At a press conference Friday, March 9, Guilderland Supervisor Kenneth Runion announced that the town has placed police Chief James Murley on an unpaid suspension and would seek termination based on misconduct and ethics code violations. Prior to his suspension, Murley had been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 8 for undisclosed reasons.
Runion said the reasons for Murley’s suspension include misconduct regarding interaction with a vendor, alleged violations of the town’s ethics law with respect to his interaction with town employees and misconduct in his maintenance of attendance and leave records.
When a final determination has been made, a hearing will be held at which the town board could vote to terminate Murley.
I do think the charges are serious enough that termination is warranted, said Runion.
Runion would not elaborate on the specifics of the allegations, citing confidentiality laws that protect town employees who are under investigation.
According to Runion, Murley could retire but would still be subject to penalties found in the town’s ethics laws, which could include fines and forfeiture of health insurance benefits.
Runion said Murley has not been asked to resign.
At the press conference, Runion shed light on various aspects of the case that have developed over the past month.
Previously, reports have alleged that the charges stemmed from allegations of sexual harassment, which Runion dismissed as `unfounded rumors in the media.`
Regarding the misconduct of attendance records allegations, Runion said that while Murley is not expected to be at his desk 40 hours a week, his normal working hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and like all town employees, he is required to file leave slips for sick time and personal time.
Runion would not discuss specifics regarding the investigation of Murley’s attendance records, which dates back to 2001, only to say that there were discrepancies.
`You’ll have to draw your own conclusions from that,` he said.
All of the allegations originated following a complaint on Feb. 5 from the head of a town department. At that time, the town retained attorney Claudia Ryan to investigate, and during the course of her investigation, she uncovered further misconduct.
According to Runion, most of the alleged misconduct occurred within the last year.
The town has asked the state police and the Albany County district attorney’s office for cooperation in the investigation. Any criminal charges that are brought would come from those agencies, said Runion. He would not speculate whether any of the misconduct warranted criminal charges.
In addition to protecting Murley’s confidentiality, Runion gave two other reasons for being tight-lipped with the media about the investigation.
According to Runion, Murley was believed to have close relationships with one or more individuals in the media, including going to lunch with reporters and on a visit to Cape Cod with one reporter. Runion said none of the relationships with media members was romantic. Because of those relationships, Runion said he was concerned about the objectivity the case would receive in news reports. Additionally, Runion said he thought in-depth coverage of the case in the media would compromise witnesses coming forward.
Acting as chief in Murley’s absence is deputy police Chief Carol Lawlor, who said operations in the department have continued as normal.
`The department in operating fine,` she said. `The officers’ morale is fine.“
