Attempt to Reinstate Sheehan as Chief Defeated

CAPE MAY – City Council saw a surprise motion by Councilman Jack Wichterman June 16 to reinstate Robert Sheehan as chief of police. The motion was seconded by Shaine Meier who darted for his microphone when he heard the unexpected statement. Amid applause from the approximately 40 residents in attendance at the meeting, the motion went to a vote. The motion was defeated by a 2-2 vote with Mayor Edward Mahaney and Bea Pessagno voting no. Deputy Mayor Terri Swain was not at the meeting.
The long simmering controversy concerning Sheehan’s demotion at the March 3 meeting of the council has led to a group of citizens opposing council’s action in the case, a suit by Sheehan against the city over his demotion, the release of information by the city which County Prosecutor Robert Taylor, says was confidential to an internal investigation, the placement by Taylor of a monitor in the city’s police department, a suit by the city to have Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson force the prosecutor to remove the monitor, and a recent counterclaim by Taylor aimed at having the same judge disqualify current City Manager Bruce Macleod as the appropriate authority with certain oversight responsibilities for the department under the city’s form of government and its ordinances.
Meier has made similar motions to reinstate Sheehan in past meetings but was never able to gain a second for his motion. Wichterman prefaced his action, by saying that he has read “everything that has been written about the case.” He also reviewed the beginnings of the issues leading to the case that he said date to the summer of 2014 when he was deputy mayor.
Things began, according to Wichterman, with a letter from the police union which among other things pointed out that Captain Chuck Lear had been using comp time for overtime hours worked. The practice is one the city says is in violation of Lear’s contract and city policy. The city later reported that by its calculation the amount of paid leave at question was $11,000. Wichterman said that he saw this issue as an administrative one that would be “handled by Bruce as city manager.” He also said that the practice was an old one in place well before Sheehan became chief. Wichterman currently sits on the council as a replacement for Jerry Inderwies, Jr. who resigned over the Sheehan incident.
For Wichterman, the city has gone through too much controversy, expense and distraction over a practice that had been in place “for many years.” He stated that he understood the complications presented by the various lawsuits, but it “is time to move on.” In previous meetings, City Solicitor Anthony Monzo has spoken for the council in response to public questions and frequently pointed to Sheehan’s lawsuit as a constraint on council action to reconsider his appointment.
When the vote was taken on Wichterman’s motion, a groan erupted from the public in attendance when Pessagno voted no. “This has always been about the law,” Pessagno said. “If we don’t uphold the law then the police department doesn’t uphold the law.”
Former city police chief Bob Boyd said, “A contract was breached and the city knew about it for a very long time.”
The dispute with the County Prosecutor’s Office has been in part over this very issue. Taylor’s office, which would have authority over criminal matters, has consistently maintained that this is not a criminal matter. “If anything, it’s a dispute that should be solved in a civil forum,” Taylor said at the time of oral arguments before Judge Gibson. In his counterclaim against the city, Taylor references the city’s, in this case Bruce Macleod’s, reluctance to accept the decision that there is no violation of criminal law involved. Pessagno’s choice of language seemed to some to mean she is still seeing the matter in the wrong light. Boyd asked Pessagno, “What so you know that Wichterman and Meier don’t know?”
Pessagno also stated, prior to her vote, “We have to get answers.” The reference is to the city’s position that its own internal investigation, conducted by a retired state police detective, James Fallon, was never completed because it was subsumed under the prosecutor’s investigation. Since that time, the prosecutor has completed his investigation, and while the report is not public, public statements by the prosecutor show no indication that his earlier position has changed. The matter to Taylor is an administrative one.
The vote, according to Meier, showed progress, by which he meant the addition of Wichterman to the position taken by Meier that Sheehan should be reinstated. Yet the vote, along with a resolution approving a closed session concerning litigation related to the police department, give no indication that Cape May is close to a resolution on the matter. Negotiations with the Prosecutor’s Office concerning the city’s suit have been terminated and that matter is back before the court.
Several individuals praised the recent work of the city’s Fire Department Staffing Committee and urged the council to take a similar approach of public debate and information sharing as a means to resolve the police department issues. With the city’s population reaching its peak given the approach of the July 4th weekend, Pessagno said residents need not be concerned about the police department, which “is being taken care of” with Sheehan still in command as it ranking officer. Ironically, the command structure of the department is dependent upon the very two individual officers at the heart of the controversy with the city.
In a related matter, council’s agenda contained a resolution structured to place limits on public comment at council meetings. The measure would have limited frequency and time for public comment by any individual, have restricted speakers to comments rather than questions aimed at specific council members or officials, would have eliminated the public rebuttal to official responses to comments, and would have given the mayor greater discretion with respect to comments deemed derogatory to individual council members or officials.
Jerry Gaffney, who served 16 years on council including years as mayor, called the measure, “The single worst resolution I have ever seen.” After several members of the public urged council to vote no on the resolution, it seemed the measure had no real supporters on the council. Council members did speak out about what they saw as the lack of civility in public comment periods at recent meetings, but they also began to amend the resolution as the discussion progressed. It was never made clear who on the council had asked Monzo to draft the resolution.
Finally, Mahaney offered his support to delete the measure. Based on the discussion with the public on this resolution, Mahaney proposed “we go forward in good faith” to bring more civility to the comment period and “see how it goes.” That action earned the council a round of applause it has not heard as a body in recent months.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.