W. Caldwell Police Agreement Awaits Formal Approval

A tumultuous week between the Township of West Caldwell and its police department—spurred by the termination of two officers and the demotion of four others that resulted in some protestors calling Mayor Joseph Tempesta the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas"—ended with some holiday cheer just in time for the new year.

As first reported by The Caldwells Patch on Thursday, the town and police reached an agreement late Wednesday night that will save the department from any layoffs or demotions and the municipality just under $130,000 a year.

"I'm happy to report today that we have come to a conclusion," Tempesta said at Sunday's re-organization meeting at the municipal building. "There will be no officers who will lose their jobs, their ranks will be restored. I will tell you that there was tremendous sacrifice done by the officers on major contributions on their part.

"They've always been there for us. It's a great department. They make sacrifices for us on a day-in and day-out basis. They came through again for us and we're very, very fortunate to have, in my opinion, certainly one of the best departments in West Essex and one of the top departments in the state of New Jersey."

Tempesta began the negotiations with the police department shortly after Monday, Dec. 21, when two officers were notified they would be terminated and four others were told they would be demoted, effective Dec. 31.

Following the first negotiation session, the mayor was joined for the two other meetings by newly appointed Council President Joseph Cecere and Councilman Richard Otterbein. The police were represented by Lt. Michael Moran, Lt. Ed Nemeth, Sgt. Dan Gorman, Crpl. Don Hayes and Patrol Officer Paul Vanikiotis.

After three meetings that totaled approximately 15 hours, both sides reached a verbal agreement Wednesday night that will prevent any police cutbacks and save the town approximately $130,000 a year.

"It took a lot of work on both sides," Otterbein said. "The agreement has not been signed yet. The council hasn't been able to ratify it yet. There's an agreement in writing, but the council still needs to complete its review and it needs to be signed."

According to Police Chief Michael Bramhall, the police department has completed its modifications to the settlement, which was unanimously approved by the Policeman's Benevolent Association West Essex Local 81. The agreement has now been sent to the town and is awaiting council's review and approval.

"Now we can get back to the business of police work. Not that we ever stopped doing our jobs, but I certainly feel this was something that weighed heavily on everyone's minds," Bramhall said. "It's a relief for the whole department. Certainly no one wanted to see those officers leave. We all came together and reached an agreement that will alleviate the need for the layoffs."

Among the police concessions will be the elimination of paid overtime for officers to attend state-mandated training sessions.

According to Bramhall, the training is done predominantly at headquarters and encompasses approximately 36 hours that are spread out throughout the year. The sessions include firearms training, use of force, domestic violence updated training, pursuit, self-defense and baton training.

Instead of overtime, the officers will now receive "comp" time for the hours spent during training.

Additional concessions were made by the department, but are not official until the town reviews, ratifies and approves the settlement. Otterbein said he hopes the resolution is completed by the end of the month.

In addition to the approximate $130,000 savings this year, the town's expenses could be reduced further with five officers eligible for retirement in 2011.

"The PBA expressed to the town that there were a number of officers who could be retiring in 2011 that could assist with the town's budget," Bramhall said. "While the town appreciated the PBA recognizing the town's budget constraints, the immediate concern was now and getting through the 2010 budget year."

Faced with a projected $1.1. million deficit for 2010 that needs to be balanced by March 31, the town planned to save $250,000 with the original police layoffs. Now the municipality will likely turn to its surplus to make up the difference from the agreement reached with the police.

"We have a surplus of money," Cecere said. "That's something we don't want to have to dip into too much, especially in these economic times. But we agreed to do that to cover the difference if they met us halfway."

But using surplus money—something the town needed to do in 2009—isn't something Otterbein is in favor of.

"Expenses are rising and revenues are down," Otterbein said. "We've had to dip into the surplus last year. We've gone into it as far as we can. I have difficulty making the decision to go to the surplus. If you keep going to the surplus and you go so deep, you have to make that up somehow. You need to raise that money to replenish the money you took. In these economic times, that's a tough thing to do."

The town's deficit has resulted in the elimination of three full-time municipal positions in addition to several other part-time jobs. Tempesta said during his mayoral address Sunday that more layoffs will likely not be necessary, but the elimination of certain services and the consolidation of departments with surrounding municipalities remains a possibility.

Otterbein said the town needs to focus on finding creative ways of reducing expenses.

"There's only so much we can raise in taxes," Otterbein said. "We have to find other ways of tightening our belts in other parts of the budget. We're satisfied with what we got out of the police department for what we needed to meet our budget demands."

The uncertain future of the six officers during the holiday week resulted in a , when approximately 100 protestors voiced their support for the police outside the municipal building. 

The unrest was felt by many in town, including Cecere, a lifelong friend of many members of the police department.

"These have been the toughest weeks of my life. I'm good friends with a lot of the police officers on the force," he said. "A lot of them are lifelong West Caldwell residents like myself. I went to high school with some of them. It wasn't easy, but I knew once we all sat down face-to-face, things would get settled. The police need to be commended for the effort they put forth and the sacrifices they made."