's permanent replacement at the end of August, once his current two-month interim Chief agreement expires.
While not going as far as saying that the post was guaranteed to the interim chief, Florino agreed that the veteran Stoneham officer was the front-runner for the position.
"There may not be that much interest, because this appointment might go away in nine or ten months. So we're not expecting a huge turnout," the Town Administrator explained, referring to the number of candidates likely to apply for the top police department slot.
"But we do have to go through this process," said Florino of advertising for a permanent chief. "I know he [Moore] wants to have more than an acting role in there, in order to get the things done in that department that he wants to."
On July 1, the former Police Chief rejected an offer from the Selectmen for a one-year contract extension that would mirror the terms of his previous agreement, which expired the day prior.
Negotiations with O'Keefe, a 30-year-veteran of the police force, didn't commence until a week-and-a-half before his employment agreement ended. According to both sides, the contract talks reached an impasse over a severance pay clause, which granted the Chief one-year's pay if he wasn't notified of town officials' intent to part ways with him nine-months in advance.
O'Keefe, who has been critical of the way that town officials negotiated with him, blasted the Selectmen in recent weeks for their refusal to agree to a 30-day extension, which would have allowed both sides more time to work-out a deal.
However, according to Florino and various Selectmen, they had every intention of retaining the police chief, and felt that his fears that he would be terminated once he signed the contract extension were unwarranted.
PLANS FOR TA
The town's Board of Selectmen reportedly agreed last week to delay seeking a replacement for Town Administrator Ron Florino until after next April's election.
According to Selectman George Seibold, he had placed the topic of a new Town Administrator on last week's meeting agenda, but consented to holding off on the discussion until this fall or winter.
"Based upon what I've heard about previous [hiring processes], I just didn't want this to be a last minute thing. It's an important position and we really should give Ron's replacement a couple of months to get in there," Seibold commented in a phone interview this Tuesday.
"Hiring a TA in these fiscal times is going to be difficult, and I'd personally like to see it happen sooner than later," the Selectman added.
According to Selectmen Chair Robert Sweeney, he and other board members encouraged their counterpart to hold-off on setting an immediate timetable for Florino's replacement due to next April's local elections.
Specifically, Sweeney argued that it might be unfair to hire a new Town Administrator when the Board of Selectmen who will work with that replacement might consist of two new members.
"I'm only one of five, but my feeling on advertising for that right now is that it's too early. Ron is with us until the end of July in 2007. And in April, there's an election with two vacancies on the Board," the Selectmen Chair argued.
"I really don't think it's fair for the current board to hire a new Town Administrator. If you do have two new members, [the next board] would have four months at that point to decide," Sweeney added.
Agreeing with that point, Selectman John DePinto also feels that it's far too premature to begin looking for Florino's replacement.
"We're not ready to start the interview process. I think a new board should be able to pick a new Town Administrator," DePinto opined. "But we may be able to ask for resumes before that time."
After serving the Town of Stoneham for over two-decades, Florino announced last month that he would step down from the municipality's top administrative post at the end of the next fiscal year on July 1.
The Town Administrator, who held the position for two-years after spending the bulk of his government career as Stoneham's Town Accountant, cited personal reasons for his retirement, saying the demanding post was forcing him to neglect his family life.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!