At Tuesday night's meeting, Worcester City Manager Eric Batista will request the City Council’s authorization to file a petition to exempt the positions of police chief and deputy police chief from Civil Service.

In City Manager Batista’s request to the council, he stated he’s committed to enacting meaningful and measurable change to city departments; and he said exempting the police chief and deputy police chief from civil service would be part of that change.

Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier has been leading the Worcester Police Department since being appointed to the role in early September.

In the current system, department promotions can only be made from a pipeline of candidates who have passed Civil Service exams and state law limits the promotional pool only to permanent employees in the next lower title.

Northbridge Police is one local department which elected to exit Civil Service in 2022. Northbridge Police Chief Timothy Labrie took over in 2021 and said dropping the requirement for the whole department was his first mission for major change for his force.

“We had the belief here in Northbridge that it currently was an archaic system," Labrie said. "It wasn't really working well for our small department. Now going to larger departments or other departments that civil service may or may not be working, you know, I think it's up to the department.”

Chief Labrie said the change has worked well for Northbridge PD, mainly helping with recruiting and retaining officers.

However, Labrie disagrees with Worcester’s current proposal, saying either having or dropping Civil Service requirements should be department-wide.

“I will say I don't agree with the town or city that's going to take out one or two top positions and not and leave the rest," Labrie said. "I'm a firm believer either all or nothing. So, that's basically how I feel about Worcester. You know, why should just the chief and deputy chief be taken out if no one else is going to get out? If the department wants to stay in and it's working for them, they should stay in. But if it's not working, why not have everybody get out?”

Labrie said often times, only taking the top two positions out of Civil Service leads to nationwide searches to fill the roles, which he said doesn’t seem to have worked well for other local agencies.

In his statement to the Worcester city council, City Manager Batista said exempting the Chief and Deputy Chief positions will help to select those who are best suited for the roles.

The Worcester Police Union said they will be able to comment on the matter following Tuesday night's meeting.