City Council

Minutes of the Public Safety Meeting Troy City Council July 24, 2017 6:00 PM The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Council Chair Ashe-McPherson Roll Call: Council Chair Ashe-McPherson, Council member Donohue, Council member Bodnar, Council member Sullivan-Teta, Council member McGrath, Chief Tedesco and Chief Garrett. In attendance were Council President Mantello, Council member Gulli, Council member Doherty, Mayor Madden, Deputy Mayor Kurzejeski, Deputy Chief Van Bramer, Assistant Fire Chief McMahon, Corporation Counsel Caruso, and PBA President Aaron Collington. Absent: Council member Kopka There were approximately 10 members of the public. Chief Tedesco addressed the Council and stated he asked for the meeting to dispel some rumors about department relationships and to express his concerns about the department’s future. Chief Tedesco stated the Troy Police Department provides its services in an exemplary manner and cited the arrest of a shooter within a day after it was committed. In his address Chief Tedesco discussed the following subject matters: his relationship with the Mayor and PBA (he noted that he was not at war with them), his retirement (that he did not call this meeting to announce his retirement), the investigation of the current drug unit by the NYS Police, the improper practice charges filed against him by the PBA(the charges were due to him directing off duty investigators to return calls within 30 minutes on city issued cell phones) and the use of equipment being issued to off duty officers. Chief Tedesco further stated the Council has the power to correct these deficiencies as they are the final arbiter of contracts and he acknowledged that things will not change overnight. Chief Tedesco asked the Council as they review the labor contracts to ask themselves the following: 1) Is there anything in the agreement that will assist with the management of the department 2) What are the recurring costs of these proposals? 3) Is there any freedom to assign or remove people from assignments other than disciplinary reasons Chief Tedesco stated that contracts are more than raises and benefits and no one argues that our officers are due raises and he has no doubt that Mayor Madden would have provided the raises if the funds were available. He asked the Council for their assistance and for those that follow him to get these things back. Council member McGrath asked if having an anti-crime or street unit would work. The Chief responded yes, if he could single out the right people. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked if this was due to contracts. Chief Tedesco said no, there is a certain type of officers for this unit and he can’t guarantee that he will get that. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked if that was based on seniority. Chief replied she was correct. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked about the morale and the Chief replied that it ebbs and flows and morale comes from accountability, faith and confidence in leadership, and he further stated that we do not do a lot to support the good cops. He stated that the disciplinary issues in the past have taken so long that you can’t take it to a hearing and those are the things that affect morale. Council President Mantello asked why. Chief Tedesco responded that most of the time it was the city’s attorneys and he stated that he is very impressed with the new labor attorneys. Council President Mantello stated that we don’t have a message out there that our city is ours and how do we get the message out. Chief Tedesco stated by putting the right leadership to lead the officers to do the job. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson stated she gets calls about the attitude of the police officers when they go to a call and says there is nothing we can do and that’s frustrating to the taxpayers. Chief Tedesco stated he will call the people and then they do not want to get the cop in trouble and don’t come forward. The Chief stated that he wants to leave the police department better than when he came and when the contracts get presented for the future that they will ensure that this agency continues in its path and you need to have the right people in the right position. We have a tremendous amount of talent that we can’t put in the right positions. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson stated that the Troy Police department is tops and she is 100% behind the force and they need the tools do to their jobs and if it’s the contracts then the administration needs to do what they need to do to get it going. Council member Donohue shared a story that over a year ago he was told of a serious drug situation and he shared all of the details and one year later there was no action. Chief Tedesco asked Council member Donohue to give him the information directly. Council member McGrath stated that officers are complaining to him and they are frustrated that their hands are tied. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked why the officers feel like they cannot do their jobs. PBA President Aaron Collington stated that by assuming that we are failing doing our jobs and that we use to be an elite police department is a slap in the face to the department and we are asked to work with less every single day. He further stated that he is at the Council meeting to see what he can do. Council member McGrath asked Mayor Madden to set up a meeting. Council member Bodnar stated that he thinks it’s important for the Mayor, the Chief and the PBA meet as there has to be an effective action plan and we have a new labor attorney. He further stated that it would be a good idea to meet with the new labor attorney. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson thanked the Chief. Chief Tedesco stated that the cops on the street, the investigators and everyone does a good job but an agency can’t go on if it hasn’t adapted to the times, and that this department needs to have some change if it going to be able to meet the demands that are placed on it for the future and the demands are great. He cites the new housing, the proposed movie theater and the redevelopment of the downtown. He stated that in the past the city has made mistakes at the bargaining table and he is asking the Council not to repeat those mistakes and it is not his intent was not to come here to challenge the PBA but sometimes when we look for things in management people think we are trying to be cruel and we’re not, it’s simply a matter of having the discretion to operate the department a better manner. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked the Chief for an update on the fires and the Chief replied that that have two more suspects. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson moved to the nuisance abatement topic and Corporation Counsel Caruso delivered the requested code on nuisance abatement to the Clerk. Council member McGrath stated he understands there use to be a form that code enforcement and the police department used to assess nuisance abatement points but now we don’t. Committee chair Ashe- McPherson asked how many points for nuisance abatement. Deputy Mayor Kurzejeski stated it is 12 points in the first year and 18 points over 24 months. Council member McGrath asked when they hit the 12 points who files the order to shut down the building. Chief Tedesco responded the Mayor after a hearing. Deputy Mayor Kurzejeski stated they just met with Sargent Carello and a when they reach a certain amount of points a notice is sent out to the owners and the notice is also sent to the Corporation Counsel for review and if they felt more action was required another notice went out. Committee chair Ashe-McPherson asked if the violations can be accumulated between police and code violations and Deputy Mayor Kurzejeski stated yes and referred to section 205-19 of the city code. Deputy Mayor Kurzejeski stated that they have put together a task force that will include one person from Code, two from the Police, one person from the Corporation Counsel office, one person form the Mayor’s office and a secretary to record and they will meet one time per month. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson and Council member McGrath requested they meet one time per week. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson asked the Clerk to schedule a Public safety meeting in sixty days for an update from the task force. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson moved to the speeding issues and traffic enforcement in South Troy and the Chief Tedesco stated they will address the South Troy speeding issues. Council member Donohue suggested using crosswalk improvements and/or any reminders to have people slow down. Council member Gulli asked about taking a section and doing heavy enforcement such as at 114th Street to make a statement. Chief suggested to have people call the police department if there are issues and they can assign to those locations. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson moved to the drug enforcement topic. Chief Tedesco said the investigation is moving rapidly and if charges are brought it will delay the internal investigation. He further stated that the question is where will they draw from and what will be the expense. Council member McGrath stated that he highly suggests a meeting with the Chief Tedesco, PBA President Collington and the Mayor. Council member Sullivan-Teta asked if they are suspended and Chief said they are not suspended. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson asked if the can be assigned and the Chief replied that is their assignment and he cannot reassign them. Chief Tedesco stated we need to work on this together. He further stated that he is irritated by a report that came out two years ago about Troy being the 5th most dangerous city and they are figures from 2014 and he wants to give the officers credit as the numbers are down and they are continuing to go down and it doesn’t reflect the hard work and there are quality things being done and he is very proud of their accomplishments and he thanked the Council for their time. PBA President Collington stated that this is a difficult time and we still need a drug unit and he suggested that if the Council is making decisions that maybe they should do a ride-a- long and he said that the city cannot be covered by eight police officers as times have changed. PBA President Collington stated that they are asking to be part of the process and want to be included. He stated our best interest is for the city and we want to make a solution and we need to sit together as the union is not the final decision maker. He further stated it’s a pleasure to serve the city but it’s frustrating when somebody is not making a decision and you don’t know what direction you are going in. Committee Chair Ashe-McPherson thanked PBA President Collington and stated that that the he, the Mayor and the Chief should meet and come up with a plan as this is a great force and we can fix the problems. Council President Mantello asked the Chief if he felt like he had 100% control in terms of managing this department or if there is any interference from the administration. Chief Tedesco stated that that the Mayor has been supportive and that it’s the processes. He further stated that he is excited to meet with the new labor attorneys and that when the unions come to the table its business and there’s no fault to the unions as the city did not negotiate they gave it away. Adjournment Motion to Adjourn – Ashe-McPherson, 2nd McGrath Meeting adjourned 7:41 pm An audio recording of this meeting is on file in the City Clerk’s office Patti O’Brien City Clerk