Assistant Fire Chief Position on Hold

The aldermen tabled a proposal to remove the position from civil service as the firefighters request more time to hash out details with Chief Christopher Leary and City Hall.

Plans to reinstitute the long-dormant assistant chief position in the Melrose Fire Department are on hold after the Melrose Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to table Chief Christopher Leary and City Hall's request to remove it from civil service. At the aldermen's Appropriation Committee meeting on June 28, the committee unanimously voted to send the proposal to the full board Monday night without a recommendation, with an eye on a scheduled July 6 meeting between the Melrose Firefighters 1617 union and city administrators. While the decision whether or not to remove the assistant chief position from civil service is solely up to the aldermen, many of the details surrounding how the position would be filled need to be bargained with …

• Photos (1)

Fire Union, City Hall at Odds Over Assistant Chief Position

Fire Chief Christopher Leary and City Hall want to make the position exempt from civil service, but the firefighters union disagrees, with some questioning the need for additional management.

City administrators want to reinstitute a long-dormant assistant chief position in the Melrose Fire Department and make it a non civil-service position, but the firefighters union disagrees with removing the position from civil service, with some firefighters questioning the need for additional mancagement at all. It isn't a new position. The city's ordinances establish an assistant fire chief within the department, but former Melrose Fire Chief John O'Brien—present at last Thursday's meeting of the aldermen's Appropriations Committee—said it hasn't been filled since the 1940s. Mayor Rob Dolan told Boston.com that he and new Fire Chief Christopher Leary have tentatively selected current Fire Capt. Ed Collina for the job. Collina is …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)
• Documents (1)

Letters to the Editor

Letter: MHS Teacher—Dolan Wrong About Teacher Pay

Melrose High School biology teacher Kerri Scott takes on Mayor Rob Dolan's statements about teacher pay in Melrose.

To the editor: Shock. Disappoinment. Betrayal. These are some of the emotions I felt as I read Daniel DeMaina’s article about Mayor Dolan’s press conference on Monday. I was shocked to learn that the average teacher will be receiving a 5-7 percent salary increase. I will only be receiving a 1 percent cost of living adjustment next year—as part of the agreement the MEA (Melrose Education Association) made with the city two years ago—and wonder how the average teacher managed to receive more than our bargained increase. After taking a wage freeze, which amounted to a pay cut for most, the MEA received the previously negotiated 2 percent COLA this year and 1 percent next year. Teachers who have not reached the 11th year base salary are …

•  9 Comments
• Photos (1)

Daniel DeMaina

3:37 pm on Monday, June 25, 2012

My apologies for not replying to these comments earlier, folks. I'd also like to give Ms. Scott credit for speaking up—it's the only way to advance the discussion and get as close as possible to the truth, and it's important for people in the community to hear from everyone involved. Lory: The theme issue that explores teaching in the city? Well, we could go in a lot of directions there—…   more ›

Poll Results: Support for Curbing Seniority Rights for Teachers

The majority of people who voted in last week's poll supported evaluating teachers through a new data reporting system.

Last Wednesday, Melrose Patch asked your opinion of the proposed creation of a new system for evaluating teachers so that they wouldn't be promoted solely on seniority.  Between then and Tuesday afternoon, 51 people voted in the poll. Here's a breakdown of the results:  What do you think of the results? Let us know in the comments section. 

• Photos (1)

POLL: Curb Teachers' Seniority Rights?

Give your opinion on this education issue by taking our poll.

Massachusetts' biggest teachers union and a group pushing to change teacher evaluations have come to an agreement and are now trying to get lawmakers to adopt a compromise bill, according to The Boston Globe. The compromise is that the bill "creates a data reporting system to ensure accountability in the new evaluation system," according to the report, so teachers wouldn't necessarily be promoted for their seniority. But the group backed down on the parts that would "reduce collective bargaining rights, weaken due process rights for teachers with professional teacher status and curtail rights for part-time teachers."  Read the whole report here. What do you think about this compromise? Tell us by taking our poll. 

• Photos (1)

Melrose Police Management Study Released

The study contains over 80 recommendations, along with results of a survey of Melrose Police Department officers, as the police unions and City Hall enter contract negotiations.

Editor's note: This article was updated on Monday, Feb. 13 at noon with a joint statement released by the mayor's office and both police unions. Melrose City Hall released this week the now completed police management study that stoked a war of words between Mayor Rob Dolan and the city's police unions when first proposed in December. While the two sides still have months of negotations ahead regarding the contracts for the Melrose Police Superior Officers Union and Melrose Police Patrol Officers Union—both contracts will expire on June 30—both sides struck a conciliatory tone after a meeting on Thursday afternoon. Melrose Police Lt. Timothy Maher, president of the Superior Officers Union, said late Thursday afternoon that "it was a …

• Photos (1)
• Documents (2)

Mayor, Police Spar Over Overtime Audit and Management Study

The Melrose Board of Aldermen approved $16,000 on two audits requested by Mayor Rob Dolan—one on police overtime, one on department policy and procedures—that the police union presidents argued are flawed.

Editor's note: This article is separated into three sections. Read about the police overtime audit here and read about the police management study here. Also, the word "affect" was corrected on Wednesday at 9:10 p.m. If Monday night is any indication, Mayor Rob Dolan and the Melrose Police unions are headed toward combative collective bargaining negotiations this coming year. Melrose Police officers and some of their family members filled the Aldermanic Chambers on Monday in a show of union solidarity as the Melrose Board of Aldermen approved spending $16,000 on two audits of the police department requested by Dolan. Dolan pitched the audits last week to the aldermen's Appropriations Committee, which is comprised of the full board. In …

•  12 Comments
• Photos (1)

marc bowlen

11:07 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013

How many relatives does Andrew have as police officers? That's total B.S. Any paving done on the roads where there is a police detail, the cost of the job + the police detail is all figured into the bid for the paving job! That makes the cost of the job higher and is passed on to the taxpayer! How about that I-93 paving and bridge projects across the state? All taxpayer money pays for that, I …   more ›