East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting April 9, 2008
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Nelson. Commissioners Barton, Devanney, Sherman and Sinsigallo were present along with Chief DeMarco and Capt. Hart.
ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
There were no Added Agenda Items
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting – March 12, 2008
The minutes of the regular meeting of March 12, 2008 were reviewed by all commissioners present. A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to accept the minutes of the March 12, 2008 meeting with the following corrections:
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
Corrections to March 12, 2008 Minutes:
Page 3 – Under Alternate Duty Program – 1st paragraph – 3rd sentence:
Chief DeMarco also said that if approved this alternate duty program would be part of the current union negotiations.
Change to: Chief DeMarco also said that if approved this alternate duty program could be part of the union negotiations.
Page 5 – 1st sentence (continued from page 4) – Under Communications – memo from Matthew Carl:
Before the discussion regarding this memo began, Commissioner Sinsigallo asked Commissioner Barton to recuse himself from the discussion because he is too close to the situation and Commissioner Barton refused because he said he had important information relative to the grievance.
Change to: Before the discussion regarding this memo began, Commissioner Sinsigallo asked Commissioner Barton to remove himself from the discussion because he is too close to the situation and Commissioner Barton refused because he said he had important information relative to the grievance.
Page 7 – 3rd paragraph from the top:
Commissioner Barton further stated that the only way to resolve the differences between the Board of Finance and ourselves is for the Board of Finance to stop micro-managing the Police Department when no one on the Board of Finance has any management experience.
Change to: Commissioner Barton further stated that the only way to resolve the differences between the Board of Finance and ourselves is for the Board of Finance to stop micro-managing the Police Department when no one on the Board of Finance has any management responsibility
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 April 1, 2008 in the amount of $8791.70 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 April 1, 2008 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
At this time, Commissioner Barton brought up the article that was printed in the Journal Inquirer regarding the Police Department budget for the fiscal year 2008-2009. He questioned the Chief as to the figures printed in the paper which showed a 2.7% increase over last year’s budget and not the 1.9% increase which had been approved by the Police Commission. The Chief responded to this by saying that the information contained in the article was a comparison of the 2007-2008 non-adjusted budget not including the $19,000 added appropriation for gas and oil.
The Chief also stated that the approved budget did not include the salary line due to union negotiations.
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 dated March 31, 2008 for the fiscal year 2007/2008 in the amount of $107.00
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 March 31, 2008 as presented
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
E) Animal Control Monthly Billing
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to approve the Animal Control monthly billing date April 1, 2008 for the fiscal year 2007/2008 in the amount of $69.69
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 April 1, 2008 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
The legal billing from the firm of Goodman, Rosenthal & McKenna, P. C. for the months of
March and April, 2008 were reviewed by all commissioners present. No action necessary as this
is informational only.
PUBLIC INPUT
There was no Public Input
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no Unfinished Business
TRAFFIC AUTHORITY
There were no new traffic authority complaints.
PUBLIC INPUT #2
There was no Public Input #2
NEW BUSINESS
There was no New Business.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
There was no Executive Session
COMMUNICATIONS
Two letters have been forwarded to the Police Commission regarding Grievance 08-02; the first one to Detective Matt Carl, Union President of AFSCME Council 15 from the First Selectman Denise Menard, and the second one from the Chairman of the Police Commission to Matt Carl, President of the East Windsor Police Union 3583
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
In his monthly report to the Commissioners, the Chief had brought up turning one of the older fleet cars over to the First Selectman for disposition.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Sherman to give the Chief permission to turn one of the older fleet cars to the First Selectman for disposition.
Sinsigallo/Sherman Unanimous
B) Commission Members
Commissioner Barton took this opportunity to express his displeasure over the handling of Grievance 08-02 at the March 12, 2008 meeting. He started the discussion by handing a letter to all commissioners present that he had written to the Chairman of the board which basically covered his displeasure over the handling of the grievance and that this particular grievance was not done in a public session, which would have given the grievant the opportunity to be heard by the entire board as a whole. In his letter he stated that :
“I am writing to object to the action taken by the Police Commission on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 regarding the grievance filed by Officer Everitt. There are two issues that I believe need to be addressed for the future.
First – These matters are very important and should be given much more careful consideration than what happened on March 12. If you were unwilling for some reason to hold a hearing then at least the investigation should have been discussed and questions asked and answered. There are many aspects of this case which the police department should have been asked to explain. Further, the grievant should have been available to provide information if necessary. Section 1 of the grievance procedure states that its purpose is “to settle employee grievance on as low an administrative level as possible.” The Police Commission failed in its obligation here and simply passed the matter on to the next step.
Second – Action on this matter was obviously prepared in advance by some people in the room and excluding others. Commissioner Sinsigallo was almost ready with her lines, Attorney McKenna was waiting in the wings and even Captain Hart had his contract open to the right page. However, I and, I believe, Commissioner Devanney were caught completely by surprise. This is shameful. If you are unable or unwilling to include ALL members of this commission in ALL decisions, discussions and matters to come before this board then there is a serious problem that must be addressed by this commission.”
Commissioner Nelson responded to this letter with the following comments:
“First – the Officer Everitt matter is over. He can go to the next step if he wants to? With all the materials given to the PC this was the right and only decision we could make.
Second – There was no hidden agenda done here. I did this only to protect you. You have gone way over the top on this matter and are too personally involved. You were asked to step down yourself but did not.
Last – I will not give this letter to Commission members. If you want to do it at our next meeting, it is up to you. Also, if you feel there are still serious problems with all decisions and discussions you can also bring this up at our next meeting.”
This letter, after being read by all commissioners present, sparked a lively discussion with Commissioner Barton reiterating everything that had been stated in his letter and also accusing Chairman Nelson, Commissioner Sinsigallo and the Chief of discussing this matter along with the First Selectman and the Town Attorney prior to the meeting of March 12th and of making a decision without being heard by the entire Board of Police Commissioners.
This comment was responded to by Commissioner Sinsigallo who stated that she felt that Commissioner Barton was too personally involved in this issue to make a rational decision; and that the decision made was appropriate due to the evidence presented. Chairman Nelson then made the comment that he had questioned Capt. Hart regarding the correct procedure governing grievances and he felt that the grievance was handling properly according to the union contract.
Commissioner Barton went on further to say that the only involvement he had with this issue was to deliver letters to the commission from the grievant and that his reputation was being severely trashed by this chain of events. Commissioner Barton also said that the only way that he is involved with the grievant is they are the only VFW officers from the Town of East Windsor.
Commissioner Barton continued with stating that he had a problem with the way that he felt himself and possibly Commissioner Devanney were excluded from the decision making process; and by way of side-stepping the entire commission, the Chairman included only Commissioner Sinsigallo, himself, Chief DeMarco, the First Selectman and the Town Attorney wherein a decision was made prior to the meeting with no notification to either Commissioner Barton, or as he believes Commissioner Devanney.
Chairman Nelson responded to this statement by saying that he had contacted Commissioner Sinsigallo, the First Selectman and the Town Attorney to make sure that everything was handled properly and to give both the First Selectman and the Town Attorney the opportunity to be heard at the March 12th meeting regarding this matter. Chairman Nelson also stated that no decisions were made by anyone before the meeting.
Commissioner Barton went on further to state that if grievances will be settled by an outside person that this is not right and we should have done our job by hearing this grievance as a whole board. He further stated that he had a big problem with the orchestrating of the scenario to exclude the majority of the Commission.
Commissioner Barton further stated that he was extremely disappointed that the grievance had already gone to step 2 without a decision being made by the board in its entirety and that for the grievance to proceed to step 2 without a hearing is inadequate and unfair. Commissioner Barton then stated that he could no longer support the Police Commission and then he announced his resignation.
Chairman Nelson then asked Commissioner Barton for a letter to that effect and Commissioner Barton said he would be forwarding his letter to the Town Clerk and left the meeting.
Chairman Nelson responded to all that Commissioner Barton had said by stating that he had been put up by the Commission to be Chairman due to his experience and he believes that he is a peacemaker. He will not micro-manage the police department, we have professionals to manage the police department. He went on further to state that there are 3 things that he wanted to stress at this particular time and they are:
1) His goal is to protect his commissioners so that the commission as a whole can work as a team, therefore avoiding any potential embarrassment to the Police Commission.
2) To protect the Police Department and its members to assure that all involved can work together as a team.
3) To protect the Town of East Windsor.
Chairman Nelson went on further to say that if any of the commissioners felt that he was doing something wrong or improperly that they should come to him and try to work out whatever problem they think is occurring.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Sherman to adjourn the regular meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission at 7:32 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Sherman Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
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