DeMarzo Swipes Police Department from Brannen

WILDWOOD — Despite a threat of resignation from their colleague and the obvious objections from a standing-room-only crowd in city hall, two commissioners approved a controversial departmental switcheroo, much to the chagrin of the other.
On Wed., Aug. 11, Mayor Gary DeMarzo, a former officer with a history of legal battles with the city and its police force, wrested control of the public safety department from the unwilling hands of Commissioner Al Brannen. DeMarzo and Commissioner Edward Harshaw approved the change, Brannen voted “no.”
While DeMarzo picked up Public Safety, Harshaw moved to Finance and Brannen was stuck with Public Works.
“I don’t want to take over public works in the middle of the summer,” Brannen said, noting that he didn’t know any of the employees’ names.
Brannen seemed very disappointed.
“Until a few weeks ago we were a team, I felt there was nothing we couldn’t do,” he said, admitting he was starting to get emotional. “If this is done tonight, I will, sometime in the future, resign.”
Prior to the vote, members of the police and fire departments voiced their opinions that making the change was a bad idea.
“It’s not sensible for you (DeMarzo) to be in charge of public safety,” said Chris D’Amico, a city fire captain. He noted DeMarzo’s ongoing litigation with the city and his contentious relationship with police management.
D’Amico also noted that Harshaw and Brannen had only been in their positions for eight months and were just beginning to feel comfortable doing their jobs. D’Amico and others especially noted Brannen’s good work in negotiating contracts with the police and fire departments.
“That’s just not good management,” he said.
Pointing to the crowd who applauded his remarks, D’Amico noted that “you got to look at what the people are asking.”
“I’m hard pressed to understand what your motivation is,” one resident said.
Chris Howard, the head of the county Fraternal Order of Police, foresaw huge conflicts of interest “if Gary takes over public safety.”
He said huge progress had been made under Brannen.
“Let’s keep it going the right way,” he said.
He called on DeMarzo to table the issue rather than having Harshaw make the difficult choice.
Mark D’Amico, a city police officer and volunteer firefighter, said all three had started to do good jobs in their departments.
“It’ll be bad for the citizens as well as the city employees,” he said.
Fire Chief Conrad Johnson pleaded that the “turmoil going on has to stop.”
“As a department head, please give us some sense of normalcy,” he asked. “Employees need to know it’s not going to change next month or next week.”
“I have a lot of faith in you mayor, but in switching now, I see more lawsuits,” he said. “I’d just like to see this thing tabled forever.”
The three commissioners then went into closed session for 15 minutes.
When they emerged, none looked happy.
“I’m aggravated these two gentlemen put me in this position,” Harshaw said. “Somebody’s not going to like me, somebody’s going to like me.”
In the end, Harshaw made his choice and voted with DeMarzo. It appears that Brannen will be the one to not like him.