Committee pauses Housing Authority police reappointments pending legal review of oversight and indemnification

The Somerville City Council Committee on Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters left three Somerville Housing Authority police reappointments and one appointment in committee for further legal review after extended questions about oversight, indemnification and access to disciplinary records. Committee members said they will consult the city solicitor before taking any confirmation votes.

Why it matters: The discussion addressed who carries liability for housing police officers’ actions, what oversight the city can exercise over officers who are not city employees and whether the committee’s confirmation has legal effect. The items involve public safety responsibilities, use-of-force and disciplinary procedures in housing-managed properties across the city.

Councilors, city staff and former Somerville Police Chief (now a public safety consultant to Somerville Housing Authority) debated how housing authority officers are appointed, what training and certification they hold, and where complaint and discipline records reside. Kimberly Hutter of the mayor’s intergovernmental affairs office told the committee the administration sought to place these reappointments on the public record in Legistar after inconsistent past practice; the mayor’s office and the housing authority worked with the law department to update application and indemnification procedures.

Chief Benford of the Somerville Police Department explained the indemnification arrangement described to the committee: the Somerville Housing Authority carries liability insurance for officers so that, if an officer is the subject of civil litigation, legal defense and liability are to be handled by the housing authority rather than the city. Chief Benford summarized that indemnification “spells out that they are not employees of the city of Somerville” and that insurance and the housing authority’s legal processes would respond to claims.

Former Chief Femino, appearing as a public safety consultant for the housing authority, told the committee that the housing authority officers who appear before the committee are post-certified and that the housing authority mirrored the city’s memorandum on participation with federal immigration enforcement; “The short answer is yes,” Femino said when asked whether the housing officers would follow the city’s welcoming/ICE policy.

Committee members pressed for clarity on several points: whether officers are civil-service employees (they are not), whether special police appointments give officers city police powers and under what circumstances, which body conducts discipline investigations (the housing authority’s executive director currently handles initial review with possible forwarding to Somerville Police for review), and what records the committee may review in executive session. Councilor McLaughlin and others said they want access to personnel and complaint records before acting. Chief Benford said that moving forward the reappointment process will include updated criminal-background checks, driving-history checks, post certification verification, and documentation of any discipline.

Practical details disclosed at the meeting: the officers presented or discussed were Officer Sean Brown (reappointment), Bill Raimo/Alfred William Raimo III (appointment), and an absent Officer DeBettencourt (traveling for a family medical matter). The committee agreed to leave items 8, 9 and 10 in committee until members consult the city solicitor and until records and procedures have been clarified; the items were not voted on at this meeting.

Next steps: committee members asked city staff to consult the city solicitor and to provide documentation of the indemnification agreement, the housing authority’s liability insurance, the onboarding and reappointment checklist (including post certification and training records) and any available disciplinary-history summaries before the next committee meeting. Several councilors said they would like the committee to be able to review those records in advance, possibly in executive session if legally appropriate.

No confirmation votes were taken on the housing authority items at this meeting; the committee placed the items in committee and will revisit them after the solicitor’s guidance and the requested documentation are provided.