Moore unanimously appointed to Police Department
Date: 12/26/2013
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comEAST LONGMEADOW – The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Steven Moore to the Police Department after interviewing two candidates for a vacancy on Dec. 18.
Moore, a former Marine, currently serves as an auxiliary officer in Belchertown where he said he performed all manner of police work, including accident response and arrests, with a full-time officer.
“Since I was a junior in high school, I was part of the student trooper program with the Massachusetts State Police and once I graduated from there, the next week I enlisted in the Marine Corps,” he said. “Ever since then I’ve been pushing myself to become a police officer full time.”
Moore is also a loss prevention officer with Sears.
Moore beat out one other candidate, Dennis Olisky, a former Department of Public Works (DPW) employee, who cited his “distinguished military career” in his interview.
“While both candidates had some good qualifications, I thought that Mr. Moore was more qualified, first of all, working for the Belchertown Police Department,” he said. “Both had positive characteristics, but I think Mr. Moore shone a little brighter in that regard.”
Selectman Angela Thorpe added that Moore had a significant number of certifications and citations that put him ahead of Olisky as well.
Selectman Debra Boronski said she was impressed by the fact that Moore knew at a young age that he wanted to be in law enforcement and took the initiative to work toward that goal while still in high school.
In addition to finding Moore’s resume impressive, the board had many concerns regarding the circumstances surrounding Olisky’s resignation from the DPW.
Other than Federici stating that the incident involved a generator at the DPW “during a time when the town was under great stress,” the specifics of his departure were not discussed openly. All three board members agreed that they felt he did not handle the situation properly, nor did he provide a satisfactory response when asked during his interview what he would have done differently.
“There was an incident that happened in town and the answers to the questions in regards to the handling of that incident didn’t, to my satisfaction, answer the question the way I would have wanted it answered,” Federici said.
*** Fire Deputy Chief Stephen Rybacki is scheduled to retire on Jan. 2, 2014, and Fire Chief Paul Morrissette said the department would like to send him off properly. Therefore at 1 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2014, the department will host a celebration of Rybacki’s career at 1 p.m. at the fire station.
In addition to planning his send off, Morrissette told the board he has been looking into the process for replacing Rybacki, something he said would not be done hastily.
“When Steve was selected deputy it was a pretty lengthy process. They put together an assessment committee and did an in-house assessment that took a decent amount of time,” he said. “Putting the process together isn’t something that happens overnight. I anticipate a [maximum] of five months until I come back to the board with a recommendation.”
In the meantime, Morrissette said, he planned to speak with his captains about taking on the deputy chief’s responsibilities on a rotating weekly basis.
“I anticipate all but one would be interested in it,” he said,
The one who would likely not have interest is Capt. Fran Santaniello, who Morrissette said has asked to step down from his captaincy to firefighter status. Santaniello has been a member of the department since 1988 and a captain since 2008, Morrissette said.
Santaniello’s captain’s position was filled at the meeting when the board unanimously approved Morrissette’s recommendation to promote Lt. Ben Cote. Morrissette said that Cote, who has been a member of the department since 2002 and a full-time firefighter since 2003, is “one of the top trainers” in the department, including working at the Massachusetts Fire Academy.
Firefighter Ed McCandlish was promoted to lieutenant, filling Cote’s vacancy. Morrissette said McCandlish was “another who was constantly improving his skills.”
“He is one of those rocks you can depend on,” McCandlish said. “No matter what is going in, he’s as calm as can be.”
The board also agreed to allow Morrissette to begin a search for three new call firefighters.
“With the deputy retiring, [firefighter] Pat Farrow stepping down and Lt. Gary Savaria retiring in July, the numbers in the department are down,” Morrissette said.
He explained that while the Massachusetts Fire Academy has not yet announced its next class, he hoped to get the process started in order to be ready when registration that class commences.
“I’m anticipating hopefully the summer of 2014, which works well with the budget on our end,” Morrissette said.
The department currently has three probationary fire fighters who he said are “very active and seem to be fitting in well.”
