When Rotterdam’s police commission promoted two patrolmen and two sergeants last week, it raised eyebrows and some questions.
Officers Daniel Ryan and Robert Denny were promoted to sergeant, with $66,126 salaries. The commission also promoted sergeants Jason Murphy and Michael Brown to lieutenant, with $74,102 salaries.
The town board’s lone Democrat, Diane Marco, charged Commissioner John Mertz, a Republican, with usurping the promotional power of the police chief and the legislative authority of the town board. But Marco is not the only one questioning the promotions.
Murphy’s promotion, in particular, has some residents crying foul. The new lieutenant is the son-in-law of Frank Renna, vice chairman of the town’s planning commission. Renna is also a Republican candidate for town board in this year’s election.
Mertz said Murphy was promoted because he was very qualified.
In the last three years of performance evaluations, he outscored the other candidates, Mertz said of Murphy. `He appeared to have better qualification and he was our No. 1 choice. In negotiating with the chief, he (the chief) also indicated he could use two lieutenants.`
The police commissioner said that his evaluations and his seniority prompted commissioners to promote Murphy.
`The decision was relayed to the chief prior to his recommendation,` Mertz noted. `Consequently, the chief recommended promoting Sgt. Brown.`
Last week, Police Chief James Hamilton deferred to the police commission.
`Over the course of the last several months I made recommendations, but ultimately they’re the appointing authority, and it’s their decision about who’s going to get promoted and when,` Hamilton said.
In an April 24 memo obtained by Spotlight Newspapers, Hamilton had strongly recommended Ryan’s promotion to sergeant and Brown’s promotion to lieutenant.
Mertz replied to Hamilton with a memo the next day acknowledging and agreeing with his recommendation regarding Ryan.
`However, please be advised that the commission will be supporting Sgt. Murphy for appointment to lieutenant,` Mertz said.
Hamilton answered back with another memo the same day, April 25.
`Regarding promotions, it is my understanding that the commission has decided to promote Sgt. Murphy to lieutenant prior to receiving my recommendation, and prior to giving me an opportunity to discuss the issue with the commission,` Hamilton said, adding commissioners should hear his recommendations before making promotion decisions. `To do anything other than that will undermine my authority and will compromise public safety in our community.`
Marco also questioned the legality of promoting two men to lieutenant when the budget had just one vacant position.
She said it was her understanding that commissioners had authority to handle police promotions and appointments, but they needed town board approval for budgetary items not included in the budget.
`Isn’t creating a position that will cost taxpayers more than $100,000 a year an issue that the town board should be addressing, especially because it was not requested by our chief and not included in the 2006 budget?` Marco asked.
Mertz responded that the commission isn’t asking the town to pay out any more money. He said they were able to move excess funds from different budget lines in the police budget to pay for the disputed salaries.
One example he gave was a $48,000 transfer of a no longer needed retirement payout. An officer had planned to retire after the paramedic duty was merged into the ambulance service. That merger has been postponed until at least next year, so the appropriated retirement payout won’t be needed this year, allowing the money to be used elsewhere in the department.
Mertz also noted that police had approximately $20,000 extra in the deputy chief’s line because the position remained vacant between February and July. Also, the new deputy chief, William Manikas, was hired at an annual salary $6,000 less than his predecessor.
`The monies within the police budget need to be utilized to their full potential,` Mertz said, adding that having more officers should mean more boots on the streets and less overtime.
On the promotions issue, Rotterdam Police Benevolent Association President Richard Dunsmore sided with the police chief, saying that having commissioners promote officers without Hamilton’s recommendation has a deleterious effect on morale.
Dunsmore said promotions should only be given to officers who receive Hamilton’s recommendation, noting the chief can rate performance based on personal experiences gleaned from working with them over the years.
`Morale is going down,` Dunsmore said. `People are looking at the promotions and beginning to wonder, ‘do I work hard to get promoted, or do I find people to make friends with to get promoted?’`
The PBA president said his organization would like to work with the commission, but its recent actions have made that hard to do, in his opinion.
`I think that if anyone in the police department is questioning promotions or adding officers to the payroll, then their motives must be called into question,` Mertz said, `providing we’re not paying excessively for officers who aren’t serving and protecting.`
Dunsmore countered that Hamilton is a good, qualified chief who should be allowed to run the department.
`Mr. Mertz doesn’t know anything about police work,` Dunsmore said. `For him to come in and override the chief and make policy decisions is just absurd. That’s just not right.`
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