Police chief to be paid
for unused sick leave
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — After a four-month delay, the township’s police chief can now rest assured he will receive a sick-time payout of $90,100 when he retires.
Thanks to the Township Council’s 8-1 decision Monday night, Police Chief Thomas Collow will see the unused sick leave money he accumulated over 25 years of service as an employee covered by a Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract.
Collow effectively forfeited access to that sick time payout after he was promoted Aug. 1 by then-Mayor Barbara Cannon from lieutenant to chief, a managerial position. However, the council’s approval of the ordinance first proposed by Cannon in November is a guarantee that Collow will receive the payout upon his retirement, despite his move from union to non-union status.
Collow is presently the only township employee affected by the measure, which will ultimately permit any municipal employee who gets promoted from a union job to a nonunion job to hold onto any sick pay accrued to date.
The affected employee must request the carryover within one year of promotion, a condition that amounts to an "internal inconsistency" within the ordinance, according to Council Vice President Patrick M. Gillespie.
On the advice of Township Attorney Jerome Convery, the council chose to vote on the ordinance despite the reservations of some members about that inconsistency.
The condition requiring an affected employee to request the sick time carryover within a year can be addressed later, Convery said.
Nonetheless, Ward 4 Councilman G. Kevin Calogera disagreed with Convery’s ruling and cast the sole dissenting vote.
"I would prefer that we clean this up first," said Calogera, who, like most of the governing body, is a Democrat.
At the Nov. 10 council meeting, Calogera, along with Ward 5 Councilman Richard Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Lucille Panos, both Republicans, had voted against tabling Cannon’s proposed ordinance.
Cannon left the mayoral office on Dec. 31 and was replaced by Jim Phillips.
Four Democrats who chose to table the ordinance at that time defended their decision by saying they wanted to first find out if other municipal employees besides Collow could be entitled to a similar benefit.
Councilman Edward Testino, Greene and present Council President William A. Baker were appointed by then-Council President Reginald Butler to explore the matter and to report to the reorganized council after the New Year.
Collow, Cannon’s selection over five police captains, succeeded Chief Jerry Palumbo, who retired on July 31.