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09/02/2020 12:11 AMThe Old Saybrook Police Commission (PC), during public comments at its Aug. 24 Zoom meeting, heard from two residents requesting more oversight, transparency, and accountability in its dealing with the public and the police department (OSPD).
Yet the PC voted 5 to 2 against Commissioner Rene Shippee’s motion to change the commission’s public point of contact, a proposal that would have removed Police Chief Michael A. Spera as the public’s sole contact for questions, suggestions, and complaints regarding OSPD and the PC, and instead refer them to the PC chair and the ranking minority party commissioner.
The PC tabled and will consider a draft communications plan proposed at the meeting by Spera, who said he composed it in response to concerns about transparency.
Oversight, Transparency, Accountability
Referring to an agenda item addressing the public point of contact for PC, Saybrook resident Linda Mahal stated that “Michael Spera is not an elected official, nor is he a disinterested clerk.”
Mahal argued that Spera’s position of power requires that “citizens need to be able to contact their elected commissioners...directly,” even more so than for other town boards and commissions. Contact information for at least one majority party commissioner and one minority party commissioner should be placed on the PC’s web page and the policy change added to the commission’s bylaws, she suggested.
Mahal next pointed to an agenda item addressing the public complaint process. At present, public complaints regarding members of the OSPD must be directed “to the chief of police or officers who report to him,” she said.
“If I understand correctly, these complaints are triaged, investigated, and resolved internally within and by members of the department,” she continued.
Recognizing the importance of confidentiality regarding personnel matters, Mahal said that democratic oversight is necessary to ensure that officers are protected as well as held to account. In addition, “[e]xcessive departmental secrecy has been shown to be a significant problem in the United States” and Old Saybrook is not immune, she said.
Mahal asked the PC to modify its policy so that copies of public complaints be distributed to all commissioners.
The second resident to speak, Mark Hand, asked that meeting agendas be made available on the website earlier than the usual 24 to 48 hours before the meeting to allow more members of the public to participate. (Connecticut law dictates that agendas for regular town municipal meetings must be made public at least 24 hours in advance.)
Similar to Mahal’s suggestion, Hand called for “publicly accessible contact information for individual commissioners” be made available so the “public can reach out to them with ideas or questions.” Directing those communications to Spera is not appropriate, he argued, as Spera himself could be the subject of them.
Last, Hand asked that a secretary be assigned specifically to take meeting minutes, rather than relying on an employee of OSPD, “which could be perceived as a conflict of interest.”
Meet the New Communications Plan
As part of his executive remarks, Spera presented a draft communications plan, which he suggested the PC could decide to codify in its bylaws.
Spera explained that a certain amount of mail addressed to the PC as a whole as well as to individual commissioners is delivered to the police department building. According to his plan, when OSPD received correspondence addressed to the PC as a whole, the commission chairman would be notified and he or she would “cause [it] to be opened and reviewed in a timely manner.”
If the correspondence were “operational,” which would include complaints against OSPD members, the chair would forward it to the chief of police. The chief would then inform the person who sent the letter that it was received.
“Non-operational” correspondence would be shared with the commissioners at the next regular PC meeting. If unsure about how to categorize the communication, the chair “may seek counsel, legal or otherwise” to make that determination.
Correspondence addressed to an individual member of the PC would be handled similarly, with the commissioner forwarding to the chief of police any correspondence that was “operational,” including complaints about OSPD members.
Spera’s plan did not specify how his plan differs from the current protocols for handling public correspondence to the commission.
Albert “Chubb” Wilcox, who was recently re-appointed to the PC by Saybrook First Selectman Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., upon the resignation of Loraine Cortese-Costa (D) in June, expressed concerns about correspondence addressed to the commission as a whole not being seen by all its members.
In addition, “I’m especially concerned that the commission hear of complaints that are directed to them from members of the public because of the Connecticut Constitution, that says that the commission is obligated to deal with those,” Wilcox said, a statement that was followed by more than 10 seconds of Zoom silence.
Connecticut state statutes sections 7-274 to 7-276 establish municipal police commissions and outline their duties.
PC Secretary Joseph Maselli explained that in response to a proposal to change procedures, the commission asks clarifying questions. It subsequently seeks legal advice and discusses it as an action item at a later meeting.
Wilcox asked whether alternative plans could be put forth and PC Chair Frank Keeney assured him that that is allowed.
Keeney said that the town attorneys should review Spera’s plan, which he maintained encouraged transparency, although he was not specific as to how.
Point of Contact
A later agenda item addressed the point of contact issue that had been raised by residents Mahal and Hand earlier in the meeting. Shippee proposed that Spera be replaced as the public point of contact with the chair and ranking minority member of the commission.
Shippee also proposed that PC members be furnished with “oldsaybrook.gov” email addresses that would be accessible on each commissioner’s own devices.
“That seems to be what people are asking for,” she said.
Maselli said that due to meeting procedures, her ideas would have to be considered separately and, because the second was not on the agenda, it would be postponed to a later meeting.
Shippee made the motion to change the point of contact, Wilcox seconded, and the council voted it down with Shippee and Wilcox the only commissioners in support.
The commission closed the meeting to the public for an executive session to discuss the “performance of a public official and a public employee,” indicating that personnel matters are not entirely handled internally by OSPD. The session included both town attorneys with Keeney saying in advance that he “may, at some point, invite the chief to join.”
When the PC returned, a further agenda item addressing letters of complaint and internal investigations was tabled “in light of the discussions that we’ve had and that the chief initiated in his last comments,” Wilcox said.
Also tabled, “in light of information that came up in our executive session,” suggested Wilcox, was an agenda item “initiating an inquiry of an internal investigation.”