The Braintree Town Council discussed a proposed compensatory‑time and vacation‑carryover policy for town‑council staff and voted to table the proposal while the mayor’s office seeks a legal opinion from KP Law.

Council President said he intends to approve compensatory time for employees under the council’s purview and asked that the policy remain on the table while the mayor and KP Law review its potential impacts. “As the president of the town council, I'm gonna approve it, work in comp time,” he said, adding he wants to monitor accruals and give councilors periodic updates to avoid large carryovers.

Councilor Martin, who led the personnel committee review, said the proposal was discussed in four committee meetings with mayoral staff present and that requested mayoral amendments were incorporated. Martin criticized the request for a KP Law opinion as “dilatory” and “a waste of taxpayers' money” while urging the council to act. Other councilors — including Angus, Reynolds, Maglio and Flaherty — argued the policy is practical, protects council employees and should be finalized soon. Several councilors emphasized the charter's separation of powers and said council staff are employees of the council, not the executive branch.

Procedural actions: a motion to take the item off the table passed, then later the council voted to table the item again, with both procedural votes recorded as unanimous in the meeting minutes.

What remains: the council left the substantive policy unresolved and asked for a legal review by KP Law at the mayor’s request. The council president said he will approve compensatory time requests for council staff in the interim and provide periodic reports on accruals and usage.

The council also directed staff to keep the item on the committee agenda for further action after the legal review.