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Nantucket dispatchers air grievances at Select Board meeting; former supervisor says he was fired after speaking to board
Summary
During public comment the same evening, several 911 dispatchers alleged exclusion from trainings and a ‘hostile work environment’; former assistant supervisor Patrick Considine said he was fired within 24 hours of speaking at an April 29 meeting and that the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has opened a formal investigation.
Multiple current and former members of the Nantucket Police Department’s 911 communications unit used the Select Board public-comment period on May 13 to describe long-running workplace disputes and training and staffing concerns.
Chris Tolman, who identified himself as an essential 911 dispatcher, told the board he and fellow dispatchers were not given promised training slots and that community-service-officer training provided by the department did not meet state flagger certification requirements in 2025. "Every single CSo was suited up and ready for the training," Tolman said, while dispatchers were excluded; he warned the practice put pedestrians and motorists at risk.
Chris Reynolds, who said he has 18 years as a dispatcher, described a demoralized staff and said he sought legal counsel before speaking publicly. He said the communications center has lost four dispatchers under Chief Jodie Casper’s leadership and that the department is understaffed compared with an independent evaluation that recommended 12 full-time employees. "An understaffed, underappreciated 911 center is a recipe for disaster," Reynolds said.
Patrick Considine, who identified himself as the former 911 communications assistant supervisor, said he was fired less than 24 hours after he spoke to the board on April 29. "I was wrongfully terminated," Considine said; he said his union counsel and a filing with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) would pursue the matter. Considine raised specific procedural questions he said remain unanswered — including how his notarized statement from a long-tenured witness was handled and whether an investigator continued questioning a dispatcher after that employee invoked union counsel.
Town counsel and the board did not resolve the personnel allegations in the public meeting. The Select Board listened and noted limits on what the town could disclose about ongoing personnel matters; staff provided a statement from Chief Casper reiterating a commitment to professionalism and saying further details could not be shared at this time. The board’s role in these comments is as a public forum; formal investigations and grievance procedures lie with town HR, the police department’s internal processes, the union, and state authorities.
What’s next: Considine said he will appear before the select board with union counsel and that MCAD has started a formal inquiry. The Select Board did not take administrative action in public session but acknowledged limits on comment while investigations and grievance processes proceed.
