BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
JACKSON — Township Committee members are not speaking with Jackson police PBA members, but the community’s new business administrator, Andrew J. Salerno, is listening to their concerns.
Following an impasse in talks between municipal officials and PBA Local 168, which represents officers in the Jackson Police Department, Salerno met with PBA President Christopher Parise, Vice President Joseph Candido and former Vice President Frank Cipully on Nov. 1.
Both sides labeled the talks productive and encouraging.
“We brought him up to speed on the issues facing the department,” Parise said. “He offered to have these matters addressed and to act as a liaison with the Township Committee in order to bring the parties together and have these matters addressed.”
PBA members picketed the committee’s last meeting prior to Election Day after they said relations had cooled between both sides.
Mayor Sean Giblin, who addressed the issue on Oct. 25, said the committee refused to continue talks after PBA representatives declined a request to provide what he described as a secret tape made of the discussion.
That is a charge Parise said is puzzling and misleading. He said the executive board of the PBA met with Giblin and Committeeman Michael Broderick, the liaison to the police department. All the participants had been given a pad of paper on which to take notes, said Parise. The PBA representatives also placed a tape recorder on the table in full view of everyone there to record what was discussed. He said there was also a tape recorder on the table that belonged to the township and was covered by a book. Parise said he did not know whether that machine was recording the discussion, too.
“Mr. Broderick probably took 10 or 12 pages of notes at this meeting so why he would want the tape [is beyond me],” said Parise.
After the meeting, the department launched an internal affairs investigation into former PBA President Joseph Oleksy for alleged improper dissemination of police department records. Parise said the PBA viewed the action as retribution.
“A couple of weeks later they wanted a copy of this tape after Joe was served with an investigation report,” said Parise.
Parise also denied Giblin’s assertion that the PBA was demanding the re-moval of Public Safety Director Samuel DePasquale and Patrol Capt. Chris-topher Dunton. He said he made the same denial to Salerno during the PBA’s meeting with him on Monday and reiterated the concerns that did matter to the union.
“What we told Mr. Salerno … is that the rank and structure of the police department needs to be re-evaluated,” said Parise. “We have fewer supervisors [on the road] than we did in 1980.”
Parise said although Township Com-mittee members have stated that 35 officers have been hired since 1999, the actual number still working is one-third that figure. Attrition, resignations, firings and those who did not graduate from the police academy accounted for a net gain in the past five years of only 12 officers, he said.
“Considering the population explosion in the same time period, that equates to barely two people each year for a population now estimated at 50,000 people spread out over 100 square miles,” Parise said.
The PBA president said the PBA was pleased with the progress the committee has made in replacing the current police radio system. Bids for a new radio system are being solicited. However, he and other officers bristled at the memory of a comment made by Broderick, who said the officers were being paid $85,000 a year to ride around in a car.
“What Mr. Broderick said about Jackson police officers … was disgraceful and he should be ashamed of himself, especially coming from someone claiming to be a former police officer,” said Parise.
Democrats on the committee justified their actions toward the PBA as cost containment.
However, Parise challenged Giblin’s assertion that the township hired an arbitrator to settle a contract dispute in order to get back a benefit of unlimited sick days to which they are entitled.
“The issue of unlimited sick time was not on the table,” said Parise. “It was never brought up. I have no idea why Mr. Giblin brought up our sick time as being a justification for the township to go to arbitration.”
Neither Giblin nor Broderick returned calls for comment on Monday. However, after the Tri-Town News made an Open Public Records Act request, Township Clerk Ann Marie Eden provided the cost of the township’s legal representation to settle the two-year dispute.
Giblin said at the committee meeting that the arbitrator’s services cost the township $4,300.
However, the township also used the services of labor attorneys James L. Plosia Jr. and Steven Glickman. Eden said that according to the finance department, Plosia did not bill Jackson for his services. The township replaced Plosia with Glickman, who billed the township $20,467 for his services.
“That’s everything with standard negotiations and arbitration,” Eden said.
Salerno said any future plans for the expansion of the police department will be addressed when the new municipal budget is formulated next year.
Parise was hopeful that Salerno would continue to meet with the union on a monthly basis in an attempt to resolve its members’ concerns.
“We’re glad we met with Mr. Salerno and we look forward to seeing what [can be achieved] as a result of it,” the PBA president said.
Salerno was equally pleased with the discussions of the first meeting.
“What we need to do is put the past behind us and move forward,” he said.