PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Linda Tyer says she is "correcting an injustice" by appointing Police Chief Michael Wynn to the job on a more permanent basis within Civil Service parameters.

 

Wynn has been serving under the "acting" capacity for the last nine years since he was appointed by former Mayor James Ruberto. Tyer is looking to use a provision within the Civil Service Commission to officially give Wynn the title.

 

"Chief Wynn has been an exemplary chief of police for going on three administrations now without having the very important designation of being officially appointed chief of police," Tyer said.

 

"I feel strongly that having that appointment gives the chief, whoever that may be, the proper authority and standing in the law enforcement community that is required for a position of that magnitude. I sort of view what I am doing as correcting an injustice."

 

Opponents of mayoral appointment say using the Civil Service list provides a level of separation between politics and the position, protecting the chief from the whims of a mayor and administration. The Civil Service process has specific provisions for which an employee can be fired, making replacement of the chief a cumbersome task. Police unions support the Civil Service system because it pulls politics out of public safety.

 

The city's Police Supervisory Union and the Police Patrolmans Union both oppose the process in which Tyer is appointing Wynn. They issued a joint letter on Thursday calling for the hiring process to be open to other candidates. The union says Tyer's plan is a "run around" the process.

 

"This has always been about the process and never about who is or could be chief. Anything other than that desired process is absolutely unacceptable," the letter reads.

 

Tyer disagrees. She said Wynn was the top candidate in 2007 when the last exam was given so the job should have been his the entire time. 

 

"It feels to me like Chief Wynn has been asked year after year after year to lead the law enforcement agency in our city and he's done it well. He should have received the appointment in 2007. He was on top of the list. He was the No. 1 candidate," Tyer said. "We have this mechanism to correct an injustice." 

 

She said the city failed to comply with the process then, not now.

 

"This is the Civil Service process. This is not circumventing Civil Service. This is a unique measure that is available to cities and towns to appeal to the Civil Service Commission for a special order," Tyer said.

 

Ruberto had also appointed Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski to the job in an acting capacity. Tyer says she doesn't have a plan right now for appointing a more permanent chief there, yet, because her focus is on the Police Department.

 

"My primary focus, No. 1 priority, is getting the Police Department stabilized, getting it properly staffed with the right new technologies and we can pursue the Fire Department position once we've gotten this," Tyer said. 

 

Tyer is the first mayor is more than a decade to support the Civil Service System. Both Ruberto and former Mayor Daniel Bianchi vocally opposed the process, citing bureaucratic inefficiencies and difficulties in hiring. Tyer says there are aspects of the system those mayors hadn't taken advantage of — such as assessment centers.

 

"There are alternative ways to use the existing system that haven't been pursued in the past two administrations," Tyer said. "It is the system we have. We have to work within the confines of that system and take advantage of the various features that gives us the best outcomes."

 

That message may be welcomed by the unions; the three public safety unions opposed a recommendation from a study committee for the city to withdraw the chief positions from the system. The city had gone some 13 years without the system in place for the chiefs until resuming it by special order.

 

"The purpose of Civil Service is not to tie a mayor's hands in his or her decision-making, but instead to prevent the abuse of position and influence which has been long documented as occurring during periods without it. The department needs the stability of a permanent chief, free from political interference, to focus on the business of public safety and to develop long-term goals for the agency," the unions wrote.

 

"A politically-appointed chief subject to the whims of a mayor is both disruptive and damaging to the morale of the many fine officers who serve the people of this city."