East Windsor Police Commission
Regular Meeting May 14, 2008
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Nelson. Commissioners Devanney, Sherman and Sinsigallo were present along with Chief DeMarco and Capt. Hart. There is a vacancy on the board due to the resignation of D. James Barton at the April 9, 2008 meeting.
ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
There were no Added Agenda Items
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting – April 9, 2008
The minutes of the regular meeting of April 9, 2008 were reviewed by all commissioners present. A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Sherman to accept the minutes of the April 9, 2008 meeting as presented.
Sinsigallo/Sherman 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 May 8, 2008 in the amount of $11985.92 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 May 8, 2008 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 dated April 30, 2008 for the fiscal year 2007/2008 in the amount of $148.54
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 April 30, 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 May 8, 2008 for the fiscal year 2007/2008 in the amount of $637.50
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 May 8, 2008 as presented.
Sinisgallo/Devanney Unanimous
G) Legal Billing
There was no Legal Billing this month.
PUBLIC INPUT
Dale Nelson, the liaison to the Board of Selectman, took this opportunity to commend the Police Department on the outstanding job they did representing the town during the recent Community Day events. She stated that she was very impressed with the K-9 Mac and his handler and the fact that the dog only responded to commands spoken in a foreign language. Ms. Nelson also stated that she felt that the Color Guard for the Police Department looked outstanding.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
The letter of resignation from D. James Barton was read by the Chairman and accepted by all commissioners present.
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 invitations have been received by the Chairman of the Commission – one to a Community Workshop on Economic Development for Public Officials to be held on June 5, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at the Scout Hall on Abbe Road; and the second one was a Let’s Talk invitation from the East Windsor High School regarding Community and Parental Involvement in the High School to be held on June 11, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. at the East Windsor High School.
A letter from CHRO was also handed out to all Commissioners present. The contents of the letter were not made public at this time and any discussion has been postponed until the June meeting.
Grievance 08-03 – A second step grievance has been received from a former officer regarding the non-payment of his medical benefits upon his separation from the East Windsor Police Department. The First Step grievance was denied because he did not leave in good standing.
There was a general discussion among the Commission members present and the Chief regarding this Grievance and the reasons for the denial – the officer was not in good standing at the time of his separation and the failure on the part of this officer to file the grievance in a timely fashion. His letter of resignation was accepted on November 14, 2007 and the grievance was not filed until April 8, 2008.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Devanney to deny Grievance 08-03 for the reasons stated above – the officer was not in good standing upon his separation from the East Windsor Police Department and the grievance was not filed in a timely fashion.
Sinsigallo/Devanney Unanimous
MONTHLY REPORTS
A) Chief of Police
In response to questions regarding the FY 2008/2009 budget the Chief responded by discussing with the Commission members the recent budget cuts made by the Board of Finance with regard to the 2008/2009 budget.
The Chief stated that at the beginning of the budgetary process, the Police Department was requested by the Town to keep the budget down to a bare minimum budget. The Chief was able to accomplish this with a bottom line budget increase of less than 2% while maintaining public and officer safety. It was a realistic budget we could make work. Since the presentation, meetings and workshops the Budget has been cut at least $7,000 from the conference and training lines. Although we are not sure because we have not been notified.
In the beginning of April, the Chief received a communication from the Board of Finance that they would like to meet with him on April 16th and requested that he bring all documentation regarding the 2008/2009 budget and his justifications for about 6 lines within the budget. The Chief complied with this request, but on the day of the meeting; he received a letter dated April 9th that the budget had already been cut prior to hearing the presentation from the Chief in the very areas that were requested justification.
There was also money cut from the Budget which is the SRO. We did not receive any official notification regarding this situation. By not discussing this with the Police Department we were unaware of the reduction and unable to provide insight into possible areas of reduction that would have the least impact. The terms of the grant warn of possible serious results for cutting or supplanting the SRO program. It could possibly get the Town of East Windsor in dire straights with the Federal government as the monies for the SRO is a four year grant and at any time during this 4 year period if the position is supplanted or eliminated; there is a strong possibility that the Federal government may ask for a reimbursement of the grant monies (approximately $100,000) from
the Town of East Windsor and it may also mean that the East Windsor Police Department (or the Town) will be unable to receive Federal grant monies in the future. This cut has potential serious ramifications that jeopardizes the Police Department in finances and manpower.
Upon questions regarding areas of reduction, the Chief went on further to state that he thought it was kind of strange that the exact amount of monies that had recently been transferred between line items was the exact amount of monies that had been cut from the 2008/2009 budget. He further stated that between himself, the Captain and his Administrative Assistant, Maria Diana-Root that there was close to 60 years experience in Police Department management; and that we are professional Police Officers with extensive management experience and feels that the Police Department is in some way being punished by the Board of Finance for transferring and/or moving money. He further stated that he will do his best to work within the budget imposed upon him by the Board of Finance but
also fears that the Budget as accepted by the Board of Finance for making those appropriate transfers to make the budget work, and avoid an added appropriation. He further stated that he will do his best to work within the budget imposed upon him but also fears that the Budget as accepted with reductions may put the Town of East Windsor in jeopardy by the lack of money for basic services by the Police Department. It appears we lost the proposed dispatcher position which would help reduce overtime as explained in several meetings or workshops. We have had a serious injury to a recruit officer as well. There is a strong chance we will now need an added appropriation next year. We want to work as an open and communicative member of the team.
The next item brought up for discussion under Monthly Reports was the condition of the back parking lot at the Police Station. It has become very congested with the vehicles that need to be there and that the back lot is being used as a “cut-through” by some residents in town. He has contacted the Town Engineer, Len Norton, to draw up plans to improve this back parking lot with one of the first things to be done is to pave this lot. When additional information is forthcoming it will be brought to the attention of the commission.
B) Commission Members
Chairman Nelson took this opportunity to speak to what is happening between the Board of Finance and the Police Department. He said that he had hoped that the lines of communication and the animosity between the Board of Finance and the Police Department would be at end, and although it doesn’t appear that this will happen anytime soon, he is still hopeful.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Sinsigallo, seconded by Commissioner Sherman to adjourn the regular meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission at 7:53 p.m.
Sinsigallo/Sherman Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene H. Kelly
Recording Secretary
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