As I am sure you can imagine, there are a few more issues involved here than that which was reported by the media, and of course, a great deal more history.

First and foremost, the issue of a second lieutenant in the Stony Point Police Department is not new – it has been debated since it was created.  In addition, despite his brother being number one on the Lieutenants list for a number of years, Councilman Finn was generally the most vocal about the idea of eliminating that position.  My concern, as with most of the other Board members, has always been strictly one of finances and taxes, not personalities or people.  Last year, and again at budget time a few months ago, the elimination of the second Lieutenant’s position was discussed as a possible cost savings measure in light of the upcoming financial hit we are facing with the loss of Mirant taxes (about $2 million for the Town, and $10 million for the School District).  During the recent budget process, we on the Town Board were advised that the current Lieutenant, Pete Quinn, was expected to remain in that position for at least half of 2009, or longer, so the position was left as it was for the time being.  Pete is an excellent administrator, and no one wanted to make it look like his departure was anticipated, even for fiscal reasons.

However, shortly after the final budget was passed, certain plans changed.  Apparently, Lt. Quinn decided to retire sooner, now expected to be this month.  The Town Police Commission (I’ll explain that below) did not bring this fact to the attention of the Town Board - perhaps not a legal requirement, but since it involved one of the highest paid employees of the Town, I certainly would have expected such.  At that point, things got even more complicated.

In addition to the elected five member Town Board, Stony Point has a three member Police Commission, comprised of two of the five Town Board members, and one citizen, all appointed by the Town Board.  Upon learning of the earlier than expected retirement of Lt. Quinn, the Police Commission apparently decided to move its monthly meeting up a week, from the third week of December to the second week, and take up the issue of that second lieutenant's position.  Again, a majority of the Town Board was not advised of this fact, and I still do not know why the meeting was moved.  About an hour or so before that Police Commission meeting, myself and the other two non-police commission members of the Town Board learned of the rescheduled Police Commission meeting, the planned early retirement of Lt. Quinn, and the intention of the Commission to consider his replacement.  I personally asked two of the three Police Commissioners to refrain from making any decisions that afternoon so the full Town Board could have the opportunity to consider the financial impacts of the situation on the Town.

A few hours later, we learned that the Police Commission did in fact make a promotion to Lieutenant.  Sgt. Keith Williams was recommended by the Chief to fill the position, and the Police Commission made that appointment.  Lt. Williams was one of the top three candidates on the Lieutenant's list, along with Det. Sgt. Finn and Sgt. Skoales.  Civil Service law requires that the promotion be made from among the top three scoring candidates, which was done.  Lt. Williams is an excellent police officer and administrator, and has been a public servant in our Town for many years.  Thus, the controversy here does not relate to Lt. Williams, nor to the other two candidates.  Rather, it is all about the tax dollars, and the need for the Town Board to be on top of major fiscal decisions such as this promotion.

Additional issues then arose.  When we (myself, Councilman White, and Councilman Finn) asked how the promotion was accomplished prior to Lt. Quinn's retirement, we learned another new fact - there is apparently a third Lieutenant's position in the Police Department, though it had not been previously filled or funded.  This was quite a surprise to a majority of the Town Board.  However, at this point, as a result of the efforts of Chief Brophy and the cooperation of Lt. Williams, the Town is not expending any additional tax dollars on this extra position.  Lt. Williams has graciously agreed to forgo Lieutenants pay until Lt. Quinn retires.

This, of course, leaves us with two unresolved underlying questions/problems: 1) how did this all occur without the knowledge of a majority of the Town Board, and 2) what alternatives do we have to realize some very needed tax dollar savings.

I have a number of proposals I am going to recommend to address both of these issues.  Although these are my thoughts and do not represent a majority of the Town Board as of yet, I have had numerous conversations with Chief Brophy, Councilman Finn, and Councilman White relating to this, and believe a reasonable, tax savings agreement can be reached.

Initially I think we have to accept the fact that penalizing Lt. Williams for a breakdown in our system of communications and controls would not be fair or proper.  He has been promoted, he is a loyal and able public servant, and to now demote him for the errors of others, even for purely fiscal reasons, just wouldn’t be right.  It was never about Williams, Finn or Skoales, and it is not so now.

Rather, hard decisions must be made, and additional plans set forth and executed.  Therefore, I am recommending the following be adopted by the Town Board as soon as possible:

1.  Eliminate the existing three member appointed Police Commission, and fill that role by the existing five member elected Town Board.  This has already been done by most other Towns in the County, and is suggested in the Rockland County Police Act.  The police budget is over 25% of the entire Town budget, so the Town Board must know what’s going on there;

2.  Request Chief Brophy prepare an alternate plan to cut police expenses by $250,000, the approximate amount that would have been saved by eliminating the second Lieutenant’s position;

3.  The third Lieutenant’s position be completely eliminated upon the retirement of Lt. Quinn;

4.  The second Lieutenant’s position (Lt. Williams’ position) be reclassified the same as most other positions below the rank of Chief, with no separate employment contract.  Until just a few years ago, in almost all police departments in the State, there were no special individual contracts for supervisors.  A Sergeant was a fixed percent above a patrol officer, and a Lieutenant a fixed percent above Sergeant.  There should be no special deals – these types of issues will eventually break municipalities; and

5.  Upon the expiration of the first Lieutenant’s individual contract, negotiations take place in an effort to return that position to the standard classification as described above;

I realize that these recommendations will not be popular with everyone.  However, I was elected to represent a majority of the taxpayers and citizens of our Town, and I intend to do so.

STEVE