Making Progress? Public Safety Subcommittee Seeking Answers on New Police Officers

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The Everett City Council’s subcommittee on Government Operations, Public Safety and Public Service was hoping to learn Monday night whether the city has made any progress in its self-stated goal to hire up to 10 new police officers per year in advance of the opening of the Wynn Boston Harbor Resort.

Unfortunately, City administration officials, representatives of the Everett Police Department and the Human Resources Director all were absent from the subcommittee meeting, leaving the four members of the committee – Michael McLaughlin, Richard Dell Isola, Fred Capone and committee chairman John Leo McKinnon – to speculate on the current status and obstacles to the City meeting its goals.

After a brief discussion, during which McLaughlin stated that he knew of only two new officers, both of whom were hired as transfers from other departments, the subcommittee voted to leave the issue on its calendar and re-invite Police Chief Steven Mazzie, Mayor Carlo DeMaria and representatives from the Human Resources Department to the committee’s next meeting in February.

“At that time, we will be looking for definitive numbers of new officers hired, those in the academy, those being vetted for hiring and where we stand on getting to our goal of hiring 10 new officers in each of the next three years,” concluded McKinnon.

McKinnon did inform the committee that during a conversation with the City’s Human Resources Department, he learned that the City is vetting several new officers before beginning their training in the Police Academy. He also indicated that the City’s review of its residency requirement for police and firefighters may have hindered the City’s search for new police recruits, but that the Human Resources director has assured him the matter had been resolved and that the City may still be on schedule to hire the new officers it needs to prepare for the opening of the Wynn Resort in 2019.

  • Eversource maintenance project approved

The Government Operations, Public Safety and Public Service subcommittee also heard from representatives of electricity supplier Eversource, and agreed to allow the energy company’s proposed nighttime work in Everett, based on the company’s assurances that the nine-week maintenance project would not allow heavy construction work – such as jack hammering – after 9 p.m. and that at least two City police details would be scheduled to the project during daytime hours.

The goal of the committee’s meeting with Eversource representatives was to ensure minimal disruption to local residents, particularly during nighttime hours and to ensure the safety of drivers and other commuters during the workday.

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