City Challenges Prosecutor’s Police Department Monitor

CAPE MAY – “Lawyering up” is a phrase most often heard on TV police dramas, but Jerry Gaffney, a former mayor of the City of Cape May, used the term at the April 21 council meeting to describe the continuing controversy that has flowed unabated since March 3, when council voted to rescind the appointment of Robert Sheehan as police chief.
Gaffney used the public portion of the April 21 meeting to read into record a letter signed by him and three other former mayors and directed to the council, city Manager Bruce MacLeod, city Solicitor Anthony Monzo and Sheehan. The letter stated, “A simple labor dispute over compensatory time has mushroomed into something much larger.” It went on to call the situation in the city “completely unacceptable.”
The group of former mayors, Robert Elwell, Gaffney, Jerome Inderwies, Sr. and Thomas Phelan, proposed that all parties in the dispute agree to “have a professional labor mediator provided by the state meet with the mayor, city manager, a council representative, Sheehan, and a representative from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s office, in an effort to work out their differences in a mutually agreeable fashion.” The letter expresses the hope “that the city can move beyond the position we are now in and get back to the business of governing.”
Gaffney’s proposal followed an announcement from Monzo that the city has filed a suit to seek a “legal determination of whether or not city government has the right and responsibility to govern and supervise its municipal police force.” Monzo was reading from a prepared statement prepared by Todd Gelfand, a special counsel who is handing the suit for the city.
The suit was a reaction to the imposing of a monitor in the police department by County Prosecutor Robert Taylor. Monzo said that the presence of the monitor prevents MacLeod from the proper exercise of “control over the police department.”
Some members of council offered opinions on the proposal. All seemed inclined to favor the approach, but the caveat in each set of comments was that the situation had gone too far for this approach to work. Jack Wichterman, appointed to council April 2 to fill the vacant seat of Jerry Inderwies, Jr., said “There is nothing to do now but wait for the courts.” Bea Pessagno added that in the “courts we may get the justice we are seeking.”
For the first time, residents saw open criticism of MacLeod by council members. Wichterman pointed to a July 21 meeting that Macleod had with Lt. Chuck Lear and Sheehan concerning the issue of Lear’s use of compensatory time in alleged violation of his contract with the city.
“It was Bruce’s duty to say no, this cannot happen,” Wichterman added. “Unfortunately this did not happen and now there is nothing we can do but spend taxpayers’ money.” Wichterman expressed regret that he did not take a more active role as a council member last year with regard to the matter. “I thought it was an administrative matter that would be handled by Bruce and the police department.”
Robert Boyd, a former city police chief, also directly criticized MacLeod. “Bruce, this is your ballgame. You screwed up,” Boyd said. Boyd disputed the claim that the council and the city manager have any authority over the police department. Boyd continued to warn, as he has in previous meetings, “What you have done here is not going to get repaired easily.”
Charles Hendricks read an email from Ben Miller in which Miller argued that “the statements of the County Prosecutor and previously unseen documents that came to light in Chief Sheehan’s lawsuit” have made it “apparent that the City Manager is at least one of the targets of the County Prosecutor’s investigation.” The email did not detail the documents that led him to that conclusion.
As the controversy continues to roil in the city, the city’s suit makes its way to Superior Court. Monzo said the court would take up the issue May 22.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.