Union leaders quit

By Andrea Gregory

      The Patrolmen’s Union president and vice president both resigned Friday at midnight.
James Hyde, president, and Gerald Reardon, vice president, decided to leave their posts as union leaders. Currently, the jobs remain unfilled. Rico Isidoro and Dominic Pefine are still holding their union-leadership positions of secretary and treasure.
     Union members are expected to vote amongst themselves to elect new leadership for the vacancies that popped up at the end of last week.
     The Patrolmen’s Union and the Superior Officers’ Union contracts expired last June. New contract negotiations for police are still at the beginning stages, according to Mark Horan, spokesman for Mayor Joseph A. Cutatone.
     “The mayor certainly doesn’t have any comment on whether it was expected because it is union business,” said Mark Horan. “He looks forward to working with whoever the new leadership team is on reorganization negotiations and contract negations.”
      A plan to change the way Somerville polices the city was released last month. The reorganization would create two sub-police stations, take the chief’s job out of civil service, hire civilians for jobs that do not require police training and cost the city about $200,000 more per year, among other things.