Residents Want More Answers on Police Merger Plan

About 100 residents attended a meeting of Scotch Plains and Fanwood councils Monday night at the high school to hear a proposed plan for combining the police departments in the two towns. 

Mayors Kevin Glover and Colleen Mahr and Police Chiefs Brian Mahoney and Richard Trigo presented the plan, which they say would provide better policing at a lower cost to both towns. 

The merger would involve a "joint meeting" structure between the towns, they explained. The joint meeting structure includes a three-person committee that oversees the department, composed of a representative from each town, and a third person chosen by those representatives. That committee would be in charge of the department's budget and requesting capital improvements from the council. Under that committee would be an Executive Director position to be filled by someone with experience in law enforcement (perhaps one of the two chiefs), followed by a Chief of Police for the joint department (again, to likely be filled by one of the chiefs). The Scotch Plains police station would serve as police headquarters, while Fanwood headquarters would remain open as a satellite station.

The merger plan includes reducing the combined force by five men (to 56 sworn officers from 61 currently), while yet providing more "boots on the ground" for patrol, explained the chiefs. The reduction would come from attrition through retirements and not layoffs, they said. The plan estimates the reduction in officers and changes in administration would create a cost-savings of about one million dollars per year every year going forward (about $750K in savings for Scotch Plains and $250K in savings for Fanwood). The transition costs in year one – an estimated $210K  – would bring that figure down to about $870K for the first year. Over five years, officials estimate the cost-savings to be $4.54 million.

In a slide in the presentation, cost-savings were further broken down by the savings for the average assessed home in both towns. In Scotch Plains, the average assessed home would save approximately $80 per year in taxes. In Fanwood, the savings would be about $85.  

"There is a shrinking revenue," said Mayor Mahr. "There is no such thing as state aid anymore. Those days are over and we have residents struggling here to pay their taxes. This is why Fanwood has been focused on redevelopment, to expand our tax base."

"And look where we are right now. We already share the biggest line item on your tax bill," Mahr added, alluding to the shared Board of Education. She also noted that this plan was conceived with the police chiefs' cooperation and support, saying "we would not be standing here if they were not standing next to us." 

"No plan has been finalized," said Mayor Glover. "This is the opening volley to tell you where we have come since last year. The original merger study was presented in 2009 and if I haven’t heard it once heard I've heard it 100 times - residents asking me 'when is it going to happen?' Well we are there, we can be there, with better service and better policing at a lower cost."

Glover added that policing is one of the largest items in municipal taxes, costing roughly 30 percent of the total budget.

The chiefs explained the plan for deploying officers and how merging would provide more officers available for patrol. Using a slide with a new patrol map for the two towns, the chiefs explained how six "sliding districts" would enable officers to fill in the gaps in patrol when other officers are on motor vehicle stops or making arrests. They also stated that currently the minimum amount of officers patrolling in Scotch Plains is three, and in Fanwood is two, but with the new plan there would be about six to eight patrolling officers, plus two to three supervisors at any given time.

"We are in a suburban community but could have an urban response time," said Trigo. "Plus, we could do a better job with community policing – the bike patrol that doesn’t get out enough, we could have more walking and parking patrolling, get out more in the business districts and be seen more." 

"And in both communities, when we deal with short staffing or vacations or sick time there are less officers on street," added Mahoney. "If we put the departments together, you will have more officers on the streets in patrol. We would accomplish that by eliminating some of the duplicate efforts at the top. You would then have more patrol officers and supervisors to respond in the public, we could improve scheduling, have increased coverage with more direct supervision, more flexibility in deployment and reduce overtime."

Mahoney also pointed out that in Scotch Plains, officers already have to travel through Fanwood to get from the one side of town to the other. 

After hearing the plan, several residents had more questions than panelists could answer and asked the governing bodies to perform more "due diligence" before making a decision. Several council members also voiced uncertainty about the plan, with some questioning whether the joint meeting structure, which has not been done in any other police department merger in the state, was the right way to combine the departments. Others expressed their support for the plan. 

"I’m very comfortable that we have reached a point where we can do right thing by the people who protect us every day and the right thing by people in both communities," said Scotch Plains Deputy Mayor Colleen Gialanella. "The deal as it is being introduced, to my understanding, can move forward without demotions, without layoffs and with significant savings for both communities. As a sworn official, I would find it difficult to not be in support of such a proposal."

Scotch Plains Councilman Bo Vastine has been vocal about his opposition to the structure of the merger as a "joint meeting," expressing his concerns that he doesn't want political appointees overseeing the police department and that it is unfair for Scotch Plains to bear 75 percent of the cost of the department with only one representative, and thereby a third of the sway, on the joint committee.

"I wholeheartedly support a merger or shared service to save taxpayers money," said Vastine. "But I cannot support the joint meeting as structured. ... Despite the fact that nearly 20 towns have entered police shared service agreements, none has ever decided to establish the joint meeting structure that we are now being told is our only choice."    

Vastine also argued that there were too many unanswered questions about the details of merging in this way and felt the mayors convened the meeting prematurely. 

"Why are we meeting two weeks before an election if we don’t have all of these answers to set before you?" asked Vastine. "It's a little strange to me."

Mahr and Glover countered Vastine's comments by saying that a joint meeting was the only structure that would work since both towns are unwilling to give up control of their departments. They also argued that the meeting was just the beginning of the process to finalize details and a way to let the public in on the plan sooner than later.

Most of the Fanwood council members expressed strong support for the plan, except for Kathy Mitchell who said she was only 90 percent sure and Councilman and Former Police Chief Anthony Parenti, who said he was on the fence and eager to hear from residents and the PBA.

"There are two people I really trust on this issue – Chief Mahoney and Chief Trigo," said Fanwood Councilman Kevin Boris. "And the organizational plan that those two chiefs have come up with over the past years, years of study, is not theoretical. It is more boots on the ground for less money. If someone asked me, 'Mr. Boris, would you pay more in taxes to have more boots on ground?' I would say yes. This is an option for more boots on ground and to save money."

During the public comment section of the meeting, most residents to take the mic were critical of the plan or expressed confusion about the different ways to merge the departments.

"It seems to me there is a lot of homework left to be done here," said Fanwood resident Harry McNally. "I'm almost getting the sense that my time tonight is being a little wasted. I thought we had more answers. I thought you were speaking quite conclusively, but now I find the statements of council people that they haven’t heard the information you gave to public in same way and haven’t come across in full support."

Other residents questioned whether the savings was enough to warrant such a big move, as many voiced praise for the way the departments run currently.

"Okay, so $85 a year is about $7 per month...so, like they say 'for the price of a cup of coffee,' for $1.85 a week do we get to choose whether or not we are doing this?" asked Fanwood resident Jason Benedict. "The murmurs out here are that this is a done deal. I would like to see the rest of the facts to see what I'm giving up."

When Mahr asked Benedict to explain what he believed he was giving up, he replied, "The unknown. I know what Chief Trigo and the Fanwood Police Department give me today. I don't know what I will get tomorrow."

Trigo thanked residents for the kind words, but assured them that the change wouldn't change their level of service. 

"I appreciate all kind words and how safe you feel, but let me give you an idea of what Chief Mahoney and I were alluding to before," said Trigo. "There's something called a Uniform Crime Report, and in it, Scotch Plains and Fanwood mirror each other. It's not like one town is worse than the other. And the service you get is from the men and women of the police departments that carry it out, and they will deliver the same service you are getting today because of their dedication."

Some of those who spoke also suggested the matter be put out to a vote. 

Allan Roth, Fanwood's labor attorney, explained the next steps if the plan moves forward as is. First would be an "Employment Reconciliation Plan" to deal with reconciling seniority issues, given the fact that Scotch Plains is a civil service department while Fanwood is not. Then, the towns would finalize and both sign a joint meeting contract and pass ordinances creating the merger. Finally, the departments would perform the necessary transition tasks in the first quarter of 2014 and by fully merged and operational, with new police contracts, by the fourth quarter of 2014.

The councils will take the feedback into consideration as they meet again to decide the next step in the process, said Mayor Mahr.