East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting – September 13, 2006
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 by Chairman Sherman. Commissioners Devanney, Barton, Sinsigsallo and Simmons was present along with Chief DeMarco
ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to add the following items:
Under New Business
b) Medical Leave
c) Budget Realignment
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting - August 9, 2006
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of August 9, 2006 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Barton - Aye
Devanney - Aye
Simmons -Aye
Sinisgallo - Abstained due to absence from meeting
BUDGET AND EXPENDITURES
A) Police Department - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo , seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Department monthly billing dated September 8, 2006 in the amount if $15534.78 for the fiscal year 2006/2007
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
B) Police Department Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Department Financial Statement dated September 1, 2006 for the fiscal year 2006/2007.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
There was additional discussion regarding the variable overtime and the method by which the Board of Finance is handling the disbursement of this money. The representative from the Board of Finance, Dale Nelson, was once again asked about a letter from the Board outlining their procedures and the necessity of the Police Commissioners attending the Board of Finance meetings. Ms. Nelson replied that due to the fact that there had been no meeting during the summer she could not answer the questions, but that the Board of Finance would be meeting next week.
C) Police Commission - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the East Windsor Police Commission Monthly Billing for the fiscal year 2006/2007 dated August 31, 2006 in the amount of $232.92
Sinisgallo/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 2006/2007 dated August 31, 2006 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
E) Animal Control Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Monthly Billing for the fiscal year 2006/2007 dated September 8, 2006 in the amount of $343.98
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
F) Animal Control - Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Financial Statement for the fiscal year 2006/2007 dated September 1, 2006 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
The legal billing from Penny, Boticello, O’Brien and Higgins P.C. for the month of August,
2006 was reviewed by all commissioners present. No action necessary as this is informational only.
PUBLIC INPUT
Dale Nelson asked if the Town of East Windsor had been approached with regards to a regional dog pound. The response to this question was that this idea (regional dog pound) had been around for a long time and to the best of anyone’s knowledge East Windsor has not been contacted.
Ms. Nelson, as a representative of the Board of Finance, also spoke to the fact that the financial statement for the preceding month for the Police Department would not be well received by the general public due to the amount that has been expended out of the variable overtime line. Ms. Nelson went on to say that although most of the money expended in the over-time line would be recouped, it was not a good practice to continually take money out of the training line to cover these additional expenses. She also expressed the opinion that it would be advisable for the Chairman of the Police Commission and the Chief of Police to attend the next Board of Finance meeting to explain why the variable over-time line is so high, that it is not due to poor management but due
to the fact that there are not enough of officers to fill the shift minimum and also the fact that we are coming out of the heavy vacation season.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A) Police Station Renovations update
The evidence room is complete and the movement of the property/evidence/computer is commencing. There are a few items left to be done but all work is moving at a slow bur steady pace.
B) Alarm Reduction Ordinance
Nothing new to report. There have been several incidents in the past couple of weeks involving a false fire alarm at the high school. It was a suggestion of the members of the board that the Chief write a letter to the Board of Education advising them of the ordinance and also if this particular alarm is not repaired in a timely manner that the Board of Education should pay the customary fine.
C) Ordinance - Spay/Neuter of Cats Update
The memo received by the Chief from the ACO outlining what is done in surrounding towns with regard to roaming cats and the cost to the Town of East Windsor so far was reviewed by all commission members present. It was a consensus of the commissioners present that the current climate and statistics do not warrant such an ordinance.
TRAFFIC AUTHORITY
The Chief reported that he has had no response in either Rockville Road or South Water Street.
PUBLIC INPUT #2 (Comments only - no discussion)
Marie DeSousa brought up the regionalization of a dog pound and was informed that the subject had already been discussed in the beginning of the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
A) Ratification of Retirement Agreement for Bernie Duffy
There was a lengthy discussion among the commissioners present regarding this ratification. Commissioner Barton basically spoke for all the commissioners when he stated that he was displeased with the lack of consultation with the Police Commission during the development phase of the final retirement agreement between the Town of East Windsor and Bernie Duffy.
Commissioner Barton also said that he was not inclined to ratify the retirement agreement due to the possible liability claim(s) which could be made against the Town of East Windsor during the period of time when Capt. Duffy is on inactive status.
Although Commissioner Barton disagreed with the retirement agreement, he made the following motion:
MOTION: To ratify the retirement agreement between the Town of East Windsor and Bernie Duffy.
There was no second to this motion, so not further action was necessary.
B) Medical Leave
Off. Deb Mendola needs to take a medical leave due to impending surgery. As she is new and does not have enough of time on the books to cover the amount of time needed to recover from her surgery, Detective Carl and Officer Chant have offered to give Officer Mendola a total of 13 days of their accrued sick leave (5 days from Detective Carl and 8 days from Officer Chant) to cover her anticipated loss of work, as is covered by the ratified union contract.
A motion was made by Commissioner Barton, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to approve the donation of sick time from Detective Carl and Officer Chant to Officer Mendola.
Barton/Simmons Unanimous
C) Budget Realignment
The meeting was turned over to Chief DeMarco who explained why he was requesting a budget realignment. The main reason for the request is due to the fact that the Police Department is currently down 5 officers to cover the shift minimum(s) - the 3 lateral transfers will not be considered as part of the shift minimum for a while yet and that still leaves 2 opening and a possible 3 more opening due to pending retirements of three (3) officers.
After additional discussion between Chief DeMarco and the commissioners present the following is what Chief DeMarco proposes:
Transfer $39,125 from Line 125 and disperse in the following lines:
Place $35,042 from Line 125 into Line 103 (Variable OT)
Place $4,083 from Line 125 into Line 800 (Other); and
Make $26,356 available again that was originally in Line 103 Variable OT
A motion was made by Commissioner Devanney, seconded by Commissioner Sinsigallo to bring to the Board of Finance his proposal for the budget realignment and to make the $26,356 available again.
Devanney/Sinisgallo Unanimous
EXECUTIVE SESSION
There was no Executive Session
COMMUNICATIONS
There were no additional communications.
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
The only addition to the Monthly Report was that there had been a report of a possible meth lab in one of the storage facilities on Rt. 5. Proper procedure was followed in the investigation of this possible lab and the Chief was pleased to report that it was not a meth lab
B) Commission Members
There was nothing to report from the commission members
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to adjourn the regular meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission at 8:17 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
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