From The Pictorial Gazette, February 8
OLD SAYBROOK, CT -- Police Commission Chairman Tim Conklin blamed the police union for the police department's budget problems, saying its contract negotiations and officer grievances in the last two years have run up legal bills.
"I'm very proud of the position I serve on this commission," Conklin said at Tuesday's Board of Finance meeting. "The other members and I are extremely disappointed in the union and what it's done to this town."
Board of Finance Chairman Carl Fortuna had invited Conklin to speak at the meeting amid acrimony over the commission's mounting legal expenses. During the last two fiscal years, the commission has spent approximately $300,000 over budget. In a recent letter, Fortuna told the commission to tighten its current budget to make up for the $50,000 it has overrun in 2004-05.
During the meeting, Conklin, along with First Selectman Mike Pace and town labor attorney Pat McHale, argued that the expenses were beyond the Police Commission's control. Conklin blamed the excessive legal bills on union members who he said have depleted town funds with "frivolous grievances."
McHale, who represented the town during the recent labor board hearings over a grievance filed by the union, said that while the town's insurance company covered many of the court cases, other expenses such as contract negotiations and union grievances came out of the town's pocket. He noted that the labor board hearings alone cost the town over $100,000 in legal fees.
During the meeting, a number of board members expressed impatience with the ongoing dispute between the Police Commission and rank and file officers. Member Ken Gibble asked whether the town could disband the police department and start a new one, while Bob Finch suggested replacing the Old Saybrook police with constables and state troopers. McHale and Conklin said that neither idea was feasible.
At the Board of Finance's next meeting on Feb. 15, Conklin will appear again to discuss tightening this year's budget. After hearing of Fortuna's request to cut $50,000, Conklin and Police Chief Edmund Mosca initially said that the department might have to lay off officers. On Tuesday, however, Conklin said he would look hard for other solutions.
"It's going to be a creative task," he remarked.
In recent months, the department has had personnel problems, limiting its overtime budget through the end of the fiscal year and sometimes putting special assignment officers on regular duty. However, Conklin said the overtime problems were caused by a number of recent events that needed extra personnel - including a homicide at the Food Bag and a car accident at Saybrook Point - and not by legal overruns.
At Tuesday's meeting, McHale defended the town's decision to lay off four officers in July 2003, an action that started most of the disputes over the past year and a half. Most police departments, McHale said, use civilian dispatchers rather than sworn officers, and hiring civilians was more economically prudent because officers work shorter shifts.
"There didn't have to be any layoffs," McHale argued, noting that Mosca encouraged the four officers to apply for dispatcher jobs after their dismissal, an offer which none of them took.
After the layoffs, the union filed a grievance on behalf of the dismissed officers, which the labor board is expected to rule on later this year. Cindi Huckel, one of the four officers, has two pending cases that McHale said the town's insurance would cover. More likely to cost the town are the contract negotiations that will begin before the union's current contract expires this June.
At its last meeting, the Police Commission initially budgeted $40,000 for legal expenses in 2005-06 but voted to raise the sum to $60,000. Commissioner David Gallichio said he wasn't sure even the higher number would cover all future expenses.
"There was $200,000 spent on legal bills last year, and how do we stop that?" Gallichio said on Wednesday. "I don't know. If the union files a grievance, we have every right to defend ourselves."