Jan. 30 -- Today at 10 a.m. the town began the official process of selecting a new chief of police with a special meeting of the Police Commission at Police Headquarters on East Ridge. About twenty citizens joined the meeting to listen, learn and offer their two cents about a process which has not been exercised in Ridgefield for nearly a quarter of a century.
Chairing the meeting was Commission Chairman John Carney who started the meeting by stating that the Commission was there "to listen and to learn" about the public's ideas about a new Chief. Also attending were Commissioners Richard Terbrusch and Treat Walker; the remaining two commissioners were unable to attend for various reasons. The meeting was held in a functional but awkward training room on the second floor of the Police Dept.; space was limited and late arrivals disturbed the meeting with the struggle to find a seat.
First to speak was Ridgefield's self-appointed First Juvenile Delinquent, Tom Belote. He urged the Commission to appoint a new chief from within the ranks of the Ridgefield department because of the talent within the department, the positive impact such an appointment would have on morale, and because -- in his opinion -- a Town ordinance requires that the new chief be appointed "from within the ranks of the Department." Commissioner Terbrusch immediately challenged that assertion and cited court rulings indicating the Town Charter can supercede older ordinances which conflict with the Charter.
Tom Rotunda, the retiring Chief of Police, also spoke. He strongly urged that a new chief be appointed from within the Department, stating that promotions from within the Department demonstrates to younger officers that their career aspirations are achievable. He further suggested that any new Chief must live in town, not be required to work under a contract, and that executives from other Connecticut police departments could serve as valuable consultants in the search process.
Selectman Barbara Manners challenged Mr. Rotunda's suggestions. She argued that a thorough search for qualified candidates must include officers from other jurisdictions because (a) well-qualified people will be found in other towns, and their external viewpoint might provide useful in improving the Ridgefield force, and (b) to not search other communities would deprive a local candidate, if successful, of the honor and prestige of having competed against a larger field and winning on merit.
First Selectmen Morelli also challenged the ex-Chief, asserting that any new Chief must be hired on a contract -- three, four or even five years. The reason: unless they are hired under a contract, all Chiefs are protected from removal by a state law except for eggregious failure to perform their duties. "Other towns use contracts, in Connecticut and Pennsylvania and other states. There's no reason to assume a contract won't work well here, too," he said.
Other comments included:
After everyone had spoken, Chairman Carney reminded the audience that because the other Commissioners could not be in attendance no votes were to be taken. Another meeting on the same topic will be scheduled in the new few weeks for additional input from the public.
After the meeting, many persons stayed in the meeting room to banter about the concepts they had just heard. Mike Gates was encouraged by the developments, and by the number of people who gave up their Saturday morning to come to the Police Station. He strongly urged selection from within: "The issue is one of maximizing motivation. The Department is small, without a lot of room for special assignments or lateral career moves," he noted. "If you don't select from within and create opportunities for people to move up, it gets awful boring."
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