| Date: | 04/16/2026 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Civil Service Commission |
| Docket Number: | I-25-106 |
As part of an ongoing investigation, the Commission issued an interim order restoring permanency to a police lieutenant who has shown that he had no role in the alleged misconduct still under investigation.
On October 23, 2023, the Bridgewater Police Association, MCOP Local 387 (Union), filed a petition with the Civil Service Commission (Commission) asking the Commission to investigate the Bridgewater Police Department (BPD) in “all aspects of administration and implementation of the civil service system on its own initiative or upon request of others, as specified in M.G.L. c. 31, §2(a)”.
Separately, on September 19, 2023, BPD Sergeant Kelly Chuilli (Chuilli) had filed a timely appeal with the Commission contesting the BPD’s decision to bypass her for promotional appointment to BPD Lieutenant. Chuilli was ranked first among those candidates eligible for promotional appointment; Sergeant Frank Zanellato was ranked second; and then-Sergeant John Hennessey was ranked third. The BPD promoted Hennessey, bypassing both Chuilli and Zanellato. Zanellato did not file an appeal with the Commission at the time of the bypass.
As part of her bypass appeal, Chuilli also asserted that the same alleged irregularities in the BPD’s administration of the April 2023 Sole Assessment Center raised in the Union’s petition had also contributed to her unlawful bypass for promotion to BPD Lieutenant.
Following a pre-hearing conference held on October 24, 2023, regarding Chuilli’s bypass appeal, Chuilli was substituted as the petitioner in the Union’s investigation request, with further proceedings in the investigation to be held concurrently with the hearing related to her bypass appeal. After a two-day evidentiary hearing, the Commission, on February 6, 2025, issued its decision in Chuilli’s bypass appeal [Chuilli Decision], concluding that there was no valid basis for the Police Chief to have overruled the rankings of an independent assessment center and an outside review panel, both of which ranked Chuilli first among the candidates eligible for promotion. Rather, the Commission found that the bypass was based on factors wholly unrelated to a merit-based selection process, and occurred shortly after Chuilli refused to go along with an eyebrow-raising proposal by her superior officer, who offered to pay her examination fee if she agreed to sign up for, but not take, a promotional examination, which would have had the end result of shrinking the pool of his potential competitors for Police Captain. The Commission vacated the promotional appointment of Hennessey and ordered a re-do of the process.
On March 6, 2025, the BPD, after notifying the Commission that Chuilli had been promoted to a newly-created lieutenant position, asked the Commission to reconsider the relief ordered in its February 6, 2025 decision (i.e. – the vacating of Hennessey’s promotion and the order to re-do the promotional process.)
On March 14, 2025, the Commission received a bypass appeal from Sergeant Zanellato, the candidate ranked second on the eligible list from which Hennessey, the third-ranked candidate, had been promoted. Two days later, on March 16, 2025, Zanellato filed a separate request for investigation, asking the Commission to investigate “the promotional process of the Bridgewater Police Department from the 2023 assessment center for the position of Captain.”
On April 17, 2025, the Commission, acting primarily on the BPD’s motion for reconsideration in Chuilli’s bypass appeal, modified its remedial orders to provide that the effective date of Lieutenant Chuilli’s promotion would be July 13, 2023; the civil service status of Lt. Hennessey would be converted to a temporary lieutenant appointment effective July 14, 2023; and Hennessey’s promotion would remain temporary pending a further independent investigation by the Commission regarding the overarching allegations related to the alleged “quid pro quo” arrangement between two or more BPD officers, possibly involving Hennessey, to distort the selection process for BPD Captain, with or without the knowledge of the BPD command staff. [Chuilli Reconsideration Decision; Chuilli & Zanellato Investigation Requests]
Accordingly, the Commission initiated this formal independent investigation.
The Commission, established pursuant to G.L. c. 7, § 4I, is an independent, neutral appellate tribunal and investigative entity. Section 2(a) of Chapter 31 grants the Commission broad discretion upon receipt of an alleged violation of the civil service law’s provisions to decide whether and to what extent an investigation might be appropriate. Section 72 of Chapter 31 provides for the Commission to “investigate all or part of the official and labor services, the work, duties and compensation of the persons employed in such services, the number of persons employed in such services and the titles, ratings and methods of promotion in such services.”
The Commission exercises its discretion to investigate only “sparingly,” typically only when there is clear and convincing evidence of systemic violations of Chapter 31 or an entrenched political or personal bias that can be rectified through the Commission’s affirmative remedial intervention.
The Commission’s investigation of the 2023 BPD Captain’s promotional examination process is continuing. The Commission remains quite concerned about evidence of impermissible manipulation of the promotional process in Bridgewater in the past three years. However, based on the information obtained thus far, I have concluded that BPD Lieutenant John Hennessey did not violate any civil service law or rule and, specifically, no individual paid his examination fees. For that reason, I recommend that the Commission’s prior order converting Lieutenant Henessey’s appointment to a temporary promotion pending the outcome of this investigation be vacated forthwith and that Lieutenant Hennessy’s appointment be deemed permanent, effective as of his promotional appointment on July 14, 2023.
This recommendation is based on the Commission’s de novo review of the record in the Chuilli Decision and theChuilli Reconsideration Decision as well as the new information received during the investigation that included (a) interviews with the following individuals, each of whom was accompanied by counsel: Retired Lieutenant Kelly Chuilli, Sergeant George Zanellato, and Lieutenant John Hennessey; and (b) review of the independent investigative report conducted by KP Law into allegations by Kelly Chuilli of discrimination by certain BPD officers received by the Commission from the Town of Bridgewater pursuant to investigative subpoena.
Based on the information received, I make the following findings:
In sum, the Commission’s investigation, although still unfolding along an independent front, now has established that the promotional process that resulted in the promotion of Sergeant Hennessey to BPD Police Lieutenant was not influenced by any misconduct on his part, and that there is insufficient evidence to sustain an allegation, first raised by a now retired BPD superior officer, that Hennessey participated in a “quid pro quo” scheme concocted by other superior officers to select him for the position of BPD Lieutenant in exchange for Hennessey taking his name off the BPD Captain’s list so that the fourth-ranked candidate on the Captain’s list would move into position to be within the so-called 2n+1 formula consideration range (then a prerequisite to being considered for a promotion).
Accordingly, it is recommended that the Commission enter the following interim orders:
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
/s/ Paul M. Stein
Commissioner
On April 16, 2026, the Civil Service Commission (Bowman, Chair; Dooley, Markey, McConney and Stein, Commissioners) voted to accept the recommendation to issue the interim orders set forth above.
Notice to:
Richard Massina, Esq.
Sheila Gallagher, Esq.
Amber Cohen, Esq.
Allison MacLellan, Esq.
