O'Keefe: "The Town has been treating me like I never existed."
Published on October 11th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Former Stoneham Police Chief Greg O'Keefe contends that the town owes him one year's salary for essentially forcing him out of his post last July, when contract negotiations between him and the Selectmen broke down.
And while the 32-year police force veteran has submitted letter after letter to Town Administrator Ron Florino demanding the compensation, and has threatened to pursue legal avenues to collect the severance package, O'Keefe alleged that his requests have been repeatedly ignored.
"The town hasn't answered any of my responses. As far as I know, nothing has happened. I left and haven't had any contact with anybody. It's almost like they're treating me like I never existed," O'Keefe vented in a recent interview.
On June 30, a day after last-minute contract talks between the former Police Chief and the Selectmen failed to reach an amicable settlement, O'Keefe reportedly informed Florino that he was rejecting a one-year contract extension, which would have mimicked the terms of the administrator's pre-existing agreement that would expire a day later.
Although Florino and various Selectmen expressed bewildered reactions to the chief's decision, O'Keefe has since argued that he was left with little choice but to dismiss the offer.
Labeling the Selectmen's comments about his departure as somewhat disingenuous given that the contract deliberations began at the last hour - just days before the employment agreement would expire - O'Keefe referenced his rejected suggestion that the two sides agree to a three-month contract extension so that they could have more time to hammer out their differences.
"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 commented a week after his employment with the town ended.
"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," the Stoneham resident furthered at the time. According to O'Keefe, his contract included a provision that if he wasn't provided at least eight-months notice of the town's intent not to rehire him, he would be compensated with one-year's salary. In FY'06, the police veteran reportedly received a base-salary of approximately $96,000. Accusing the Selectmen of essentially pushing the police chief out-the-door, by reportedly refusing to endorse a multi-year deal and demanding that any new contract repeal the severance clause, O'Keefe insists that he's entitled to the severance pay.
"When I suggested to extend the contract for three-months and they said, 'no', that kind of said it all," the Stoneham resident commented in a recent interview. "I'm out because they wanted me out, that's my feeling."
"They didn't want me to stay. And they didn't give me the severance and they owe me that money," the former Police Chief added. "It's just a game to these people. I don't want to say things to piss people off, because that's not my goal. But since July 1, I haven't heard one word from a single Selectman. It's almost like I fell off the face of the earth."
Reached at his office this Tuesday, Florino declined to comment on the Chief's contention that he's owed the severance pay. However, in comments made shortly after the chief's 32-year stint with the Stoneham Police Department ended, the Town Administrator admitted that O'Keefe's severance package was a major bone of contention.
"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 said last July.
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