Letter to the Editor: Haunting Past of Future Deputy & New Chief of MPD

 A reader has sent us the following past news articles regarding the history of Mayor Dan/Lisa's appointment of Officer McKenna to police chief and  the rumored  future appointment of current Captain Michael Timbro to Deputy Chief.  Mayor Drew recently suggested changes to the personnel job criteria to allow for an internal hire. Although the staff of the Insider has not formed an opinion of these appointments, and remains open minded; we offer the following article excerpts submitted by a reader posted for discussion purposes, and consideration by other readers. The Insider staff has received multiple letters and questions regarding the police chief/deputy situation and are aware this is of great concern to our readers. All  authors  of these letters have expressed the same fear of retaliation if public concern is raised; therefore, for their protection, we will not name any of our sources should they choose to come forward and seek our help.

The articles outline the relationship between Councilman and then Mayor Tom Serra ( a former Vinal Tech principal) and the officers, as well as the officers' pasts. Our source points out, which is evident in the news articles cited below, the Serracrat regime has changed the hiring criteria for police officers once before, to benefit officers McKenna and Timbro.

Readers following the police department situation may also be interested in our previous post outlining how wife of an officer voted to make personnel changes in thedepartment:http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/09/something-about-mary-wife-of-cop-votes.html
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From the Hartford Courant, 11/5/05

"Hertler and Morron allege that Thornton, Brymer and Pessina took the side of Timbro following a December 2003 confrontation between the sergeant and the two officers. Timbro was returning home with his family that day when he was stopped at an emergency roadblock where Hertler and Morron were working. Police reports say Timbro was upset because he was denied access.

Hertler, Morron and other witnesses at the scene said Timbro became enraged and ran the roadblock. The officers filed a complaint against Timbro. When they failed to get a response from the police administration, the officers complained to city hall.

The confrontation eventually became the focus of a criminal probe, although Timbro was never charged. He was suspended for three days after an internal police investigation."

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From the Hartford Courant, 4/6/1995

"Mayor Thomas J. Serra on Wednesday defended his hiring of three new city police officers, even though all of them failed to make a recommended hiring list provided by the police department after extensive background checks.

``They met the criteria and they all come from good, decent, long-standing Middletown families,'' Serra said. ``I am a residency person, and they met the qualifications.''

Serra's decision to hire the officers, despite the advice of police professionals, has prompted former political rival Maria Madsen Holzberg to call for sweeping reforms in the city's personnel policies and the mayor's hiring power.

Something About Mary: Wife of Cop Votes on Personnel Changes for Cops

Something about Councilwoman
Mary Bartolotta (D) is that she doesn't
 understand a conflict of interest when
a potential one is staring her in the face.

Taking a play from Councilwoman  Hope Kasper (D)- who got her son in law a pretty sweet deal over at the Board of Education as an illegally hired administrator with teacher benefits (read more here), Coucilwoman Mary Bartolotta (D) decided it was a-okay to vote for altered language in the qualifications for deputy police chief as part of the 3 councilperson Personnel Review Committee, despite the fact her husband is a police officer on the force. By voting, Bartolotta is setting up for a huge conflict, whether her husband is pursuing this position or not, one of his colleagues is.  
All police are on the same force and by that definition in some capacity work together. There is a great deal of trust officers must have for one another after all they are responsible at times for each others lives. Being distantly related with someone vs having a spouse's paycheck, work duty assignments, overtime, etc. related to a position of authority that one us voting on is far different.
Plenty of people who work for the city or hold elected positions are related and there is little to no conflict; we are pointing out a husband wife relationship is far different, and a relationships between officers are far different than that of typical office colleagues by far. Any question of possible strife that could arise from a conflict, even perceived that could jeopardize that relationship is point we were making .The Insider is far from alleging any bad cops here, but we ask: Could  sergeant  under a deputy that was chosen as having qualifications his wife shaped could have negative results? Favortism or lose of trust by other officers?
We hope not, but the conflict is still a possibility. 

The Courant published an article earlier in the week explaining Mayor Drew's "reasons"  for changing qualifications to exclude the need for any college experience, and the substitution of work experience. Earlier this year, Drew hired his unqualified neighbor as a favor for a dispatch position, the hire soon tanked. Let's cross our fingers Dano can be a better judge of  qualifications this time and puts personal feelings aside. If he can't Lisa Santangelo you can bet will have a say! Hopefully, these changes are in good faith to allow a qualified internal hire, and are not being tailored to only to fit someone who the Serracrats owe a favor to.
The only brave soul YET AGAIN, was Councilwoman (and Candidate for the 100th District) Deborah Kleckowski (R) who questioned the conflict of interest on the Council floor,  which yet was again was refuted by the Democrats on the council.
Should Bartolotta have voted?