As one of the Democrats who voted against the confirmation of Deputy Chief McMahon for the permanent Chief position, I feel it is now my responsibility to explain the reasons for this vote. As I mentioned on Monday night, Deputy Chief McMahon has many of the attributes that a community would seek in a Police Chief. The members of various community groups spoke positively of their experiences and relations with Deputy Chief McMahon. I thank them for their willingness to come forward and think many of the actions and activities being taken by Deputy Chief McMahon are positive and show his commitment to community policing.
As Ed McKeon pointed out to me after the meeting, in a very succinct manner that my opinion was already made up before the public spoke. In fact, my opinion was formulated over a one week period after thinking a lot about the feedback I received from various members of the community, business community, a police officer and thinking about my own expectations for the Chief of Police. I also heard from other sources about Deputy Chief McMahon having an incendiary personality. I wondered if tasering of the high school student, arresting of the high school coaches, police presence at the BOE building, management of the police budget would be handled differently with another person leading the department and one committed to living in Middletown.
I agree with everyone that Deputy Chief McMahon may have the requisite background and experience to be a “Chief” but I could not ignore the information provided to me by Director Milardo with the results of the various evaluation groups. As part of the professional assessment results, Deputy Chief McMahon was rated “Moderately Acceptable” for the position. Two other candidates were rated higher “Significantly Acceptable”. Add to this the fact that one of the two oral panels (made up of individuals with no police experience) rated another candidate higher than Deputy Chief McMahon, began to cast doubt that the Mayor selected the best candidate. On the other hand, the first oral panel did select Deputy Chief McMahon as the best candidate. However, Personnel Director Milardo pointed out at the Council meeting that the mayor was involved in rating of the candidates for this first oral panel.
When I combined my informal conversations with community and business community individuals with questionable actions taken by the Chief as noted above, I was not comfortable placing Deputy Chief McMahon in a permanent position that he could occupy for years. I understand this vote becomes painful and hurtful to him, but my obligation and responsibility is to the entire City of Middletown. I can’t let feelings get in the way.
In response to Ed McKeon’s diatribe following the meeting, my notes were important to me because I spent a lot of time thinking about the issue facing me and how best to handle my vote. I wanted to make sure I conveyed the correct message to Deputy Chief McMahon and the public. I understand that Ed considers this disingenuous for those who spoke on his behalf but let me ask you: Ed, please tell me who came to the meeting not knowing how they planned to vote (Republican or Democrat)? This is not to say we don’t change our votes because we do and I have during the course of a meeting but for something of this importance I had to spend a great deal of time sorting out the pro’s and con’s. At least, I came prepared to be as accurate in my position as possible.
It is now my hope and obligation that Democrats and Republicans take a step back and look for an opportunity to meet in the near future to find common ground. I am willing to take the first step before any decisions are made by the Mayor or Personnel Dept. regarding the vacancy that still exists. I hope this doesn’t sound too Pollyanna because there is frustration on both sides of the political spectrum and we still need to work together.
To Deputy Chief McMahon and the other candidate, I want to apologize for the painful process you had to endure. While I have every right to my opinion and decision, that does not mean you should have to go through a meat grinder to receive it. It is my intention to support any initiatives to streamline the way we solicit and select candidates for leadership positions.
Lastly, whether the citizens chose to believe me or not, I can say unequivocally that my vote was not politically based. It was my attempt to balance my expectations for performance, value and leadership when it comes to the work of the police department in the City of Middletown.
7 comments:
Will all the democratic Councilmen please stop the public commenting? All it is doing is making you all look like a bunch of idiots.
Because there was so much public dissention, you are now trying to explain yourselves. Poor Monday morning quarterbacking skills.
All I remember hearing you say is that he was qualified for the position of Chief of Police. Yet you voted against Acting Police Chief Patrick McMahon which can only be seen as a political vote and nothing more.
Ron, I'm not sure what you are trying to say here about the decision about the chief (I hear a lot of gobbledy gook), but I did hear one thing, that you think that the Council and the Mayor should be working together. That's about the only thing I heard you say that made any sense to me.
Ron I charge you to stand up to Serra. Because I'm about ready to vote the entire bunch of you OUT because of the juvenile politic-playing and the lack of internal backbone to stand up to your fellow Democrats. I've watched how you guys have humiliated the Mayor over and over in his attempts to try to work together and now he has just given up (granted he is no model sometimes either but I've seen him try in the past.) He didn't start out feeling that way. I saw him try before you guys decided to be the bullies on the block showing him who's boss.
So now you want to get along? OK. Prove it.
Monday nights vote reconfirms how inept both the Republicans and Democrats really are. I do agree with thw Democrats that the Mayor should provide more info for the council to make a informed decision. Who in their right mind would vote for police chief based on a points system.
McMahon knew the conditions for his employment and was given a extenion. We tax payers should not pay for his transportation to Norwich. The only hope us tax payers have is to break the monopoly by the Republicans and Democrats
As a republican, fellow police officer AND Ron Klattenberg's daughter, I have to agree with my father's decision. Ron always takes the entire communities opinon's into consideration when determining what is in the best interest for the city of Middletown. It should also be noted that the Middletown Police Department's personnel should have a strong voice in determining that their department's needs are met and who is best suited to lead their department.
Just a quick comment based on Anonymous @8:37AM's request that the councilmen stop public comments. To the contrary, please continue, and let's keep having the rest of us citizens speak up too. I'm not naive: I don't think that these comments will magically fix a situation that seems pretty broken here in town. But surely it's a good thing to hear people state their reasons. We may not find the reasons convincing (some have been more convincing than others, to me, and this will help me figure out whom to support in the future), and we may doubt whether all the motivations behind the vote have been publically stated. But the conversation is healthy!
The problem with this issue is that it is literally tearing the City apart. Whatever you believe, and whomever you listen to there is one set of facts that have to be followed. Some of the conversation is healthy for any City. But when people attack one another because of their opinion, affiliation, or employment choices its very wrong. The Mayor appoints and the Common Council approves or rejects. I have watched friends on both sides of the aisle attack one another and to be frank I find it disturbing.
Although it can be seen as healthy I believe that we can all do something to "police" our own behavior. Lets all try and remember it is ok to disagree. Make sure you are civil and respect one anothers difference of opinion. Bottom line is that Middletown and her residents suffer when common ground cannot be found. I make mistakes just as every other human being. Hopefully I learn from them and better myself for the next lesson.
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