Many area communities have moved away from the civil service system, which some feel is antiquated.
GREENFIELD — Mayor William Martin has notified the Town Council that he wants Greenfield to withdraw the police and fire chief positions from the Civil Service system requirements.
With provisional chiefs currently occupying both positions, Martin wants a bigger pool of candidates and more flexibility in choosing long-term replacements than the aged system allows. They mayor named Gary T. Magnan acting police chief in 2011, upon the retirement of Chief David Guilbault. Greenfield police Det. Lt. Joseph Burge was made acting captain at the time. Magnan also subsequently retired. Burge was named provisional chief last year.
Former Fire Chief Michael Winn left Greenfield in June to become a fire chief on Cape Cod. Robert Strahan now serves as the provisional fire chief.
The civil service examination for fire chief is given in March. Because the town did not expect Winn to leave, no one tested for his position. The police chief exam was in May, but candidates are not required to inform communities they are taking the test, and Greenfield does not know if anyone tested for the police chief job, according to Human Resources Director Dennis Helms.
“Anyone can take the test,” Helms said. “They don’t have to tell us.”
Helms said Greenfield expects to have that information soon, when the state certifies the list of applicants. If three or more applicants passed the exam, Martin by law has to appoint one of them chief. If there were two or fewer applicants, it is up to the mayor to name one.
Many area communities have moved away from the civil service system, which some feel is antiquated. Northampton has withdrawn its entire police and fire departments from civil service, a move that required a change in the city charter and a special act of the state Legislature. Among other local communities that have debated dropping civil service are Palmer, Ware and Chicopee.
At present, Greenfield only wants to exempt the two chief positions, Helms said.
“It’s burdensome and time-consuming,” he said. “It was a system designed in the 1920s.”
Removing the chief jobs from civil service would require a special act of the Legislature. Martin, who is currently out of the country, hopes to accomplish that during the fall session, Helms said. In his memo to the Town Council earlier this week, Martin said Greenfield deserves the best possible candidates and noted that the Public Safety Commission has approved the move to withdraw the positions from civil service.