By CLAUDIA VAN NES
Courant Staff Writer
April 27 2004
OLD SAYBROOK -- Police Chief Ed Mosca on Monday presented a plan to establish an upper-management layer of four lieutenants in the police department to address concerns about ineffective supervision.
Mosca submitted the plan at the police commission meeting. Afterward, Donald Hull, the head of the police union, said it was a union-busting move.
"There are three officers without jobs and they say they had to let them go for financial reasons, and now at this meeting they chose an SUV over a patrol car for $7,000 more and this reorganization that'll cost $30,000," Hull said.
Hull was referring to the commission's 3-2 vote to buy a new SUV and patrol car this year instead of two patrol cars, which would cost $7,000 less.
He also was alluding to the layoff of police last June to meet budget cuts in personnel - a layoff the police union has appealed to the state labor board.
Police officers who gathered after Monday's meeting speculated that Mosca and the commission figure promotions to add the new lieutenants would take four officers out of the union.
But Mosca anticipated they would join the union at the first opportunity. Lieutenants are not mentioned in the union contract simply because it is a rank not currently within the police department, he said.
Union attorney Chip Walsh said Monday if the lieutenant positions were created, the union would petition at once for their membership and they would have no choice but to become members.
Mosca also said he figured the department's four sergeants would apply for the lieutenants' jobs and, if they were promoted, the cost would be minimal. The difference in salary between the two positions would be $1,500, he said, at least for the first year while the lieutenants were on probation.
But, he said, the overall increase could cost about $30,000 the first year as patrolmen would likely then apply for the higher-paying sergeants' jobs.
Police active in the union scoffed at the possibility of promotion of the four sergeants - Hull, Cliff Barrows, Tim McDonald and Robbert Van der Horst. Instead, they anticipated patrolmen who have distanced themselves from the union - Michael Gardner and Michael Spera - to be promoted.
First Selectman Mike Pace called for the reorganization three years ago and the commission agreed after a time-management study was completed in December. The report on Internet use by some on-duty officers on department computers accused the sergeants and patrolmen on shift supervision of failing to adequately monitor computer use. It also showed some of these officers excessively used the Internet themselves.
Last month, commission Chairman Tim Conklin asked that the reorganization efforts be stepped up and presented at Monday's meeting, so the commission could start implementing the plan. He said Monday he wanted a commission subcommittee to recommend an outside panel, individuals or organization to interview and choose the new lieutenants.
With the backdrop of animosity between the union and police leadership, Conklin said, the reorganization could best be put in place if people not involved in the town or the controversy make the new appointments.
Copyright 2004, Hartford Courant