Madison police in state of transition

Published: Wednesday, July 1, 2009
By Amanda Pinto, Register Staff

MADISON — The Board of Selectmen tonight is expected to sign an agreement ending Police Department leader Robert Nolan’s service to the town Oct. 1, Nolan confirmed Tuesday.

The action comes the same day Chief Paul Jakubson is set to retire, and the town is determining how it will move forward in hiring a new chief.

“This gives us a target date to transition to a new chief and whether that can be done in this time frame, that remains to be seen,” Selectman Bill Gladstone said of the agreement with Nolan. “That process, I suspect, will be a pretty rigorous one, and how that will play out would be pure speculation.”

Nolan said he would leave sooner than October if the town finds a permanent chief, and said the agreement leaves open the possibility that his employment could be extended if both parties agree.

Jakubson retires today as part of a deal in which selectmen agreed to pay him $41,000 a year for the next four years in addition to his regular pension. His pension last year was calculated to be about $71,000. As part of the settlement, the administrative charges against Jakubson were dropped at a Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday night.

He faced administrative charges including alleged failure to investigate and remedy persistent sexual and criminal misconduct in the department.

The Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday also discussed plans for recruiting a new chief.

Police commissioners took no votes but discussed the upcoming recruiting that several sources said will likely mirror the search before Superintendent of Schools David Klein was hired in December 2007. That process included several opportunities for public comment and Klein meeting with town groups and boards before he was hired.

First Selectman Al Goldberg said Tuesday he would encourage the use of a recruiting firm to help the commission in the hiring.

Goldberg said he wants it to be a transparent hiring process in which residents have “opportunity to participate in defining what we want, and that more than just the police commission (does) the interviewing.”

Nolan is expected to lead the department until a permanent chief is hired. The agreement with Nolan formalizes one that has existed since Nolan was hired in April 2008.

Nolan is paid $2,300 weekly, according to Goldberg.

Nolan’s title is consultant because the Police Officer Standards and Training Council ruled he has not submitted to testing required for certification. Nolan had been Hamden police chief until his retirement prior to taking the job in Madison. As a consultant, Nolan runs the daily administration of the department, but does not wear a uniform, has no arrest powers and can’t have direct supervision over a sworn police officer.

Officials said Nolan’s job description — which defines his role as a consultant — is in compliance with state law.

Goldberg said parts of the agreement result from Nolan asking for written assurance of protection in the event of a lawsuit; the agreement provides Nolan with certain indemnities and protections that address that issue, Goldberg said.

Fired Officer Rebecca Ricciuti named Nolan, the town and each police commissioner in a federal lawsuit, in which she claims her termination in May was a breach of her First Amendment rights. Ricciuti has said she was fired for speaking out about what she saw as abuses of overtime and power in the department.

The Board of Selectmen will meet to consider the agreement with Nolan at 6:45 p.m. at Town Campus.

Amanda Pinto can be reached at apinto@nhregister.com or 789-5734.