Malden Ward 8 Councillor Sica proposes hiring freeze, colleagues agree

Mayor’s Office: Hiring ‘pause’ already in place for Malden due to financial woes

By Steve Freker

With Malden facing a turbulent financial future, Ward 8 Councillor Jadeane Sica correctly “read the room” when formulating a formal resolution regarding municipal personnel. At the last Malden City Council meeting, Councillor Sica sponsored a City Council resolution stating it was the City Council’s stance to call for a hiring freeze in the city due to the situation of municipal finances.

In the past six weeks, since Mayor Gary Christenson made a formal request for a $5.4 million Proposition 2 1/2 override — to help staunch a structural deficit of $8.4 million — there have been a slew of meetings and discussions on steps the city could take in reaction to the situation. Councillor Sica’s resolution at the last Council meeting was the first official foray by the City Council into trying to address the major issue.

The text of the resolution was as follows: Resolve: That it is the sense of the Malden City Council that the City of Malden impose an immediate hiring freeze on all new, vacant, or soon-to-be vacant positions across all City of Malden departments, boards, and commissions. No position shall be posted or filled unless expressly approved by vote of the City Council. This hiring freeze shall remain in effect until further order of the City Council.

“It is coming as a resolve because we can’t order the Mayor to implement a hiring freeze,” Councillor Sica said, “but we have to show some sort of responsibility to the residents that we have control over the costs [we are creating] and we can’t ask Malden taxpayers to pay more while we continue to add positions to the payroll without a full financial review.”

Councillor-at-Large Carey McDonald asked if there was already a hiring freeze in place in the city, addressing the question to Special Assistant to the Mayor Maria Luise, who was in the audience at the meeting. “I wouldn’t call it a hiring freeze, but a hiring pause,” said Luise. “We take every open post, evaluate and assess it then decide if it should be filled, restructured or reformatted.”

She said that since it was a resolve and not an “order” then it was not viewed as “adversarial.” The Mayor’s Special Assistant did say it was preferred if the boards and commission appointments were not included in the resolve for efficiency and order considerations.

“I do think it’s meaningful that the Council makes a statement supporting the administration in this hiring pause,” Councillor McDonald said.

Ward 7 Councillor Chris Simonelli, attending the meeting remotely, said he also supported the resolution. “I think that everybody — unless you been living under a rock lately — is concerned about the Prop. 2 1/2 [override request] and where we’re going to be in the next couple of years. I think everybody got a pretty good handle on it and we’re all trying to do the best that we can,” said Councillor Simonelli.

“When the paper was put on the agenda, my first conversation was with our HR [Human Resources] Director and found out there was a [hiring] ‘pause’ going on,” said Ward 4 Councillor Ryan O’Malley. “There was only one position open in the city [as of last week] and it is apparent they are approaching this situation with good balance.”

“Thank you, Councillor Sica, for starting this conversation at the Council level, and I appreciate that our HR Dept. and administration has been working on this behind the scenes,” said Councillor O’Malley, who formally seconded the motion to accept the resolve, and asked to be added as a cosponsor with Councillor Sica, which was forwarded with a motion by Ward 6 Councillor Stephen Winslow.

Councillor Winslow included an amendment, which would sever the reference to boards and commissions. A “friendly amendment” by Councillor McDonald was accepted by Councillor Winslow to add the word “discretionary” before hiring freeze. The two Councillors’ amendments, offered by Councillors Winslow and McDonald and seconded by Councillor O’Malley, read: Resolve: That it is the sense of the Malden City Council that the City of Malden impose an immediate, discretionary hiring freeze on all new, vacant, or soon-to-be vacant positions across all City of Malden departments.

  The resolve was formally motioned by Councillor Sica and seconded by Councillor O’Malley. It passed unanimously, with an 11-0 vote. Voting in favor were Councillors Peg Crowe (Ward 1), Paul Condon (Ward 2), Ryan O’Malley (Ward 4), Ari Taylor (Ward 5), Stephen Winslow (Ward 6), Chris Simonelli (Ward 7), Jadeane Sica (Ward 8), Karen Colón Hayes (At Large), Carey McDonald (At Large), Craig Spadafora (At Large) and Council President Amanda Linehan (Ward 3).