CAPE MAY – Cape May’s special committee looking into fire department staffing reported its recommendations to City Council July 7.
The recommendations were well received by council and call for hiring three new full-time career firefighter/EMTs, increasing the year-round staffing levels from four to five on each 24-hour shift.
In addition, the city already increased the seasonal staffing from one to two per shift for the four month period from mid-May to mid-September. The recommendations included maintaining that augmented seasonal support in addition to the increases in career staffing.
In a presentation, City Manager Bruce MacLeod said the city’s next task would be deciding how to pay for the increases while staying under the 2 percent cap on tax levy increases.
The estimate is that each new career member of the department will cost approximately $75,000 when all related expenses are considered. The implication of MacLeod’s comments was that some form of reallocation of funds may be necessary in addition to support from any increase in the levy.
The four person committee held two public hearings on the fire department staffing issues. The effort was guided by a report put together by Chief Alex Coulter.
MacLeod and Coulter were members of the committee along with Councilmembers Shaine Meier and Bea Pessagno. The committee was appointed after public concerns grew following a $70,000 reduction in the department’s budget as part of the city manager’s proposed 2015 budget.
In this instance the city and a group of concerned citizens worked out a resolution that council embraced. Coulter said that the recommended staffing increases “meet my immediate needs.”
The city is also supported by West Cape May Volunteer Fire Department and the U. S. Coast Guard Training Center Fire Department when responding to alarms.
Police Department
An area where the city’s governing body and a group of vocal citizens are still at odds is the continuing controversy over the police department.
In a closed session two weeks ago, the city decided to take disciplinary action against Lt. Chuck Lear, whose use of compensatory time began a chain reaction in early March. Council rescinded the appointment of Robert Sheehan as chief of police because of his potential involvement in Lear’s use of compensatory time which the city maintains was a violation of Lear’s contract and an abuse of city personnel policy.
That issue, which first emerged in the summer of 2014, was one which then deputy mayor Jack Wichterman said he saw as an administrative one to be dealt with by the city manager.
Wichterman, who retired from the council, is back on that body precisely because the matter was never satisfactorily resolved. The action against Sheehan in March led to the resignation of new councilman Jerry Inderwies Jr. and eventually to Wichterman’s appointment to fill the vacant council seat.
The controversy mushroomed into one that led the county prosecutor to install a monitor in the police department; a suit by the city to force the prosecutor to remove the monitor; and a suit by Sheehan seeking reinstatement as chief along with damages.
The issue remains one that has alienated council from a group of citizens who raise the issue during the public comment period of every council meeting.
The city’s action against Lear will lead to a hearing in which Pessagno hopes “we will finally get the answers.”
For Meier, who two weeks ago supported the move by the city to take disciplinary action, “This is a matter in which no one will look good in the end.”
Council passed a resolution to contract for the services of retired Superior Court Judge Richard Williams to serve as the hearing officer for the Lear action. City Solicitor Anthony Monzo made clear the limits of Williams’ authority. As the hearing officer, Williams will make recommendations to the governing body, but all decisions rest with council.
MacLeod said that Lear had not yet said whether he wanted the hearing to be public or private. If public, the city is likely to be treated to yet another round of controversy similar to that which emanated from the March 3 meeting regarding Sheehan.
Both Sheehan and Lear remain as top two officers in the command structure of the police department.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
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