SPRINGFIELD: Petition challenges law

Referendum could decide safety director post

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   SPRINGFIELD — After a similar measure was defeated by petition earlier this year, a second ordinance to establish a part-time, civilian public safety director as the head of the Police Department is now being challenged by petitioning residents.
   The revised ordinance, adopted Aug. 12, spells out the structure of the department, which was left general and at the Township Council’s discretion in the earlier, defeated version of the law.
   The new ordinance calls for the public safety director, one lieutenant, one sergeant and six full-time officers, which Mayor Denis McDaniel said is similar to the department’s current composition of two sergeants and six officers.
   While he said the naming of the lieutenant would be a personnel decision, he added that if the ordinance goes into effect, “it would probably be someone from the existing force.”
   According to state law, the Township Council has the option of holding a referendum instead of rescinding the ordinance. In the spring, the council opted not to do so because time limits in the law would have required a special election, which would have cost the township about $15,000.
   But with the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election now approaching, Mayor McDaniel said he intends to put the question before voters. That issue will be decided at the council’s work session tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 2159 Jackonsville-Jobstown Road.
   ”I do not understand their objections,” Mayor McDaniel said of the petitioners. “I’m going to support a referendum at this point… I would hope that the voters would study the issue, look at both sides, and make an informed decision.”
   There is “no difference whatsoever” between the public safety director position in the first and second ordinances, he said, adding the arguments for the change are the same as before.
   One is cost — the mayor estimated the township could save about $100,000 a year over the salary and benefits of a chief. The new departmental structure also would give the police some civilian oversight, he added.
   ”The commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the president, the governor is commander-in-chief of the New Jersey National Guard, and it makes sense for elected officials to perform oversight over an armed and uniformed force,” Mayor McDaniel said. “I feel very strongly about that.”
   Jobstown resident Bill Seaman, whose name is listed first for the Committee of Petitioners, said Wednesday he believes the new ordinance is “non-effective, non-efficient, it’s a bad use of resources, and quite frankly their reasons for doing it don’t really hold water.”
   Specifically, he said he believes the mayor’s cost-savings estimate is overly optimistic, that there is already civilian oversight of township police, and that the ordinance would eliminate the “line of supervision” within the department.
   Mr. Seaman, a retired Trenton police captain, also said he felt the township is going against the will of the residents. He cited the Township Council’s unanimous vote to adopt the first police ordinance despite a large crowd at the meeting speaking mostly against it. The petition committee made a special effort, he said, to get new people to sign the second petition.
   Township Clerk Patty Clayton said Tuesday she had verified the necessary 145 signatures required to make the petition valid, and estimated there were about 400 total. The document was filed Friday.
   In May, the Township Council voted unanimously to rescind the old public safety director ordinance after a petition seeking to block the ordinance garnered about 550 signatures, well over the 146 required to be effective.
   These two petitions represent the first two times a Springfield law has been challenged in such a manner.
   The township has not had a chief since February 2008, when former Chief Kenneth Gerber retired. Sgt. Eric Trout has been the officer in charge of the eight-officer department since then, and Mayor McDaniel has said repeatedly the proposed change is not related to Sgt. Trout’s performance.
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