01-23
Remember last year – when the Methuen City Council was attacking Police Chief Joe Solomon on a daily basis, feeding information to the Boston media claiming the police department was “too top heavy”?
Remember when they cut millions out of the police budget and laid off patrolmen and demoted superior officers because the cops were “making too much money”?
Remember that?
You probably do, because most of you have brain cells that talk to each other. But, apparently members of the Methuen City Council have forgotten all of that – or at least they want you to – as they have now approved adding back a sergeant, a captain, and a lieutenant to the ranks of the Methuen Police.
You see how this works?
When the chief is someone they hate, they tell YOU that the cops are being paid too much, they cut the police budget, enact layoffs, rail against excessive spending, and then – when that chief they hate is gone – they reinstate most of those positions and put money back in the police budget.
But, the city council didn’t just add back superior officers after two years of pounding their fists and calling for layoffs.
On top of that, the Methuen City Council has now created a brand-new superior officer’s position of Deputy Chief.
This newly created Deputy Chief’s position will pay Hagar $221,241 a year. Well, for now. We all know that as the next few years go by that $221K will inevitably grow to $300K and more.
So, Methuen councilors wanted you to believe in 2022 that a police chief is not worth $300K, but in 2023 a brand-new Deputy Chief’s position that never existed before IS worth nearly upwards of $300K.
That’s on top of the other three superior officers’ jobs they just approved.
This is proof positive that the picture city councilors were painting for the public during the Joe Solomon years was dishonest at best. They just wanted Solomon gone at any cost.
And cost it did!
Love him or hate him, this is not about Joe Solomon. It’s about the city council spinning lies and then doing a 100% reversal on those lies the minute they get what they really wanted.
As for me, I’d double the pay of Hagar and every single Methuen cop if I had my way.
I have no problem paying cops that kind of money. These guys run towards the gunshots while the rest of us are running away. I would much rather pay cops that money given how much other people in government are making to shuffle paper around and never actually do anything.
My objection is the hypocrisy!
It’s a slap in the face to the voters.
The problem is, it doesn’t seem like Methuen voters even noticed. ◊