SALEM — Two unions representing city employees have presented the city council with votes of no confidence in city Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello.

The city council was presented with formal votes of no confidence from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2701, the union which represents the employees of the city’s street, traffic and safety, and parks departments, and some city hall personnel, and from the city’s police union.

AFSCME Local 2701 Secretary and Treasurer Tony Maniscalco said that “after speaking with a few members of city council” he realized that not all of council had been informed of the union’s grievances and that he “would like to inform [them] as well as the members of the community.” Maniscalco said that in “early June” he was made aware that a union member had given his two-weeks’ notice in response to modifications made to the union’s contract, which he alleged were not legal.

“When I looked into the situation I found out it was because our Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello had retyped our contract, so it read that traffic and safety worked under city hall. This changed [the employee’s] hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That was the main change, but there were others involved in that decision,” said Maniscalco. “Not only did this break our contract, but it lost most of the trust we have with city hall. He also broke the law by doing so. Although a grievance was filed and the changes were corrected, it doesn’t change that fact that now we’ve lost a great employee.”

Maniscalco further alleged that the employee did not receive his final paycheck, and that when he investigated the situation two city employees who requested to remain anonymous attested that Cappuzzello had refused to pay the employee.

“Looking into it further two employees…heard from [Cappuzzello] that he wasn’t going to pay him and that if he wanted his money, he could sue him for it. Another law was broken, and another grievance form was filed and presented. It is for this reason I am coming to council for help,” said Maniscalco.

Maniscalco said that AFSCME was “still waiting to hear what the punishment for those two issues will be,” noting that the employee cited Cappuzzello as his sole reason for leaving, and that two union employees who had left previously had said the same.

“With all that being said, I would like to present a vote from Local 2701 of no confidence in our Service Director Joe Cappuzzello. We fear that if he can break the law, withhold pay from an employee, change our mutually agreed upon contract, go behind the mayor’s back, and be the sole reason for employees leaving, he will continue to retaliate upon our union members and do so without repercussion,” said Maniscalco. “We would like council to remove him from office to guarantee we can continue to do our work without having to worry that we will be punished or treated wrongly.”

The vote of no confidence from the police union was presented by Patrolmen Tanor English, who said that one of the department’s shifts was perpetually understaffed, which he said has created issues with overtime at the department whenever an officer attempts to take time off.

“Overtime at the beginning of the year was such a big issue that the safety director, the mayor, and the chief had to see all of us working overtime. That’s the result of us being understaffed. We as a union also voted no confidence in the safety director. It was 14 to two,” said English.

The members of city council invited Maniscalco and English to join them in an executive session for the discussion of personnel matters with no action to follow at the meeting’s conclusion and Cappuzzello said that he had no comment at that time regarding the votes of no confidence.

The city council will meet next at 7 p.m. on Aug. 19.