Angelides takes helm as chair of Select Board
Date: 6/27/2013
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comLONGMEADOW — Marie Angelides was elected the new chair of the Select Board on June 17.
Angelides, who was elected to the board on June 7, 2011 in an uncontested race, was nominated to act as chair by Selectman Richard Foster, and received unanimous support.
Angelides acknowledged former chair Paul Santaniello's leadership during the past year, which had unique circumstances.
"I want to thank Paul Santaniello for his leadership on the board during a really tough year," she said. "We had an acting town manager at the same time we were searching for a permanent town manager and it was also year for the untimely passing of [Council on Aging Director] Karen Michelman and [Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation] Mary Hannigan, two outstanding employees who provided leadership in our town's activities.
"The board, even though it was a difficult year, was able to focus its renewed concern on increased funding and planning for the needs of the infrastructure," she continued.
Further addressing the town's concentration on the infrastructure improvements, Angelides credited Foster with taking the lead.
"I want to thank Richard Foster for his hard work in preparing an excellent presentation explaining the complex infrastructure problem we face," she said. "We must build on the success of the last year and work even hard toward a resolution for this problem."
Selectman Mark Gold will serve another term as vice-chair after being elected to a second term during the June 11 Annual Town Election, while newcomer Alex Grant, who also won a seat at the election, is the new clerk.
Addressing other business, the selectmen voted against applying for a grant that would fund the majority of the startup costs associated with a canine unit for the Police Department. Angelides and Grant voted in favor of the motion, which was made by Grant, while Santaniello and Gold were against it. Foster abstained from the vote.
Town Manager Stephen Crane told the board that the grant application was due by the end of the month and he hoped that application would be completed in time. The grant, he explained, was non-competitive, meaning if the town applied for it, they would receive it without having to beat out other communities.
Crane went on to say that he was in support of the addition to the police force while understanding the board's concerns regarding its need.
"When it's easy to quantify the cost, but almost impossible to quantify the benefit, it can raise the level of uncertainty about the proposition," he said. "When it was brought to me by the chief, I looked at it as, 'Does it make us better and can we afford it?' I felt like the answer to both of those is yes, but I don't think I did a good job [in earlier discussions on the matter] presenting to the Select Board why those answers were yes."
Police Chief Robert Siano said the canine unit would support the department's patrol officers.
"He's there as a tool, just like the other tools we have as police and use on a routine basis," he said in addition to acting as extra protection for an officer and tracking people. "We've had several instances where we've had burglaries and house breaks and people run off. Especially on the midnight shift if you've only got two officers working ... if you had that canine there, with its increased sense of smell and acuity for night vision, the dog would most likely be able to track somebody."
He added that the dog's tracking ability would be helpful in recovering lost elderly residents and would also aid in drug investigations.
"We do have a drug problem in this town and it's not only marijuana," he said.
Santaniello spoke against the addition of a dog to the department, saying it would be a "tremendous cost" and created staffing issues, especially if and when it is used as part of mutual aid agreements.
"This dog is going to be in East Longmeadow because East Longmeadow seems to live off of Longmeadow in terms of mutual aid," he said. "I see this as a sucking sound in the budget with overtime dollars ... I don't think the initial startup [costs] are the issue; it's the ongoing costs you're not going to see in comp time and overtime and by the time you're done with it, you're going to be paying for another cop, basically, through all these things. I know the grant pays for certain things, but what the grant pays for is the nominal things that it costs to start up; it's not the stuff we're eventually going to have."
Foster also stated his concern with an officer in Longmeadow with a dog being called to other communities, leaving the town with one less officer on patrol.
Addressing mutual aid, Crane said it was something he took into consideration and would be monitored. He added that maintaining strong relationships with the surrounding communities was important as Longmeadow receives services it doesn't offer from other towns at times as well.
Foster also said he anticipated the officer would be primarily used for canine duties, leaving a need, but the canine officer would also act as a patrol officer and respond to all the calls a normal officer would, Siano said.
"It's not like you're losing a patrol officer to become a canine officer and do nothing more than canine work," Siano said.
Gold questioned whether or not the existence of a dog and responsibilities associated with it would affect the police contracts and Siano explained that other communities have a separate collective bargaining agreements with their canine officers.
