Gamache v. Mayor of North Adams

In 1981 the city of North Adams (city) approved a plan of reorganization under which the police, fire and other city departments were replaced by a department of public safety headed by a commissioner and a deputy *292commissioner; the plan was effective as of July 1, 1981. On May 19, 1981, the mayor of the city notified the plaintiff, who had been a tenured civil service employee in the city’s police department since 1956, that the position of chief of police which he then held was abolished by the plan. The plaintiff, on May 27, 1981, gave notice that he consented to a demotion to captain of…