Council Approves Transfer of Funds for Arbitration Award

The Town Council has approved the transfer of $530,000 from the town’s general stabilization fund to the police personnel to settle an arbitration case of a Winthrop police officer.

The council approved the $530,000 to cover back wages, overtime and detail pay for Officer Ferruccio Romeo. Romeo was terminated from the Winthrop Police Department for submitting a request to be paid for a special detail.

The case went to arbitration and the arbiter ruled that the town lacked just cause to terminate him and ordered his reinstatement with back pay.

“Can you review with us what went wrong here and what steps are you taking to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future,” asked Precinct 3 Councillor Nick LoConte

“We are still in court with this individual,” said Town Manager Austin Faison.

“We are trying very hard to fix our policies in all the right departments,” Faison said. “These are difficult situations to get into and unfortunately the town has gotten into a few of these situations. We’re working to better prepare ourselves for the future.”

No word yet on the status of the officer Nancy Racow gender discrimination case. A Superior Court judge ruled that she be paid over $2 million.