The battling branches of government in New Bedford are officially heading to court.
New Bedford City Council has filed its lawsuit against Mayor Jon Mitchell in Bristol County Superior Court, seeking a declaratory judgment that says the mayor must seek official council approval for his appointment of Jason Thody as police chief.
Council President Shane Burgo says the city’s charter is clear: “all heads of departments … shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to confirmation by the city council.” Burgo said, “The only argument [the mayor’s office] would have is if they’re saying the police chief is not the department head.”
The mayor, in a Monday press release, said that the city’s code does not specifically dictate how the mayor needs to notify the council, so nothing is preventing the local legislators from taking up a vote to approve Thody. Mitchell characterized the lawsuit as “wasting taxpayer resources.”
“The Council points to no provision in the Code that prevents it from casting this vote. The Code does not prescribe any particular method for the Mayor to notify the Council of an appointment, which in Chief Thody’s case was done verbally and in writing,” the release read.
The notification “in writing” that Mitchell’s press release referred to is an Aug. 25 letter that argued he did not have to submit Thody for approval.
Burgo said that this letter does not constitute a communication to the Council seeking an appointment. “All he has to do is follow the same process he does with other heads of departments.”
Burgo continued, “It’s really frustrating to me that the mayor continues to go out of his way to avoid transparency and mislead the public about the proper process for mayoral appointments. He has a strong candidate … all he has to do is submit the appointment.”
Mitchell, however, has argued since Thody’s hiring in June that nothing is stopping the council from voting to approve Thody. “If the Council truly believes that the appointment is subject to confirmation, one might ask, why has it not held a confirmation vote? Regardless of this lawsuit, my focus will continue to be on supporting the work of the police department to maintain public safety,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Yet Burgo argued that the process for council approval actually protects Mitchell’s powers. If the council didn’t need communication from Mitchell at all, Burgo asked, “Why couldn’t [the council] call a hearing to approve someone else?”
“It’s foolish for him to say it or anyone to even consider it as an option,” Burgo said.
The fight boils down to the powers of the branches of government. The third branch, the judiciary, will weigh in to decide on this case, when it appears in Bristol County Superior Court, likely within a few months.
Mitchell appointed former Police Chief Paul Oliveira to the position in 2021 without seeking council approval.
In 2011, the council unanimously confirmed then-Police Chief David Provencher. Then-Mayor Scott Lang said previous chiefs had not gone before council for confirmation, but that he’d sent Provencher’s appointment to the council “out of respect.”
Thody, the former police chief in Hartford, Conn., has been acting as police chief since July 14. He was hired in late June after a monthslong process conducted in relative secrecy and shaped by outside consulting firms 21st Century Policing Solutions and Jensen Hughes. Thody was one of 21 applicants for the New Bedford job. The Light has requested public records from the city on Thody’s application and appointment; most of that request is still pending.
Thody’s challenges include reforming the department in light of a critical evaluation of its internal affairs and narcotics divisions, issued by 21st Century Policing Solutions in late August. Several of its criticisms overlap with those in a 2023 report by Jensen Hughes. Thody said the new report will provide a “useful roadmap for continuous improvement.”
Anastasia Lennon contributed reporting to this story.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
I cannot stress this enough – who cares?
I don’t care. My neighbors don’t care. I haven’t met a single person who cares. But a City Council that is under massive public scrutiny to do the bare minimum seems to care a lot. I am not sure how this scores any political points for anyone or holds the Mayor accountable for failed leadership – but sure!
Meanwhile, there is a homeless encampment at the end of my street, there’s trash running in the gutters, and Ashley Park might as well never have been renovated based on its new role of landfill. And that’s just our little half mile of the city.
We have enough national political theater. I’m bored of it at home. Get to work.
The City Council (most of them, not all of them) are the problem and a major problem preventing progress in the city.
This council’s constant feud with the mayor is the stuff of bad fiction. Instead of dealing with the critical and immediate challenges facing the city and working together with the mayor’s office to address them they seem more concerned with petty grievances.
The New Bedford city council appears to be angry because they don’t have any control over this issue, and many others that the mayor does, and it’s as bad as Democrats in DC stomping their feet and crying about everything President Trump, and Republicans in the House, and Senate, it’s sickening, and it does nothing productive for the tax payers who pay their salaries.
In an article published here in The New Bedford Light on June 20, 2025, the following paragraph clearly states,
“Thody’s appointment does not require City Council approval, but the council can vote to endorse him.”
Two council members served on the search committee: Shawn Oliver, also a corrections officer; and Brian Gomes, a longtime supporter of the police department and chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee.
Another former New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang confirms Mayor Jon Mitchell’s position in the following statement,
“Scott Lang, the former mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, stated that previous police chiefs were not confirmed by the city council, and his decision to send the 2011 appointment of Police Chief David Provencher to the council was done “out of respect”
Hopefully someone is researching voter petition options to address the over-the-top salaries these councilors are receiving for what seems like a very part-time job spent solely engaging in a constant playground squabble instead of a full court press to get the city out of its present rut. Fighting with the mayor isn’t going to clean up downtown or help the homeless or convey to businesses that New Bedford is a good place to invest.
This. To be fair, it’s all they’ve ever done and all they’ve ever known. Actually fixing the city’s many problems would require hard conversations and even harder solutions. I’m hopeful for new candidates to shake things loose!
The city of New Bedford is a STATE PLAN B CHARTER, and in a PLAN B CHARTER THE HIRING OF A CHIEF OF POLICE IS DIVIDED. THRMAYOR MAKES THE APPOINTMENT AND CITY COUNCIL MUST APPROVE…THAT IS HOW THIS MAYOR SHOULD HAVE PROCEEDED . BUT HE DIDN’T. NOW HE HAS COST THE TAXPAYERS MONEY, WITH A VERY NECESSARY LAWSUIT.
Where’s my comment?
While the City Council focuses on their battle with the Mayor many issues go unanswered.
Just in 2025 the Council has failed to act on, or mishandled, didn’t even try to resolve, or kicked the canned down the road on so many issues.
Approving Budget after Budget / Raising City Taxes.
Ongoing Pension Issues / no action. / kicking the can.
Rising Health Care Costs / no action. / kicking the can.
School Department growth that has put the city budget in crisis.
Letting the Mayor amass close to 100 City Owned Buildings.
The Recall Petition stuck in committee / no action.
Longevity Pay./ no action.
Pot Holes, Pot Holes, Pot Holes. / Roads are Bad.
Accidentally Eliminating Single Family Zoning / Not doing their jobs.
Deceased School Employees still receiving benefits / no answers.
Parking, of RV’s Campers, and Trailers on our crowded city streets stuck in committee / no action.
Drinking, Loud Music, and Littering on City Beaches / no action.
Littering in our Parks and all over our city / no action.
Crime across our city (Multiple Shootings and Drugs in our Neighborhoods) / continues.
Homeless sleeping in city parks and public areas in the city / no action..
Noise (Loud Music / Loud Exhaust) throughout our city. / no action.
Scooters, ATV’s, Four Wheelers, and Motorcycles. Terrorizing our city. / no action.
The Sewerage Treatment Plant Issues Extensive Odors & Overflows into local waters / no action.
Parallel Products – go to the City Hall website and look at the initial City Agreement that started this whole mess and read the comments from the Councilors praising the agreement. https://www.newbedford-ma.gov/blog/news/parallel-products-drops-biosolids-project-in-agreement-with-city/
It’s time to save our city, please get out and vote, our city needs new leadership on the City Council.