North Adams Still Grappling With Public Safety Structure
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Public Safety Committee in trying to balance costs and needs when it decides on a management structure for the police and fire departments.Mayor Richard Alcombright is proposing what he believes is a lower-cost option to fill the public safety commissioner position that E. John Morocco is leaving empty with his retirement. The proposal is a clear-cut replacement of the position and it would continue the way the fire and police departments operate.
"For all intents and purposes, this is what we have now," Alcombright said when he presented the committee draft job descriptions and flow charts for both dividing the position into two and keeping the status quo on Thursday. "This is a management structure that works."
Morocco's retirement, delayed two years through a home-rule petition, had been eyed as an opportunity to review the organization of the public safety department. The city is one of the rare municipalities in the state using the commissioner structure, which was installed nearly three decades ago as a cost savings. Officials have been trying to determine if that still holds true.
Alcombright wants a new commissioner to be hired in April. His timeline includes a decision by the committee at the end of February and interviews in March and April.
However, members of the committee are wondering if this is an opportunity to put more officers on the street.
Members Jennifer Breen Kirsch and Lisa Blackmer peppered Morocco and Alcombright with questions about the departments' operations. Dividing the commissioner's responsibilities into police and fire chiefs would add more mid-level staffing and Alcombright estimates that it would cost at least an additional $88,000 to do that. Even then, he felt the salaries would not be attractive enough retain officers. Morrocco said that in recent years, about eight police officers have left for higher paying positions in other cities or towns.
Kirsch insisted that the Police Department is currently understaffed despite Morocco saying otherwise. Kirsch questioned if eliminating the court officer or changing shifts to reduce overtime would help in reducing the costs so that the city could hire additional officers. Blackmer also questioned overtime and asked if adding more officers would reduce that. Several officers are currently out on disability or family leave.
"In the long run, we're spending more on overtime," Blackmer said. "I'm trying to get ahead of this."
Morocco and Alcombright said crime is becoming a bigger issue in the city but the current staffing is enough to handle it on a day-to-day basis. There are currently 24 officers on staff.
The job descriptions and flow charts are available below.
Public Safety Job Description, Structure
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