Felix D. Arroyo retiring
Felix D. Arroyo has retired as Suffolk register of probate and family court, opening up another one of the low-profile but highpaying countywide elected seats.
Arroyo, 74, was first elected to the position in 2014. He retired last Friday.
“Serving the residents of Boston and Suffolk County has been my life’s work and one of my greatest honors,” Arroyo said in a statement through a spokesman. “However, after over four decades of service, the time has come to spend time with my family and enter my next chapter of life.”
He at various points in his career served in Mayor Ray Flynn’s cabinet, on the school committee and as a Boston city councilor.
As register of probate, Arroyo ran into trouble in 2017, when he was placed on leave for months as the court system probed “serious operational deficiencies” in his office.
That came just a few years after the previous register of probate Patricia Campatelli was accused of, among other things, punching an employee in the face following a Christmas party, according to reports at the time. Arroyo, seven years after losing his seat on the city council, ran against Campatelli and won.
Two of Arroyo’s children also have been in politics — Ricardo Arroyo, a current city councilor, and Felix G. Arroyo, a former city councilor and city health chief.
With a couple of notable exceptions — the DA and sheriff — countywide seats like this in Suffolk County, which encompasses Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, get little attention. The county dissolved its government in the 1990s, though these law-enforcement and court-oriented positions still exist, paid by the state.
Arroyo, when he retired, was making $174,532, according to state payroll records.
A trial court spokeswoman said the chief justice of the county had appointed Vincent Procopio, who worked under Arroyo, as acting register. The governor is able to appoint a permanent register through the next biannual state election, which currently is 2024.
Gov. Maura Healey’s office declined to comment. Her appointment would need to be approved by the governor’s council.
This comes just a few months after Michael Joseph Donovan, who’d served as the Suffolk civil courts clerk magistrate for nearly 50 years, also announced his retirement from a job making the same rate as Arroyo’s.