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Public speakers and council demand answers after abrupt layoffs of commission staff
Summary
Public commenters and councilors criticized sudden layoffs of seven commission staff — including the Women's Commission — and the council adopted a late policy order asking the city manager for a written explanation of the process, timing and transition plans.
Public comment at the Nov. 20 Cambridge City Council meeting centered on sudden layoffs affecting multiple volunteer commissions, prompting councilors to press the city manager for written answers and to adopt a late policy order. Residents, former commission directors and commissioners described the dismissals as abrupt, harmful and inconsistent with the city’s ordinances.
The most immediate criticism came from Nancy Ryan, a long-serving former director of the Women’s Commission, who said the city manager “decided to, quote unquote, restructure several of the commissions” on Nov. 20 and that staff were told with no warning. Ryan said the city’s ordinance requires the manager to consult the commission before changing an executive-director position and asserted that the manager did not follow that process.
Why it matters: speakers said the…
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