Selectmen approve police, fire dept. hires

Date: 10/25/2010

Oct. 25, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW -- East Longmeadow residents will soon be seeing five new faces in its public safety departments.

According to the minutes of a Sept. 24 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Timothy Driscoll, Michael Sousa, Michael Ignalls, and James Gagnon were all interviewed and, after a brief recess, each was appointed as a police officer with a unanimous vote from the board.

According to Chief of Police Doug Mellis, the appointments of Driscoll, Sousa and Ignalls are permanent hires. One is to fill the vacancy left by officer Fred Bailey, who retired in Jan., 2009, another is a replacement for another officer who is expected to retire this year. The third opening is a new position, which was approved by the town at the Annual Town Meeting in May.

"We worked hard with the appropriations committee to look for innovative revenue resources that have allowed us the money for these positions," Selectman James Driscoll, of no relation to the new hire, said.

Gagnon's appointment is not permanent, as he was approved by the board to serve as a provisional military replacement, filling a void left by another newly-hired officer who was activated by the military, according to Mellis. He added that the police department hopes to retain Gagnon if another officer retires within the next year.

A fifth candidate, who was not hired, was interviewed by the board and Driscoll praised the candidates and the police department for their diligence in finding qualified applicants.

"These are great candidates and I wish we could've hired them all, but I think it's important that we build up our police force to where it should be and appreciate the support from appropriations and the town, leading to expand our police department," Driscoll said.

The hires are pending, contingent upon the newly hired officers passing medical physicals, the Western Massachusetts Regional Police Academy's physical agility test and a psychological test, according to Mellis. Once that has been completed, the new hires must complete 20 weeks at the police academy.

Driscoll said that, while the police department has done well in protecting the town and its residents, the new hires will help bolster its service in a time when crime is on the rise.

"The reality is, especially in the economic climate we are in, crime is up. A lot of our recent problems with crime are directly related to the economy and unfortunately there isn't as much overtime available as there was in the past," Driscoll said. "Luckily, we have a great chief of police and a great force of seasoned officers that can help train these new officers and increase the safety of this town."

The board also recently approved the appointment of new call firefighter Michael Minahan. Minahan's appointment was approved unanimously and he replaces call firefighter Darren Langford, who resigned from the position after 13 years of service to the department.