East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting - October 12, 2005
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
The meeting was called to order at 7:00p.m. by Chairman Sherman. Commissioners Devanney, Barton, Simmons and Sinsigallo were present along with Chief DeMarco.
ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
A motion was made by Commissioner Devanney, seconded by Commissioner Barton to add the following item to the agenda:
Under Unfinished Business
d) Administrative Sergeant Position
Devanney/Barton Unanimous
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting -September 14, 2005
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of September 14, 2005 with the following corrections:
Under Communications:
There was a discussion among the Commissioners present and the Chief regarding his decision to appoint a temporary Administrative Sergeant (in lieu of the Lieutenant’s position) to perform administrative tasks and special assignments. Commissioner Barton feels that this is unnecessary as there are already 6 patrol sergeants and this work could be performed either by them as part of their daily work load or by the Captain. The Chief offered to present an organizational chart to the Commissioners at the October meeting to further explain the proposed position, the reasons behind the proposition, and the benefits that would be derived from this position.
Change to:
There was a discussion among the Commissioners present and the Chief regarding his decision to appoint a temporary Administrative Sergeant (in lieu of the Lieutenant’s position) to perform administrative tasks and special assignments. Commissioner Barton feels that this is unnecessary as there are already 6 patrol sergeants and this work could be performed either by them as part of their daily work load or by the Captain. The Chief offered to present an organizational chart to the Commissioners at the October meeting to further explain the proposed position, the reasons behind the proposition, and the benefits that would be derived from this position. Commissioner Barton also stated that any new position should be brought before the Police Commission for approval. Commissioner Devanney
stated that the Commission requested that the Chief present his responses to the board before implementing the new position.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
BUDGET AND EXPENDITURES
A) Police Department - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Department monthly billing dated October 7, 2005 in the amount of $8075.50 for the fiscal year 2005/2006.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
B) Police Department Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Department Financial Statement dated October 7, 2005 for the fiscal year 2005/2006.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
C) Police Commission - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Commission Monthly Billing for the fiscal year 2005/2006 dated September 30, 2005 in the amount of $204.39
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
D) Police Commission Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Commission Financial Statement for the fiscal year 2005/2006 dated September 30, 2005 as presented.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
E) Animal Control Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Monthly Billing for the fiscal year 2005/2006 dated October 7, 2005 in the amount of $96.10.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
F) Animal Control - Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Financial Statement for the fiscal year 2005/2006 dated October 7, 2005 as presented.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
There was no Legal Billing this month.
PUBLIC INPUT
There was no Public Input
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A) Police Station Renovations update
The renovations are moving along and the next phase of painting and touching up has been started as well as the renovations being started in the back of the building. When any additional information is forthcoming it will be brought to the attention of the commissioners
B) Alarm Reduction Ordinance
As of this date, over 60 registration forms have been picked up. There are approximately 4 to 5 requests for the registration forms per day. The alarm registrations are moving along and another ad will be run in the paper in the near future.
C) Cross-Walks - Broad Brook School
Joe Ouelette, who is an engineer with the Department of Transportation, spoke
to the Commissioners present regarding the cross-walks at the Broad Brook School. He
stated that he felt that these cross-walks were an accident waiting to happen due to
the congestion of motorists and pedestrians in the morning and the afternoon, that the
signage at the school was not proper and could not be enforced, and that there is no
speed limit sign at the intersection of Main Street and Rye Street. Mr. Ouelette also
offered to confer with the Town Engineer and the Chief regarding the proper signage
for the cross-walks. A letter will be sent to the Town Engineer notifying him of Mr.
Ouelette’s offer.
The Police Department is also working with the staff of the Broad Brook school
to work out a viable solution to the traffic congestion problem such as parking in back
of the school or in the church parking lot across the street, etc.
When any additional information is forthcoming it will be brought to the
attention of the Commission.
D) Administrative Sergeant Position
Commissioner Devanney stated that she had strong concerns that the decision to appoint an Administrative Sergeant was made and implemented before being brought to the Commission.
Commissioner Barton stated that he had two areas of concern:
1) The appropriateness of instituting a new position without commission approval
2) Merit of the proposed position.
Commissioner Barton: In my view this is a large change, establishment of a new position and implementation of same without the approval of the Police Commission. Any new positions that have been done in the past have been done with the approval of the Police Commission. This never should have been done without first going through the process of deliberation and approval.
Chairman Sherman: In 1988 there was an administrative position established in accordance with the Police Commission Policy and Procedures Manual.
The Chief responded to these statements by saying that he firmly believed that the establishment of an administrative sergeant was in accordance with the internal operations of the Police Department and as such in his capacity as Chief did not need the approval of the Police Commission as this was a special position.
The Chief went on to say that this was a special position (to be reviewed every quarter) which serves a specific need by relieving the patrol sergeants of some of the administrative duties and freeing them to do the job assigned to them. The Chief went on to say that this change was within the internal structure of the Police Department, not a new hire, and that it encompassed all administrative work done taking the burden off of the patrol sergeants. By establishing this special position the administrative work is being done in a timely manner thus alleviating the necessity for over-time expenditures.
There was additional discussion on this subject in which Commissioner Barton stated that the commission had fought for years for the number of patrol sergeants to be increased from 5 to 6 and moving one of these sergeants to administrative work was putting a burden on the remaining patrol sergeants and negating the reasons for the increase in patrol sergeants. He also stated that he did not understand the Chief’s reasons for not bringing this to the Police Commission in the first place.
Commissioner Devanney stated that even though this was a “special” position, it should have been brought to the attention of the commission first for their input and discussion.
The Chief responded to this by stating that he felt that this “position” was an operational move within the department and as such it did not need the approval of the police commission. He went on to further state that this was a 2 months position to be reviewed every quarter (as stated earlier) and that if it does not work out can be rescinded.
There was additional discussion as to the merits of this “new position” and the reasons why the Chief did not bring it to the Police Commission first with the final result being that the Chief agreed that any future changes or staff allocations will be brought to the Police Commission for their input, discussion and approval.
TRAFFIC AUTHORITY
05-0001 - Margaret Drive - request for speed limit sign
The speed limit sign is up and this is now closed.
05-0003 - Depot Street - Speeding Complaint
Still working on this problem - nothing new to report. When any additional information is forthcoming it will be brought to the attention of the commission.
05-0005 - Niederwerfer Road
There has been no response to our letters, and as such, there is nothing new to report
PUBLIC INPUT #2 (Comments only - no discussion)
There was no additional public input.
NEW BUSINESS
A) Request from Town Clerk - electronic mailing of agendas and minutes
This request was discussed among the commissioners present and approved.
B) Capitol Improvement Request(s) - Police Department
The Chief presented his Capitol Improvement Request for the fiscal year 2006/2007 to the Police Commission. The Chief has put in a request for 4 new replacement cruisers .
There was discussion among the commissioners present regarding this request and Commissioner Barton stated that he felt that due to the economic climate, the request for 4 new cruisers was not a realistic one.
The Chief responded to the discussion by stating that although it was necessary to purchase 4 new cruisers to replace the older, high mileage ones; due to the financial constraints at this time he would drop his request to two (2) cruisers for fiscal year 2006/2007 at a cost of approximately $80,000. For fiscal year 07/08 the request will be for three vehicles, 08/09 - two vehicles, 09/10 - three vehicles, 10/11 - two vehicles.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Executive Session scheduled for this meeting has been postponed per the request of both attorneys and the parties involved. The Hearing will be on November 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall Annex.
COMMUNICATIONS
There has been a request forwarded to the Board of Selectman and the Board of Finance to be placed on their agendas for the October 18th (Board of Selectman) and October 19th (Board of Finance) meetings respectively in Executive Session for the purpose of discussing pending legal expenditures.
In addition, the Chief will be on vacation from October 18th through October 21st and the Captain will be in command during his absence.
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
None
B) Commission Members
The presentation by the canine officer at Big Y was a huge success and not only did the Canine Program receive a donations from Big Y and Milk Bones, and also from private citizens.
Also, as a matter of policy - at the November meeting of the Police Commission according to our by-laws - there will be an election for Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary of the Police Commission. This election is held every two years in the odd numbered years.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to adjourn the regular meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission at 8:22 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
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