METHUEN — On his blog yesterday, Mayor William Manzi panned much of the 125-page Civil Service Commission report on fired police Chief Joseph Solomon as a "political diatribe."
In a statement published online at billmanzi.com, Manzi appeared to be preparing counter criticism aimed at Civil Service Commissioner Paul Stein.
In the civil service report, Stein was highly critical of Manzi and the city's handling of the Solomon firing, which Stein blamed in large part on Manzi's "personal ambition and politically biased state-of-mind."
Stein also noted what was described as Manzi's "skill at verbal gymnastics" in the report.
On his blog, Manzi said he will "have additional comment in the coming days" on the report.
"I would like to return the 'compliment' of the Commissioner and say that he has demonstrated great skill at 'verbal gymnastics,'" Manzi wrote.
The mayor did not return a call seeking further comment yesterday. Below is his blog post in its entirety:
"The decision of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission yesterday on the case of Joseph Solomon v. the City of Methuen is a lengthy one and is under review by the legal counsel for the City of Methuen. And while we are disappointed at the civil service finding restoring Joseph Solomon to the position of Chief of Police two important points need to be emphasized.
1) The Commission fully upheld my initial suspension of Mr. Solomon for three days over the misallocation of the COPS Grant, which resulted in a back charge to taxpayers of the City of Methuen of over $20,000.
2) The Commission, on the second and more substantive matter, overturned the City sanction of termination. They found sufficient wrongdoing however to impose a penalty of a one year unpaid suspension on Mr. Solomon. That is a severe penalty, although it is less than we sought. The finding of mismanagement of grant funds by the Methuen Police Department has resulted in a back charge to the taxpayers of the City of Methuen of over $170,000.
I will have additional comment in the coming days on the political diatribe that constituted a large portion of the 125 page opinion issued by Commissioner Stein. I would like to return the 'compliment' of the Commissioner and say that he has demonstrated great skill at 'verbal gymnastics'."
