Coming to a courtroom near you
City workers suing over safety hazard at the public safety building

By Andrea Gregory

   A lawsuit against the city by several of its workers is moving closer to a courtroom. In the past two weeks, the city has responded to a lawsuit backed by nearly 60 of its workers and a discovery motion to investigate possible health risks to employees at 220 Washington St., the public safety building.
   Last week the city denied the motion to allow testing on the public safety building.

    According to Sgt. John Aufiero, one of the city workers suing the city, the plaintiffs planned to pick up the costs for the testing. It would not have cost the city anything if it had allowed the testing, he said.
    The week before, the city filed its response to the lawsuit brought by several city workers from five different unions. Following the city‚Äôs response to the original suit filed on Aug. 2, Stephen D‚ÄôAngelo, attorney for the plaintiffs, sent a discovery motion to gain access to the building for testing.
    This week, D‚ÄôAngelo‚Äôs law office requested a hearing in Superior Court, hoping to overrule the city‚Äôs call to halt further investigation of the building.
    ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs hard to believe that in the 21st century that people are dealing with this situation,‚Äù said D‚ÄôAngelo. ‚ÄúThis is just outrageous.‚Äù
    Over the summer, several people who work at public safety center sought legal action as an attempt to get to the bottom of alleged health problems plaguing employees of the building. The suit claims they ‚Äúwere subjected to pro-longed exposures, to chronic damp conditions, and the types of molds that produce toxins as well as other hazardous substances present in their workplace environment at 220 Washington Street, Somerville, MA and have suffered adverse health affects as a result thereof.‚Äù
     The lawsuit specifically targets several past and present city officials including Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, former Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay, acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley, former Police Chief George McLean and former Police Chief Donald Caliguri. Also named as defendants are Governor Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety and the Massachusetts Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
     Aufiero, among the plaintiffs, said he sometimes gets headaches, but knows many of his colleagues at the station have suffered greater problems from cancers to lung infections and other repertory illness. If the building is to blame, the city needs to get those workers out, said Aufiero.
     ‚ÄúIf this was a business doing this to people, there would be an outcry,‚Äù said D‚ÄôAngelo. ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs an incredible number of people who are sick. Why are there 14 dead police that had been working in that building? A basic deaf, dumb and blind person would know there is a problem there.‚Äù
     Mayor Curtatone refused to comment on the situation.
     But Curtatone has talked to the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety (DOS).
     The city‚Äôs reason for denying the motion to inspect and examine the premises is directly linked to 2004 inspections by the DOS.
     ‚ÄúDOS has conducted such testing and continues to test and monitor the building. In fact, DOS has ordered remedial actions which the City of Somerville continues to address. It would be unduly burdensome to require the defendant City of Somerville to endure further testing during the same period it is working on remedial measures being required by DOS as a result of last testing,‚Äù wrote Matthew J. Buckley, assistant city solicitor, responding to the motion to inspect the building filed by D‚ÄôAngelo.
        According to documents, Curtatone sent a letter to the DOS, indicating he did not wish to spend money correcting any problems with the building and that the building would be vacated as soon as possible.
       ‚ÄúIn our meeting on Wednesday, March 30, 2005, you indicated that your plan was to relocate personnel to a temporary facility by the end of this fiscal year. While DOS accepts the City‚Äôs assertion that it does not wish to spend money on a building that is ultimately going to be vacated, in order to ensure the safety of the employees in the building, we need to be assured that the building is considered to be structurally sound in the meantime. We discussed the need for this assurance in our meeting and you indicated that you would have an engineer or building inspector put this assurance in writing,‚Äù wrote Robert Kenrick, DOS program manager in a letter to the mayor dated April 28.
        Kenrick‚Äôs letter also requested the city hand over a timeline for relocating employees to a temporary facility.
        Kenrick said he could not respond to the current situation or correspondence between his department and the city due to a policy that prevents him from talking about matters in litigation.  He would not say if or how the city responded to his April letter.
        DOS Commissioner Robert J. Prezioso offered a vague statement about recent interactions.
       ‚ÄúWe are continuing to work with the city to evade the hazards identified,‚Äù he said.
        He refused to confirm or deny if the city had sent in a signed statement from an engineer or building inspector or a timeline to vacate the building as requested. ‚ÄúWe are still working with the city,‚Äù said Prezioso.