East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting September 12, 2007
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by Chairman Sherman. Commissioners Barton, Devanney, Knibloe and Sinsigallo were present along with Chief DeMarco and Capt. Hart.
ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to add the following item to the Agenda:
Under Previous Meeting Minutes
b) Special Meeting – August 29, 2007
Under Traffic Authority
b) 07-0004 – Letter from Kathleen Edge regarding problems at intersection of Griffin and Neiderwefer Road
c) 07-0005 – Letter from Mrs. Patricia Johnson regarding placement of street light
Under New Business
b) Letter from First Selectman
c) CIP Request
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting – August 8, 2007
The minutes of the regular meeting of August , 2007 were reviewed by all commissioners present. A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to accept the minutes of the August 8, 2007 meeting as presented.
When the Chairman asked for a discussion on the minutes, the following comments were made:
Commissioner Knibloe: Yes I have a question – in the minutes, we made a motion on the SRO officer and that motion, to the best of my knowledge, had nothing to do with personnel although yes it was going to help personnel, but that wasn’t a discussion and then I read in the Journal Inquirer that the school program is suspended and that the Board of Education learned it was losing the school systems officer; temporarily due to personnel issues and not financial issues. That whole discussion, according to my notes, was financial issues so I want to know what’s going on and where are we here?
Chief DeMarco responded with the following statement: What I distinctly stated in the meeting was the resignation of Officer Petlik, retirement by Officer Stavol, position that was lost during the budget season and the lack of ability to do specialized policing, we have to do the basics, we have lost the SRO position plus a shortage of personnel.
Commissioner Knibloe further questioned the Chief, then why would we have put on an amendment when funds become available to reinstitute immediately through your office?
Chief DeMarco : I have no idea
Commissioner Knibloe: That’s because we did not discuss personnel on that, we discussed funds
Commissioner Barton: Steve, I don’t think it was funds
Commissioner Knibloe: Then we would not have put that addition on
Commissioner Barton: I know the motion, it was said made by me, and it says suspended until monies become available but in my mind the reason we are suspending this program is because of staff shortages
Commissioner Knibloe: then why would that be there, Jim?
Commissioner Barton: I don’t know
Chief DeMarco: It was my intent to have the meetings minutes fixed before this evening, that wasn’t simply portrayed honestly
Commissioner Knibloe: You can’t have the meeting minutes fixed
Chief DeMarco: I was going to request it Sir
Commissioner Knibloe: alright
Chief DeMarco: they were wrong
Commissioner Knibloe: they are not wrong according to my notes and I am the second one.
Commissioner Devanney: I have a comment while you are on that one too – in the newspaper article it states that the commission is 100% behind the SRO and Animal Officer, and I wasn’t – I voted Nay on both of those for various reasons – it wasn’t 100%
Commissioner Barton: the statement that was made was that the Commission was 100% behind the program, the SRO program, that it’s a good program.
Chief DeMarco: we were asked if this suspension was because we did not believe in this program (media questions)- and the answer to the media was absolutely not this has nothing to do with the value of the program, it is a valuable program we just don’t have the personnel – we lost personnel and we had to shut down until we fixed it. This is normal protocol, it happens all the time, things temporarily go off and back on again due to personnel.
Commissioner Barton: If I made the motion that it was suspended until money was available, I must have misspoken, either that or the minutes are wrong.
Commissioner Devanney: I think it was put like that because I was a little upset over the fact that the two programs were being suspended due to monies, particularly the animal officer since we worked so hard to get them
Commissioner Barton: We’re talking about the SRO program
Commissioner Devanney: I know that – both programs
Commissioner Barton: The motion is about the SRO – a motion that supposedly was made by me to suspend the program until funds become available. In my mind we are suspending it because staff is not available – we need them for patrol – we need that one to put on patrol.
Commissioner Sinsigallo: But we also discussed the fact that we would reestablish the program once monies became available
Chief DeMarco: the simple fact is that it was never our intent to permanently cancel the program, you have to staff patrol that is our primary goal
Commissioner Sinsigallo: We do not want to lose it either, and we would certainly be willing to look back into the issue when money becomes available.
Commissioner Knibloe: As long as these meetings are being recorded for the Secretary’s benefit, I don’t think it will happen again
Commissioner Devanney: I do want a correction, too, though and I have something typed and I will give it to you later.
Commissioner Knibloe: You have to give it to her now if we want to have it read into the minutes.
The corrections (additions) requested by Commissioner Devanney are as follows:
Page 4 – Under Item B – K9 Car: (regarding the second animal officer0 add the following:
Commissioner Devanney objected to closing this program since they fought so hard to establish this position a few years ago. She had hoped, like in the past, we could find the monies to support this position, it’s too valuable to lose
Page 4 and 5 – Under Item C – SRO: add the following:
Commissioner Devanney expressed concern about eliminating the SRO program so abruptly. She felt the Middle School and the High School both need an SRO in this day and age.
A motion was made by Commissioner Knibloe, seconded by Commissioner Sinsigallo that the above additions be added to the minutes.
Knibloe/Sinsigallo Unanimous
Being no further discussion regarding the minutes, the Chairman took a vote and it was a unanimous vote to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of August 8, 2007.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
Special Meeting – August 29, 2007
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Barton to accept the minutes of the Special Meeting of August 29, 2007 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Barton Barton – Aye
Devanney – Aye
Sinsigallo – Aye
Knibloe – Abstain due to absence from meeting
EXECUTIVE SESSION
A) Personnel Update
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to go out of Order to Item 10 – Executive Session – A – Personnel Update to include Chief DeMarco, Capt. Hart, the First Selectman, Ed Filipone and the three attorneys, Steve Penny, Joshua Hawkes-Ladd and Scott Karsten at 7:10 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to come out of Executive Session – Item A at 7:20 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
No action taken
B) Litigation Update
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to go into Executive Session – Item B – Litigation Update at 7:21 p.m. to include Chief DeMarco, Capt. Hart and Attorneys Penny, Hawkes-Ladd and Karsten.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
The Executive Session was closed at 8:35 p.m.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Knibloe to go back to the order of the meeting #4 – Budget and Expenditures.
Sinsigallo/Knibloe Unanimous
BUDGET AND EXPENDITURES
A) Police Department - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Police Department monthly billing dated September 6, 2007 in the amount of $9331.35 for the fiscal year 2007/2008
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
B) Police Department Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Police Department Financial Statement dated September 6, 2007 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
C) Police Commission - Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Police Commission Monthly Billing for the fiscal year 2007/2008 dated August 31, 2007 in the amount of $107.76
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
D) Police Commission Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Police Commission Financial Statement for the fiscal year 2007/2008 dated August 31, 2007 as presented
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
E) Animal Control Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Monthly billing dated September 6, 2007 in the amount of $187.46 for the fiscal year 2007/2008.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
F) Animal Control - Financial Statement
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the East Windsor Animal Control Financial Statement for the fiscal year 2007/2008 dated September 6, 2007 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
The Legal Billing from the firm of Penny, Botticello & O’Brien, P. C. for the month of
August, 2007 dated September 10, 2007 was reviewed by all Commissioners present. No action necessary as this is informational only.
PUBLIC INPUT
Kathy Pippin of Woolam Road spoke to the Commission at large regarding the fact that she had almost been attacked by a dog on her daily walk on East Road. She stated that the dog had come bounding out of the bushes from where he lives and almost attacked and that she had heard that since animals had certain rights that if she had used any type of spray on the dog and he was injured it would be her responsibility to pay for the vet bills. She further stated that she would not give up her walks and inquired as to what spray could be purchased and from where to deter this dog from attacking her. Chief DeMarco responded that he would look into the matter and have the Animal Control officer pay a visit to the owner of the dog for voluntary compliance with regard
to the leash law and that if she would call him in the morning, he would be able to tell her what type of spray could be used and where she could purchase it.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no Unfinished Business
TRAFFIC AUTHORITY
07-0003 – South Water Street
The Chief was asked what if anything had been done regarding this issue. His response is as follows: “When you are talking about a mid-block crosswalk, in essence you are saying that this is the safest place to cross in this area. However, all research states that this decision should not be made with an engineering study being completed first. It is considered a mid-block because it is in the middle of the road and there is nothing to suggest that a cross walk is coming up. All the engineer and the DOT experts, right in the manual, fully suggest that a town contemplating a mid-block cross-walk should get an engineering report. My suggestion would be to forward this to the town engineering section.”
Commissioner Barton responded to the statement by the Chief by saying that he didn’t think it was a good idea to be in a mid-block cross walk on South Water Street and that, in addition, he felt that it would not be wise to spend any money to have an engineering survey done.
There was additional discussion among the Commissioners present regarding the cross-walk and the liability to the town if someone should get hurt.
A motion was made by Commissioner Knibloe, seconded by Commissioner Sinsigallo that due to the placement of the cross walk , mid-block, no traffic control at that location and high liability for endorsing a cross-walk with those liabilities that we not pursue the matter at this time.
Knibloe/Sinsigallo Unanimous
The traffic complaint will be closed out.
07-0004 - Corner of Griffin and Neiderwefer Road – Kathleen Edge
A letter has been received from her regarding a stop sign on Griffin Road and the fact that no body stops at the Griffin Road stop sign. She has requested a Blind Driveway Sign in front of her house and a stop sign on Matthew Road. This traffic complaint has been turned over to the Chief for his investigation and/or action and a letter will be forwarded to Ms. Edge informing her of same.
07-0005 - Request for a streetlight to be placed on Telephone Pole #1949 near 69 Rye Street- requesting party – Mrs. Patricia Johnson
This traffic complaint will be turned over to the First Selectman for action. A letter will be forwarded to Mrs. Johnson informing her of same.
PUBLIC INPUT #2 (Comments only - no discussion)
There was no Public Input
NEW BUSINESS
A) Cruiser Request
The Chief has forwarded a request for two new cruisers, at the behest of Commissioner Sinsigallo. She has requested that a request for two (2) new cruisers be forwarded to the Board of Selectman to be forwarded to the Board of Finance for two desperately needed cruisers. This request is being made to replace two of the high mileage patrol vehicles. Bids were sent out and the two being considered are from Warnock Ford in New Jersey and Crowley Ford from Hartford. The bid from Warnock Ford was $24,260 per car and from Crowley Ford for $23,473 per car. There was a lengthy discussion among the Chief and Commission members present regarding this request, where the money was going to come from (potentially added appropriations) with
Commissioner Knibloe stating that maybe the money needed for the cruisers could come from the $1.7 million surplus that magically appeared.
At this time Commissioner Barton stated that he did not feel that we should request two cars this year and four cars next year that he was just being realistic and that, in his opinion, the request should only be for one cruiser.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Knibloe that an added appropriation request in the amount of $46,940 be forwarded to the Board of Selectman for the purposes of purchasing 2 new cruisers from Crowley Ford.
Sinsigallo/Knibloe Devanney – Aye
Knibloe – Aye
Sinsigallo – Aye
Barton – Nay
The motion carried.
B) Letter from First Selectman
This will be discussed under communications.
C) CIP Request – fiscal year 2008/2009
The CIP request for the fiscal year 2008/2009 from the Chief was for the purchase of four (4) new cruisers.
A motion was made by Commissioner Barton, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to put in a CIP request for fiscal year 2008/2009 for 2 cruisers from Warnock Ford.
Barton/Devanney Unanimous
The Chief was requested by the Chairman to reduce the CIP from four (4) cruisers to two(2) cruisers.
COMMUNICATIONS
The Chairman brought up a letter from the First Selectman where there were questions in regard to the SRO Program and what the response from the Chief was.
There was also a copy of the Purchase Agreement from Officer Petlik concerning his purchase of the K-9 Bruno. This paperwork will be filed with the Town Clerk by the Chairman of the Commission.
There was also mention made of the request of Officer Petlik to complete the Exit Interview and Off. Petlik chose not to participate in this process.
At this time, Commissioner Barton handed letters to every member of the Commission, the Chief and the Captain from Kathy Everitt (Mrs. Bruce Everitt) wherein she filed a complaint that her husband, Officer Bruce Everitt, had suffered an on-the-job injury and was inquiring as to why it took the Police Department so long to allow her husband to receive proper medical treatment. This complaint has been turned over to the Chief for investigation and/or action.
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
A large rock was thrown through the radar board thus making it unusable. The radar board will be repaired through a claim put in with the insurance company.
B) Commission Members
Commissioner Sinsigallo took this opportunity to thank the Chief for the diligence of the Police Department for putting two officers on Phelps Road to deal with the speeder – two were arrested and as she understood it they were going over 90 mph.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Knibloe to adjourn the regular meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission at 9:26 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Knibloe Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
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