Last Tuesday, InsideLowell published an email sent by Local 853 to the entire Lowell City Council, pushing back against criticism over budgeted overtime, alleged sick leave abuse and the selection of Dave Keene to second in command at the Fire Department.
This past Tuesday night, an anonymous text was sent to City Councilors just before their weekly meeting. Six Councilors have confirmed to InsideLowell they received the message, while it appears at least two of the Councilors did not see or receive the text. The other three have not yet responded when asked if they received the message in question.
The text from the anonymous individual claiming to be a Lowell Firefighter takes exception to the email sent on December 27th by Lowell Firefighters Local 853. The message claims the original email was sent out by Union President, David Provencher, with “no communication with any of our union’s members.”
In response, Provencher tells InsideLowell: “My official response to the anonymous text received by members of the city council is that myself and this Union do not respond to anonymous messages of which we cannot confirm they were actually made by a member of Local 853.”
The text was also the subject of a recent discussion between City Councilor Dan Rourke and InsideLowell Founder Teddy Panos on the InsideView Live Podcast. (relevant portion begins at the 11:55 mark) Below is the text, published in its entirety;
Hello Councilor.
I am a Lowell Firefighter. I am aware of an email you and the rest of the Council received last week from our Union, Local 853. I want you to know that no other FF I spoke to was even aware that such a letter existed, nevermind be sent to the City Council. I want to be very clear, our Union president sent this correspondence out on his own, with no communication with any of our union’s members. Please know that our leadership told us they will be open and transparent. This has not been the case. While I do agree with some of what was written, the timing and overall message, I believe, was not the overall feeling of the Lowell Fire Department. To include the city council in these matters was misdirected at best. This Lowell City Council has been 100% unified in support of the Lowell Fire Department. In fact, our Union President, Dave Provencher, has stated a special meeting will be called just to deal with the email being produced and sent out. Once again, thank you for your support of the Lowell Fire Department over the duration on the city council.
