More than four years after he was first placed on administrative leave, Marblehead Police Officer Christopher Gallo’s long-running employment dispute with the Town has finally reached a financial settlement.
The resolution, announced at the Select Board’s Oct. 22 meeting, brings closure to a case that spanned multiple town administrations, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in paid leave, and culminated in arbitration after Gallo’s 2024 termination.
At the Oct. 22 Select Board meeting, Chair Dan Fox summarized the settlement terms reached between the Town and Gallo. Under the agreement, the Town will pay $295,000 to resolve all financial issues stemming from the arbitration award.
The total includes $260,000 in wages, subject to standard deductions and withholdings, and $35,000 in reimbursement for health-insurance costs Gallo paid while on leave. Payments will be made in two installments across consecutive fiscal years: approximately $150,000 within 30 days of execution and the remaining $145,000 by July 31, 2026.
Fox emphasized that the agreement “represents a full and final resolution of all financial matters… without admission of wrongdoing by either party.” He described the outcome as a compromise, intended to avoid additional legal fees or liability and to provide finality to a case that had already consumed substantial public resources.
With the settlement executed, Marblehead has officially closed the books on a disciplinary saga that spanned from 2021-2025, involving multiple extensions, legal challenges, and administrative transitions.
Town officials underscored that the agreement pertains only to the financial aspects of the arbitration and that both parties retain their rights under Massachusetts law. While neither side admitted wrongdoing, the decision signals the end of a costly and contentious chapter for the Marblehead Police Department, and for Gallo, whose career with the Town effectively ends with the settlement.
Gallo was placed on paid administrative leave in June 2021, following allegations of time fraud and a domestic disturbance incident. For more than two years, the case lingered as Town officials and attorneys worked through procedural and technical setbacks, including problems converting audio recordings from the disciplinary hearing.
By August 2023, as The Daily Item reported, both sides had requested multiple extensions to file their final hearing briefs. Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer, who presided over the disciplinary hearing, eventually set a final Sept. 8, 2023 deadline. Kezer said he granted extra time “to ensure the fairest process” for both sides, acknowledging that the missing transcripts created delays.
During that period, Gallo remained on the Town’s payroll, collecting more than $171,000 in salary while on leave.
By February 2024, the process reached a decisive point. As The Daily Item’s follow-up story detailed, the Select Board voted in executive session on Feb. 16, 2024 to terminate Gallo’s employment, following Kezer’s disciplinary recommendation and a lengthy review of hearing materials. Gallo was officially notified of his termination on Feb. 23, 2024.
At that meeting, Kezer confirmed Gallo’s departure, ending what had become one of the department’s most protracted personnel matters. Gallo publicly criticized the proceedings, calling the hearing “more of a formality than anything” and asserting that the Town “could have done that two and a half years ago and saved the taxpayers over a half-million dollars.”
Police Chief Dennis King had advocated for termination during the hearings, citing misconduct related to time fraud and the domestic incident. Gallo’s attorney later filed for arbitration, arguing that the disciplinary process had been biased and mishandled.
The dispute did not end with Gallo’s dismissal. The arbitration process that followed resulted in a ruling reinstating Gallo, which entitled him to back pay and benefits covering the period between his administrative leave in 2021 and his reinstatement in 2025.
