Helmetta funds police dept. efficiency study
Officials tell packed room they do not intend to dissolve police force
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

"We will have nothing to do with getting ridof our policedepartment. It doesn't serve our best interests." - Peter Karczewski Borough Councilman

HELMETTA - Borough officials told a room full of concerned citizens last week that they are not looking to dissolve the town's police force.

Many residents attended the May 17 meeting of the Borough Council out of concern that the governing body was considering doing away with the department and having another town take over police duties entirely. Officials allayed these concerns and also voted to hire a consultant to conduct an efficiency study of the Helmetta police force.

"We are not looking to dissolve the department," Borough Councilman Peter Karczewski told the public. "It's not an efficiency study to say 'The department is gone - get rid of them.' We will have nothing to do with getting rid of our police department. It doesn't serve our best interests."

Borough Labor Attorney Matthew Giacobbe addressed the issue at the start of the meeting, explaining that the efficiency study will look at whether there is sufficient manpower coverage by law enforcement from Helmetta and Jamesburg, which patrols Helmetta eight hours each day via an interlocal agreement between the two towns. The contract between the two towns was renewed on April 29.

The efficiency study will be conducted by a former Jersey City Police Chief, according to Giacobbe.

"He will work with your chief on what is the best way to operate your department," he said.

If the town were looking to dissolve the police department, it would authorize a feasibility study to determine whether the move was favorable, Giacobbe said, adding that officials are not planning to conduct that type of study.

"This [efficiency] study has nothing to do with dissolution at all," Giacobbe said. "That is a completely different study. We are not even pursuing that."

Helmetta Police Chief Cully Lewis was not present at the meeting, but wrote in a letter that he supports the governing body's decision to conduct the efficiency study. He said he will lend his full cooperation to the effort.

"I am aware that there have been numerous issues raised by the Public Safety Committee and Borough Council regarding the operations of the Police Department," Lewis wrote.

Mayor Nancy Martin has previously expressed concerns with the efficiency of the department, but said she could not disclose some of the issues viewed as posing a problem because they deal with personnel. She said a some major concerns include training and outdated equipment.

Martin expressed frustration with the media's reporting of the police issue. On May 4, she sent a letter to residents in response to an article published in a local daily newspaper. In that letter, she wrote: "The issue of dissolving the Helmetta Police Department is one the governing body does not take lightly. We recognize residents' feelings that a local police department provides the best safety protection, and any change in the current police coverage would be made only if it provided better protection to you, while at the same time offering financial benefits and superior performance and professionalism."

Martin said last week that the borough will hire Roberts Group Ltd. for the efficiency study at a cost that is not to exceed $15,000. She had hoped to receive funding for the efficiency study, but she found that the state only gives grants to municipalities to pay for feasibility studies.

The intention of this study, Giacobbe said, is to improve the operations of the police department.

The police department and the borough are currently working on a new contract for the officers, Giacobbe said.

"We are continuing negotiations with the police department as we speak," he said.

"We are making sure that your tax dollars are working for you in the most efficient manner possible," Giacobbe added.

Police Department costs make up approximately 20 percent of the current municipal budget according to Borough Business Administrator William Schmeling.

Resident Elizabeth Agiovlasitis spoke before the council, complaining that public works removed signs from her property that stated her opposition to the dissolution of the police department. She said that borough employees contend that the six signs removed from in front of her house were on easements, which are public property. She believes the signs were on her property.

Agiovlasitis said she collected 210 signatures on a petition that opposes the turning over of Helmetta's police coverage to Jamesburg.

She said Helmetta pays $13,000 more per year to have Jamesburg police patrol the one-square-mile borough between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. than it would to hire another full-time officer on the Helmetta force.

Giacobbe responded that hiring an additional officer has more costs down the line, with salaries that go up incrementally, health benefit costs, eventual longevity payments and retirement costs. He noted that part of the reason for the efficiency study is because there are only three full-time police officers in the Helmetta Police Department, including Lewis.

"If one gets sick, you are scrambling to find another person," Giacobbe said.

The department also has three part-time special officers.