{"id":2294,"date":"2012-09-11T10:37:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T14:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2012-09-11T10:39:51","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T14:39:51","slug":"citys-police-chief-worsening-finances-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2294","title":{"rendered":"City’s police leadership, worsening finances in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Council failed to get enough votes to hire permanent chief – or withdraw reserve funds<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

With his brother, Gary Hudson (from right), holding the bible, Kirby Hudson is sworn in as Coatesville manager by Magisterial District Judge Grover E. Koon.<\/p><\/div>\n

After nearly three hours, Coatesville City Council addressed the agenda items most responsible for the crowd at last night\u2019s meeting: votes on transferring more money from the trust fund and selecting a new police chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mess,\u201d declared Councilwoman C. Arvilla Hunt. She was describing the budget; however, citing the city\u2019s worsening financial woes, she was the lone dissenter in the 3-1 vote to hire City Manager Kirby Hudson\u2019s selection for police chief, Maj. John \u201cJack\u201d W. Laufer III, a veteran of the state police.<\/p>\n

Council President David Collins \u2013 voted into the leadership post earlier in the meeting \u2013 and Councilmen Jarrell Brazzle and Joseph Hamrick voted for Laufer.<\/p>\n

Before the vote, Hamrick praised Laufer\u2019s qualifications, calling him \u201cvery capable of running any<\/em> police department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the support, the talley failed to garner a majority of the seven-member group. Councilwoman Ingrid Jones left midway through the meeting, and Councilmen Ed Simpson and Jeff LoPrinzi did not attend. Simpson stepped down as president at the last meeting, citing health issues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Newly elected Council President David Collins (from left) moves to the center seat after the vote as Councilwoman C. Arvilla Hunt and Councilman Joseph Hamrick offer congratulations.<\/p><\/div>\n

Hunt said Interim Police Chief James Bell is doing \u201ca great job,\u201d and since he earns less, there is no urgency to replace him. \u201cHow do we pay him?\u201d she asked about Laufer. The salary range for the position is approximately $72,000 to $90,000.<\/p>\n

After Laufer was not approved,\u00a0 more than half a dozen police officers left the meeting, shaking their heads in disbelief. The vote followed spirited discussion about the city\u2019s red ink.<\/p>\n

At the last meeting, Finance Director John Marcarelli said the city needed nearly $2 million from the city\u2019s trust fund to keep operating. Last night, he said a $275,000 settlement in a police lawsuit necessitated increasing the request to $2.25 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get our revenues in line with our expenses,\u201d said Collins, who voted against the withdrawal. \u201cThe way we are going, in another three years there won\u2019t be another trust fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt, who also voted no, said the city has been \u201cmismanaged for so long.\u201d She said the decision to give police an early-retirement option \u2013 a buyout that resulted in the departure of six officers in the spring \u2013 was a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take control of this city,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to come out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Maj. John “Jack” Laufer, a state police veteran and the city manager’s choice for police chief, garnered a 3-1 vote, which failed to secure him the position.<\/p><\/div>\n

The reserve fund, set up with about $39 million from the 2000 sale of the city-owned water and sewer company, has been tapped repeatedly since then. The withdrawals have frequently been accompanied by city officials\u2019 vows to replace the money at a later time.<\/p>\n

After the vote to withdraw the reserve funds failed \u2013 Brazzle and Hamrick reluctantly voted yes \u2013 Brazzle questioned Marcarelli about the repercussions of not releasing the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we in trouble?\u201d Brazzle asked.<\/p>\n

Marcarelli estimated the city could cover the next three payrolls at most. \u201cThat\u2019s why this is an emergency ordinance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brazzle said he wanted to see belt-tightening immediately. \u201cBefore I get off this council, I want some money put back in this trust fund,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Laufer,\u00a0who currently directs \u00a0the state police Bureau of Training and Education,\u00a0declined comment. Hudson apologized to him profusely for the unexpected turn of events, and Collins expressed confidence that Laufer would be hired at the next meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s resolvable within the next couple of weeks … most definitely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council failed to get enough votes to hire permanent chief – or withdraw reserve funds By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times After nearly three hours, Coatesville City Council addressed the agenda items most responsible for the crowd at last night\u2019s meeting: votes on transferring more money from the trust fund and selecting a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,1],"tags":[562,308,563,382,561,771,436,772],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-c-arvilla-hunt","tag-coatesville-city-council","tag-david-collins","tag-ed-simpson","tag-jarrell-brazzle","tag-jeff-loprinzi","tag-kirby-hudson","tag-maj-john-jack-laufer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}