East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting October 11, 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 Traffic Authority
7a) 36 Ellington Road
7b) Margaret Drive
Under New Business
a) Added Appropriation
b) SWAT Team
Under Executive Session
a) Litigation Update
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting - September 13, 2006
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner
Simmons to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of September 13, 2006 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
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 October 4, 2006 in the amount of $8589.33 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 October 6, 2006 for the fiscal year 2006/2007.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
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 September 30, 2006 in the amount of $220.18
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 September 30, 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 October 10, 2006 in the amount of $99.60
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 October 6, 2006 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
There was no Legal Billing this month
PUBLIC INPUT
John Matthews spoke to the commissioners present about the variable overtime expenditures in the current budget. He questioned the commissioners present and the Chief about whether or not an analysis had been done as to what effect hiring an additional person would have on the variable overtime budget. The question was also raised as to whether or not it would be prudent to hire another individual in order to cut down the variable overtime costs.
The response from the commissioners and the Chief was that hiring another individual at this point in time would not be justified and would not cut down on the variable overtime as it takes upwards of 1 ½ years for a new hire to be counted towards the shift minimum. It was also pointed out that the Police Department is currently down 5 officers and that although there have been a couple of lateral transfers these officers will not be counted towards the shift minimum until the end of their probationary period (approximately 90 days).
The positions that are open are for lateral transfers and not new hires - all the money accrued due to the savings in the salaries line will be transferred to the variable overtime line.
The Chief also responded by stating that although the Police Department has to be frugal in these times, they also have to be conscious about public safety and liability.
Commissioner Barton then responded by saying that a computation has been done in the past regarding the necessary number of officers for a shift minimum and for the safety of the public and officers involved there should be 1.8 officers per shift.
Marie DeSousa also spoke at this time regarding the South Windsor Regional Dog Pound and if anything had been done to look into the possibility of joining the regional dog pound. Chairman Sherman responded to Ms. DeSousa by stating that both he and First Selectman Linda Roberts had looked into the matter and that the Regional Dog Pound would be run by the Connecticut Humane Society and that to be part of the Regional Dog Pound would be cost prohibitive to the Town of East Windsor. Ms DeSousa then asked for figures and she was informed that the First Selectman had all the facts and figures regarding this issue in her office.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A) Police Station Renovations update
The carpeting, etc, is currently in the process of being installed. The last major project is to bring the main hallway up to OSHA compliance. Once this is done there will just be minor “housecleaning” chores to be done before the renovations are completed.
B) Alarm Reduction Ordinance
There is nothing new to report except to say that everything is going ok.
TRAFFIC AUTHORITY
A) 36 Ellington Road
This request has been turned over to the Chief for investigation and to report back to the commission at a future date.
B) 15 Margaret Drive
The Chief stated that one complaint from Margaret Drive had been completed in the past. He also stated that he did not have a problem with a “Children at Play” sign being installed on Margaret Drive - he just needed permission from the commission to requisition one from DOT.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to authorize the Chief to requisition a “Children at Play” sign for Margaret Drive from DOT.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
PUBLIC INPUT #2 (Comments only - no discussion)
John Matthews who spoke earlier in the meeting brought up the fact that the current Police Union contract was up as of 2008 and he questioned whether it might be prudent to hire a professional negotiator to work with the Town and the Police Union in negotiating the next contract.
Although this Public Input is supposed to be comments only - no discussion - a discussion did follow between the commissioners, John Matthews and the Chief regarding this matter with the end result being that the Chief stated that the negotiations for the new union contract would take a long time.
NEW BUSINESS
A) Added Appropriations
There was a lengthy discussion regarding the way in which the request for added appropriations is handled. It is the understanding of the members of the Police Commission that requests for added appropriations can be made as many times during the fiscal year as necessary, although the past practice has been to request the money at the end of the fiscal year. There is some confusion as to why the Board of Finance appropriated a certain amount of money from the Police Department budget and moved it into the contingency fund for the Town of East Windsor. It is the understanding that added appropriations can be asked for as many times as is necessary in the course of a fiscal year, but that when the amount asked for reaches $20,000 or
more it needs to go to a Town Meeting. It is also the understanding that when an added appropriation is needed there is a strict chain of command that must be followed; i.e., the Chief requests the added appropriation from the Police Commission, if approved by the Police Commission, the request is then forwarded to the Board of Selectman and if approved by the Board of Selectman, it is forwarded to the Board of Finance for their approval and/or action.
There also appears to be confusion over the recent actions by the Board of Finance in the way that they have withheld appropriated budget monies from the overtime account and have transferred said monies to the Town of East Windsor contingency fund
At this time, Commissioner Sinsigallo said that it felt like the Police Department was being overly scrutinized and that she felt that all Town departments should be scrutinized in the same way.
After additional discussion regarding this subject, a motion was made by Commissioner Sinisgallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons that a letter be written to the Board of Selectman, with a copy to the Board of Finance, requesting that the money withheld from the Police Department budget and moved to the contingency fund be restored to the East Windsor Police Department Budget.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
B) SWAT Team
At this time, Chairman Sherman opened up for discussion the possibility of East Windsor joining CREST/Emergency Services Support Team. This would involve signing a mutual aid agreement with the surrounding towns, and a disbursement of between $10,000 to $12,000 to properly outfit one (1) member from the East Windsor Police Department; and would involve approximately 8 hours of training on a monthly basis (twice a month in 4 hour increments).
Commissioner Barton said that he felt that more information was needed before a decision could be made and that this issue should, in his opinion, be tabled until the 2007/2008 budget discussions.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
A) Litigation Update
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to go into Executive Session at 7:55 p.m. for the purposes of Litigation Update, to include Chief DeMarco.
Sinisgallo/Simmons Unanimous
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Simmons to come out of Executive Session at 8:10 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
No action taken.
COMMUNICATIONS
A request has been received from Noreen Farmer, Secretary to the Board of Finance for all legal interpretation received from our legal counsel regarding the current police contract. The requested information and a responding letter will be forwarded to Ms. Farmer as soon as possible.
Chairman Sherman announced to everyone there when the flu shots would be held at the Town Hall and Town Hall Annex - October 24th at the Town Hall and October 26th at the Town Hall Annex.
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
There was nothing additional from the Chief.
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 8:15 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Simmons Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
| 
