KEARNY –
Kearny Police Chief John Dowie, who has repeatedly warned that his ranks are being stretched thin with a recent spate of retirements, will be getting some relief.
Dowie came away from last Wednesday night’s Town Council caucus with a tentative sign-off on his proposal for five promotions: one lieutenant and four sergeants, Mayor Alberto Santos said.
Based on the current promotional lists certified by the state, the lieutenant rank would go to current Sgt. Peter Caltabellotta, while the four new sergeants look to be current Officers Joseph Vulcano, Scott Traynor, John Corbett and Len Reed.
Before the chief’s recommendation can be implemented, however, the state monitor assigned to Kearny must sanction it, Santos said.
If he got the requested promotions, Dowie told the mayor and council members, he would then have enough personnel to staff the South Kearny Police Precinct on a 24-hour-a-day basis.
And, Dowie advised, filling in those ranks – while, at the same time, preparing to hire more rank-and-file cops – should help trim the massive overtime in the Police Department, which has topped $1 million for the year to date, according to town CFO Shuaib Firozvi.
Another sales point the chief served up was that additional four sergeants would bring that rank up to one below the optimum number of 19 called for in the Police Department’s Table of Organization while increasing the number of captains to the T.O. standard of nine.
Sergeants currently earn about $124,000 a year, plus health benefits, while lieutenants collect about $140,000, plus benefits. Santos and Dowie said the town should see some savings in the long run, however, because under the current PBA contract, it will take two years for superiors named after Jan. 1, 2013, to reach their maximum pay level.
The mayor and council have agreed in principle to hire up to 10 more rank-and-file cops, according to Dowie, who said the town should also see some savings down the road because it now takes 12 years for officers to reach their maximum pay grade.
A newly issued appointment list, as certified by the state Civil Service Commission, for police officer in Kearny triggered frustration voiced by a member of the Kearny PD during the public portion of Wednesday’s council meeting.
Det. Steven Podolski, a veteran member of the police force, spoke on behalf of 10 Kearny residents who applied to take the state Civil Service test for police officer and were upset about the process which involves a procedure mandated by U.S. District Court, dating from 1991, which stems from an NAACP lawsuit alleging that Kearny’s municipal hiring practices were discriminatory.
The court stipulated initially that, to achieve “racial diversity” in its employee mix, Kearny was compelled to establish an applicant pool drawn from residents of Kearny and Essex County. Kearny challenged that pool as too broad and unfair to its residents and in 2002 the court modified the territorial pool to Kearny and Newark residents.
Earlier this year, Santos said, things became muddled when in anticipating of hiring more cops, Kearny asked Civil Service to certify an updated appointment list and, in response, the mayor said, the agency inadvertently issued a Kearny resident-only list, reportedly containing the names of 75 Kearny residents as potential hirees.
Then, the mayor said, the agency ended up retracting that list and issued a new list with the names of only 16 Kearny residents and the balance from Newark. Some of the contingent that showed up Wednesday at Town Hall are no longer on the list while a few now find themselves farther down on the list, Podolski told the governing body.
Podolski reasoned that it makes more sense for the town to appoint Kearny residents, since cops who live in town will have more of a stake in keeping the town safer and will be more likely to spend their money in town.
“We agree that it’s important to hire local residents for security and economy reasons,” said Santos, “but unless there are changes in federal law that would allow us to challenge the consent decree that obligates us, we can’t ignore it.”
Meanwhile, the town is responding to other public safety needs. On Wednesday, the council voted to introduce a $2 million bond ordinance that would earmark $600,000 for the “acquisition of patrol sport utility vehicles with equipment” and $300,000 for “computer infrastructure and equipment” for the Police Department, along with $350,000 for “equipment and turnout gear” for the Fire Department.
Other projects to be funded from the bond – which must be approved by the state Local Finance Board – include “acquisition/installation of fiber optic and computer infrastructure town-wide” for $400,000 and acquisition of a “dump truck, a pickup truck and a utility van” for the Public Works Department.
The council also authorized the Fire Department to apply to the federal Assistance to Firefighters grant program for $950,000 toward the cost of a new aerial ladder truck and for $600,000 to subsidize acquisition of more than 40 self-contained oxygen packs. Each would require a 25% local match. Fire Chief Steve Dyl said the new rig would replace a 1990 truck which has required more maintenance each year. He said the department’s current oxygen packs are “over 20 years old” and need to be replaced.
