Old Saybrook Police Commission Appoints Deputy Chief

By Matthew Clark
Copyright The Day 6/16/2008

Old Saybrook — After two hours in a closed interview, the Police Commission, despite protestations from the public, voted Monday 5-2 to appoint Lt. Michael Spera to the newly re-created position of deputy chief.

The commission’s vote likely puts the 33-year-old Spera second in command to the town’s embattled police chief, Edmund Mosca, who is under investigation by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for his administration of the Mac Fund, a spending account that only Mosca had control over for more than 30 years.

Spera, who was the only candidate for the job, will be officially offered the job today. He was not available for comment Monday night. Some expressed concerns about the fact that Spera was the sole applicant, and that the job description didn’t include any higher education requirements.

Approximately 30 people attended the meeting Monday, the majority of them waiting out the commission’s interview of Spera, which took place in a separate room in Town Hall closed to the public.
The decision rankled some of the commission and Mosca’s most outspoken critics.

Resident Mary Hansen, the woman who filed a Freedom of Information complaint against the chief for his administration of the Mac Fund, addressed some members of the commission prior to the meeting being called to order.

“Lt. Spera has become too controversial, too close to Chief Mosca and the Mac Fund, too polarizing in the public eye and with the police department to be considered as the only applicant for this position,” Hansen said.

In the week leading up to Monday’s meeting, Hansen and another resident, Peter Lutz, collected 102 signatures on a petition asking the commission to put a hold on the hiring process while Blumenthal finishes his investigation into the fund.

Hansen asked commission Chairwoman Christina Burnham to recuse herself from voting on Spera’s promotion, because the law firm Burnham works for represented him as a client for a subdivision application in front of the town’s Planning Commission in October 2007.

Burnham added that while Hansen may have circulated a petition, no petition was submitted to the commission.

After the meeting Burnham said her work as an attorney for Spera had no influence on her vote.

“I do not have a fiduciary relationship with Lt. Spera — I have never had a fiduciary relationship with Lt. Spera,” Burnham said.

Commissioners Richard Metsack and Raymond Dobratz voted against the motion to appoint Spera.