Proposed Police Merger Dominates Discussion at Shared Services Forum

At the first of two public meetings on the shared services report Oct. 13, a majority of the Fanwood Borough Council, the chairman of the Fanwood Republican Committee and a representative of the Fanwood PBA said they opposed the report's recommendations, which include proposals for joint police and public works departments.

A majority of the residents who spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, however, voiced support for the report, which was published December 2009 and made public Sept. 8. They urged the Scotch Plains and Fanwood councils to quickly implement the report's recommendations.

Members of and candidates for the Scotch Plains Township Council, meanwhile, said they supported merging the police and public works departments. Some, however, said they disagreed with the methods proposed by the report.

The meeting was hosted by the Shared Services Coordinating Council, which includes Scotch Plains Mayor Nancy Malool and Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr, Scotch Plains Zoning Officer Bob LaCosta, Fanwood Clerk Eleanor McGovern, former Fanwood Councilwoman Donna Dolce, former Fanwood Councilman David Valian, Scotch Plains chief financial officer Lori Majeski and Scotch Plains Councilman Jeffrey Strauss.

About 50 residents and officials attended the meeting, which took place in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School auditorium. The audience was split roughly in half between township and borough residents, judging by a hand-count taken at the start of the forum.

Mayors Malool and Mahr opened and closed the proceedings. They declined to share their opinions on the report, and instead encouraged residents to read the 270-page document and discuss its recommendations with their neighbors. To view the report, click the PDF thumbnail above.

"The purpose of tonight is to hear from you," Malool said. "I think we can all agree that there's no way we can continue doing things the way we did before…. This report recommends one way, and we'd like to hear what you have to say."

Mahr agreed. "I think it goes without saying that we're all angry about property taxes. You're angry, I'm angry," she said. "This report is a road map for us."

Dan Mason, president of Jersey Professional Management of Cranford, which prepared the report, delivered a presentation that explained its recommendations. The Fanwood Police Department would become a part of the Scotch Plains Police Department, but the new shared department would operate a "Fanwood Patrol Division" out of the borough's current police headquarters. Two officers would patrol the borough from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with additional assistance as needed from Scotch Plains officers, and one officer would patrol the borough from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., also with help from Scotch Plains. Police administration, investigations and the municipal court, meanwhile, would be moved to Scotch Plains.

For public works, Fanwood would become the lead agency.

The report estimates that the police and public works mergers would save Scotch Plains and Fanwood about $1.5 million per year, largely through staff attrition. For the average property owner, that amounts to an annual savings of about $200. The report, however, offers an option of splitting the savings 75-25 between Scotch Plains and Fanwood, meaning that Scotch Plains residents would save slightly more, and Fanwood residents would save slightly less.

"$200 is better than zero, and better than $100," Mason said, adding that the savings per resident ultimately adds up. "They are real numbers that need to be considered."

While Mason spoke, members of the Fanwood Borough Council, seated two rows the from the front of the auditorium, at times shook their heads or muttered to one another.

"$200 per year per resident? Well, not to change the structure of the towns," Councilwoman Joan Wheeler said after the meeting. "Tonight, I would vote no. I don't see the benefits of it yet. Perhaps at a later time, I might."

Councilwoman Katherine Mitchell, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, agreed. "You need to show me in black and white that it's going to save the money that they think it's going to save," she said. "With the current information that I have, I would probably vote no."

Opposition to the report's recommendations transcended party lines. Joe Britt, chairman of the Fanwood Republican Committee, raised questions regarding how the report's recommendations, if implemented, would affect police operations in Fanwood.

"What is the impact on my service?" he asked, a hand on his hip. "Will it affect response time?"

"No," Mason replied.

"You can't guarantee that," Britt cut-in, his voice slightly raised. A smattering of applause followed the exchange. 

Councilman Anthony Parenti, a Republican running for reelection this year, also spoke. He was the only council member to address Mason and the Shared Services Coordinating Council during the public comment section of the meeting.

"Between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., you would have one patrol officer patrolling Fanwood," Parenti said. "We currently have two, one each within a half-mile. You're telling Joe Britt that the response time would be the same? How is that possible?" Republican Councilman Mike Szuch, as well as a Fanwood police officer representing the Fanwood PBA, later echoed Britt and Parenti's comments.

Mason worked to assure Britt, Parenti and the meeting's attendees that Jersey Professional Management had conducted thorough analyses of Scotch Plains and Fanwood's response times.

"We believe they will not be impacted," he said. Although the Fanwood Patrol Division would be reduced to one officer between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., he argued, that officer's patrol area would expand by only a half-mile. He also emphasized that the Fanwood officer would still be assisted by Scotch Plains officers.

Some details about the proposed police and public works merger, however, were not included in the shared services report, and only came to light during Wednesday's meeting. Most notably, Mason discussed how Scotch Plains, which is Civil Service, and Fanwood, which is not, would reconcile the differences that exist between those two organizational structures.

Each municipality would hire and pay its own police officers and DPW workers, Mason said, but those employees would still report to each department's respective "lead agency:" Scotch Plains for the police, and Fanwood for the DPW. As Councilwoman Mitchell and others pointed out, however, this approach still does not resolve how the Scotch Plains and Fanwood departments would address issues of rank, seniority, overtime and promotions, which differ between the Civil Service and non-Civil Service organizations.

"I was hearing information tonight that I had not heard before," Councilwoman Wheeler said. "I don't think additional information like that should come out in a public forum like this." 

Not everyone who spoke during the meeting opposed the report's recommendations. In fact, other than the Fanwood politicians, political figures and police who spoke, most of the residents who addressed Mason and the Coordinating Council, including Scotch Plains Planning Board Chairwoman Paulette Coronato, urged the Scotch Plains and Fanwood councils to implement the report's recommendations.

"This is the future," Coronato said. "We have to realize that's not like it was in 2000." Some applause, similar in level to what followed Britt's exchange, punctuated Coronato's comment. 

Scotch Plains council members and candidates for council also said they supported merging the police and DPW, if not necessarily by the method proposed in the report.

"A shared service on those two things is crucial," Deputy Mayor Dominick Bratti, who attended the meeting, said in a telephone interview. "I don't like the way the report does it." An Independent seeking reelection in November, he said he would support a "different mechanism." For example, "One option is to have one or the other town provide the service, and have the other town pay for it."

Councilman Kevin Glover, a Democrat also seeking reelection, said he, too, would support sharing the towns' police and public works departments. "I think not doing such would be a missed opportunity for our communities," he said during Patch's debate Oct. 11. Republican candidates for council Tony Patti, Sal Trifiro and William "Bo" Vastine also said they would support merging police and public works.

If the report's recommendations are to be implemented, they would need to be set-forth in a contract between Scotch Plains and Fanwood. The towns could hold an "optional advisory referendum" on the contract, Mason said, "but ultimately, it comes down to the town councils," which would each need to approve the contract by simple majority.

The contract would include a "sunset clause," which would end the shared services agreement after a specific date unless both councils decided to renew it. The contract would also include a "unilateral opt-out clause," which would allow either municipality to withdraw from the contract without penalty after four or five years, and a "mutual opt-out clause," which would allow both municipalities to withdraw after two or three years.

"Now we do have control over something," Malool said of the report and its recommendations. "Please talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends…. Let us know how you feel about this."

The next public meeting on the report will take place Wednesday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that if Scotch Plains and Fanwood divide the projected average savings of $200 per property owner per year 75-25, it would amount to an average savings of $150 for Scotch Plains property owners and $50 for Fanwood property owners. Those figures were incorrect.