Video excerpt from Cape May City municipal website.
CAPE MAY – “What just happened here?” That question came from former Cape May Mayor Jerry Gaffney who expressed the shock and bewilderment of many who attended the Cape May City Council meeting March 3. In the space of about two hours, the city went from a council of five members to one of four and lost its police chief, actions no one saw coming.
The agenda for the meeting appeared innocuous, but anyone walking into the room knew instantly that something was about to happen. The audience was full of police brass, captains and chiefs from just about every municipality with a police force in the county. One agenda item, resolution 72, at the bottom of a routine list was “Resolution Pertaining to Robert E. Sheehan, Jr. as the Cape May City Chief of Police.”
Sheehan was appointed as chief March 4, 2014. He was one day shy of the end of his probationary period. A veteran of the Cape May force who had worked his way up from patrolman, Sheehan’s appointment last year was an occasion for each member of the then constituted council to praise the choice. Mayor Edward Mahaney called it “the right thing to do” as Sheehan took the helm of a department that polices the city, West Cape May and Cape May Point, the latter two municipalities based on a service agreement.
There was no public sense that Sheehan’s appointment was in danger and any cursory look at the agenda would have led most to conclude that it was time to make his appointment permanent. That was not the business of the day.
Quickly moving through the routine agenda, the council arrived at resolution 72 and went into closed session for over 40 minutes. When they returned, their split vote on the resolution resulted in Sheehan losing his position as chief and returning to the rank of captain.
Councilman Jerry Inderwies, a retired Cape May Fire Chief and one of the three new members of the council elected this past November, spoke out vehemently in Sheehan’s defense. Told he was out of order by Mahaney, Inderwies said he would not sit by “while a witch hunt was done against this man.”
Mahaney replied by telling Inderwies, “You’re free to go.” Inderwies then resigned his council seat and stormed from the room to the applause of the assembled police.
What Inderwies was referring to was a set of comments by some council members, by City Manager Bruce Macleod and by City Solicitor Anthony Monzo that alluded to an ongoing investigation by the county prosecutor’s office that involved Sheehan. Monzo several times read from a letter that was never taken out of its folder. No one would make public comment on the nature of the investigation and all claimed they were not allowed to speak about it. Yet the innuendo was out there and it was clear that the council had based its action, at least in part, on this issue.
Inderwies had a heated exchange with Macleod, claiming that no review of Sheehan had been done during his year in office and that his contract required such a review. He went so far as to move that the council investigate why the city manager had not performed the review and lost that vote 3-2 with only Council member Shaine Meier supporting his position. Inderwies had been the member of council who unsuccessfully opposed the new contract for Macleod only the month before on the grounds that the new members of council had not had sufficient time to evaluate the city manager.
Gaffney rose from his seat in the audience to give the council one chance to rethink the situation regarding Inderwies. He reminded the members that they had not voted to accept the resignation. He later said, “They could have then elected to not accept it and wait for things to cool down.” The council instead voted 4-0 to accept the resignation.
During public comment, Sheehan expressed his disappointment with the actions of the council and claimed that Monzo had misrepresented the investigation. Diane Sorantino, the previous Chief of Police and only one of a number of individuals who rose to defend Sheehan, told the council, “You all know Chief Sheehan is not the focus of the investigation.” She expressed the feeling of many of Sheehan’s supporters in the audience. “This is wrong!”
Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor is reported to have confirmed, following the meeting, “There is no criminal investigation against Chief Sheehan.”
Gaffney suggested to the council that it keep Sheehan as chief conditionally based on the final outcome of the investigation, but the council did not elect to consider that option. Questions directed to Macleod led him to explain that while Sheehan was returned to his rank as captain, he was the senior officer in the department and thus would continue to run the department until the council appointed a new chief. So whatever led council members to vote against Sheehan as chief did not extend to a concern about his continued management of the department.
The answer to Gaffney’s question on what happened here is unclear. Cape May is currently without a chief of police, although Captain Sheehan will still oversee the department. Council is now down from five to four members after Inderwies, the individual who received the most votes for the council in November 2014, resigned.
Council will have to appoint a new member to serve in Inderwies’ seat, but that person can only serve until the next general election. Less obviously, an investigation that was never explained to the public but now publicly hangs over the department will have to proceed to its conclusion at which time the public may be able to see if the actions at this meeting were sound.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
