A city councilman wants voters to approve a city charter change that would allow council to make major changes to the police and fire departments — or abolish them altogether. Mathew Davoli has proposed legislation that, if approved on the November ballot, would give council the power to scrap police and fire departments or contract with other agencies to provide those services. The charter now prohibits council from making such changes without first receiving authorization from voters.
Mr. Davoli said he’s not interested in shutting down the departments. Instead, he wants council to pursue a pay-per-service system to augment its full-time, unionized fire department. He also wants council to consider outsourcing emergency medical services.