By Adam Swift
City Council President Patrick Keefe said he thinks the city should consider hiring a human resources professional specifically for Revere’s public safety professionals.
Keefe made the motion at last week’s council meeting, and it was forwarded to a future meeting of its ways and means subcommittee for further discussion.
“This day and age, any department that has … a few hundred employees, I think a standard practice would be to have a human resources professional,†said Keefe. “That doesn’t always mean someone from within the ranks, certainly there are things like internal affairs that should be, but I think having someone with some outside experience with benefits (would be helpful).â€
Keefe said the HR professional for public safety would be about more than a person that employees of those departments could go to with complaints.
“Sometimes, it is the place to help employees, there could be employee assistance programs, that certainly the city of Revere offers, and I think that expanding that and having some sort of a role that focuses primarily on public safety departments would be very helpful.â€
Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto said he didn’t question the reason the idea was brought forward, but said it likely deserved some more discussion in subcommittee.
Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino asked Keefe if he had a salary in mind for the position.
Keefe said the position would not necessarily be a manager’s position, but would operate under the existing structure of the city’s human resources department. Items such as salary and where the position would fall under the current city structure could be discussed further in the ways and means subcommittee meeting.
