Medford Seeks to Remove Top Militia Posts from Civil Service Apparatus, Granting City Hall Direct Control Over Police Leadership

Medford Seeks to Remove Top Militia Posts from Civil Service Apparatus, Granting City Hall Direct Control Over Police Leadership

Bill H.5380, filed by Representative Paul J. Donato of Medford, would exempt the positions of police chief and deputy police chief in the city of Medford from the Commonwealth’s civil service law — removing those appointments from the merit-based examination and seniority system that currently governs how those posts are filled and how their occupants may be removed.

Under civil service, police leadership positions are subject to standardized testing, ranked eligibility lists, and significant procedural protections against termination. Exemption transfers that authority directly to the mayor and city administration, who would gain discretion to appoint — and dismiss — the chief and deputy chief without navigating the civil service apparatus. The bill carries the formal approval of both the Medford mayor and city council, a prerequisite noted in the petition language and confirmed in the bill’s status designation: Local Approval Received.

The measure was referred to the Joint Committee on Public Service on April 15, 2026, with the Senate concurring the following day. Such local exemption requests are a routine instrument of municipal self-determination in the People’s Republic, employed when a city determines that the Central Personnel Directorate’s standardized processes impede its ability to install preferred leadership at the top of its internal security forces. Medford is not the first municipality to pursue this arrangement, nor will it be the last.