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City searches for new police chief, wants help from community members
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Aging water and sewer pipes and a race to correct infrastructure issues before the federal government slaps a consent decree on the city has Somerville residents facing significant increases in water and sewer rates for the near future.
The Finance subcommittee of the City Council, meeting last week, was asked to endorse a 7% increase in water rates and a 10.5% increase in sewer rates as part of the budget planning season.
Councilors told city administrators to take $1 million from the Free Cash account to offset rate increases for those residents identified as low- or on fixed incomes.
In a unanimous vote of the subcommittee, J.T. Scott (Ward 2), Mary Jo Rossetti, William White, and Will Mbah, all at large, and Katjana Ballantyne (Ward 7) indicated the committee would not support the requested increases without attempts to mitigate the impact of the escalating fees. Lack of committee support could leave the proposed rate increase at zero, impacting rates in future y
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In reviewing three candidates for the police reserve list, to fill current vacancies in the Somerville Police Department, a City Council committee voted against confirming the first name on the list.
On Feb. 2, all five councilors on the Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters committee voted against appointing Matthew Fairchild to the police reserve list. The other two candidates, Giovanna Lorenzet Marin and Jose DaCosta, were approved in a 3-2 vote.
While police reserve list appointments have been a simple process in the past, the meeting played out like a slow motion drama.
The committee began by interviewing candidates in open session, before breaking for executive session to address protected personnel matters.
The Somerville City Council has questions about the police hiring process.
At a January meeting, councilors on the Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters committee discussed the process behind why these nine candidates are being recommended for the police reserve list to fill vacancies at the Somerville Police Department.
Though these appointments were sent to the council in March 2020, the pandemic and ongoing conversations about police reform have delayed their discussion until now.
Questioning the hiring process
On Dec. 4, 2019, Somerville reported 10 Police Department vacancies, and the state provided the first 55 names on the Civil Service list. Candidates had a week to sign or withdraw, and the city received 34 signatures. Per the civil service process, the city must review two times the number of reported vacancies plus one, or 2N + 1, so the city could begin interviewing the first 21 people to sign the list.
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