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Date: 12/16/2020
EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow Town Manager Mary McNally presented the town council with her choice for the new police chief at the council meeting on Dec. 15.
McNally said that Greenfield Deputy Chief Mark Williams had an “extensive” resume and a “tremendous amount of education.” He has been with the Greenfield Police Department since 1999 and overseen up to 34 officers as acting chief when the need arose. He also has experience on an opioid task force, as commanding officer of the Franklin County Regional Special Response Team and is a lead instructor for the Municipal Police Training Committee for sexual assault investigations and domestic violence response.
Under the East Longmeadow’s charter, the town manager is responsible for appointing the police chief. After receiving Police Chief Jeffrey Dalessio’s resignation in November, McNally reached out to local community leaders and members of the town government to get their suggestions on what questions to ask candidates for the position. She explained that there were nine applicants and six of them were interviewed. The councilors have until Jan. 12, 2021 to veto McNally’s choice.
Councilor R. Patrick Henry stated that while the appointment of a chief is fully in McNally’s purview, he would have preferred if she had been more transparent and shared her search methods and timeline with the council beforehand.
McNally noted that she had addressed the process she was following at the previous town
council meeting. “If the council wanted a different process, the time to inform me of that would have been before it began.”
Moving into the town manager’s performance evaluation, Councilor Thomas O’Connor said that many of the 34 suggested improvements made by councilors did not make it into the six professional goals set by McNally and Council President Michael Kane, but were important nonetheless.
Councilor Marilyn Richards said McNally has worked hard and done “an amazing job.” Councilor Kathleen Hill agreed and said that the council had an “overwhelming approval” of McNally’s performance.
A large portion of the debate during the meeting focused on whether McNally should continue to pursue an inter-municipal agreement (IMA) with Longmeadow to share health department resources.
McNally updated the council with the current status of the agreement negotiations. She said that, while it had not been established for the shared services, East Longmeadow stood to save approximately $34,000 per year in administrative cost and benefit from state grants promoting the sort of partnerships the towns have been discussing. After talking to her counterpart in Longmeadow, McNally said it was agreed that costs, such as worker’s compensation and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), would be shared evenly.
McNally said she feels “strongly” that both towns would benefit from a partnership.
Sarah McAdoo, a medical professional and resident who has worked on the proposed agreement from three years told the council that an IMA would strengthen health services in both towns and would solve some current administrative challenges. She emphasized the efficiency that sharing administrative resources would create.
Karen Robitaille, an employee of the Department of Public Health urged the council to move forward as well. “This is the vision of the future,” she said, saying that the state is a proponent of municipal sharing agreements.
The majority of councilors were not as excited about the prospects. Henry had concerns that he had not heard anyone discuss potential negatives to the agreement, while people had talked up the positive points.
Other councilors spoke about the work that had been put into creating a strong health department. Councilor Ralph Page said he could see no benefit for East Longmeadow. “Call me selfish,” he said. “I don’t want to share what we have.”
Richards said that East Longmeadow’s Health Department is already working at capacity due to the pandemic and that taking on another town with a less robust existing department wouldn’t be in the best interest of the town.
“Our town shouldn’t be asked to rescue [Longmeadow] with our people out straight and struggling,” Richards said. “It’s nice to save money, but it’s not always about money.”
Hill agreed, noting, “East Longmeadow is doing all the heavy lifting here.”
Perhaps, Richards suggested, the towns could share a public health nurse, rather than the entire health department.
McAdoo responded, saying that the two potential plans that had been submitted to the council were the best models for the town based on the research. Both the pros and cons to each model were in the documentation provided to the council, she said. She added that she lives and town and wants to keep the quality of services high and for East Longmeadow to prosper.
The council voted 5-2 against pursuing the health department partnership.
Finance Director Steve Lonergan update the council on the town’s finances during the first quarter of the fiscal year, from July 1 through Sept. 30. He said that the town has spent 24 percent of what it had budgeted for the period. Town departments “are living within their means,” Lonergan said, and services have not been impacted.
Ralph Page asked about mincoming taxes. Lonergan said that revenue is down from last year but consistent with expectations, given the ongoing pandemic.
McNally said that a skating rink that the recreation department is putting up at Leahy Field is expected to arrive Dec. 18. The rink will be set up annually as an outdoor sporting area in the center of town. She noted that the project raised $8,400 within 24 hours from resident and business donations.