In December 2015, council passed a motion to change the police schedule. That motion, proposed by former council member Ralph Chiappetta, was approved unanimously but was never implemented.
In a letter to the Ellwood City Ledger, Chiappetta stated he believed the schedule change would save $50,000 in overtime a year. However, Mayor Anthony J. Court, who is in charge of the police department, believes it would not save money and may even increase police costs.
Chiappetta has visited council several times to ask them to enforce the motion with a Writ of Mandamus, although at the meeting on March 21 he said that it would be better to rescind the motion rather than leave it hanging.
The motion would have changed the schedules of Lt. David Kingston, the ranking officer, and Sgt. Michael McBride.
In an interview with Ellwoodcity.org on Tuesday, Court said that not only does he believe that the motion would not save money but that council can’t implement it without contract negotiations with the police union.
Court said that to reduce police overtime, council needs to pursue contract negotiations.
“Replacement time is something that has to be negotiated,” Court said. “We try to monitor overtime as best as we can but we have a contract to abide by.”
Council President Connie MacDonald, who was not president when the motion was passed, said that the motion needs revisited as borough solicitor Ed Leymarie advised against attempting to implement it.
A few council members stated that the motion, which wasn’t on the established agenda, had been passed without sufficient research.
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