HILLSDALE—The Borough Council approved expanding the police department roster from 20 positions to 23—by adding a lieutenant and two new officers at a special Dec. 27 Zoom meeting.
The council adopted Ordinance 23-22 by a 4-0 vote, with Zoltan Horvath and Janetta Trochimiuk absent. Members also approved the hiring of two probationary officers, Briana Alfieri and Mario Vdovjak, at the meeting.
Although he supported hiring the two officers, and adding a second lieutenant position, Mayor John Ruocco raised the long-term cost of hiring two additional officers on the budget, which he calculated as $13 million over 25 years and up to $17 million over a 30-year career.
He called it “sobering” to know that hiring the two officers would consume half of the anticipated $30 million in tax revenues anticipated from the revenues generated by the new Patterson Street Redevelopment Project’s 30-year PILOT agreement.
Ruocco said he spoke to Capt. Sean Smith, who is replacing Chief Robert Francaviglia—who is retiring after 30 years of service to the borough—for a couple hours and understood the rationale for hiring two more officers and adding a lieutenant.
Ruocco said Smith said that administrative and procedural demands on the department have increased, and due to a recent rise in officers on sick time, there was a need for additional officers.
Ruocco said crime in the borough has not increased, and said that Smith explained how a failure to increase the police force’s size could compromise future community safety.
Ruocco, who is trading the mayor’s gavel for a seat on the council Jan. 1, also questioned whether elected officials should have sat in on interviews for hiring the two new officers, as did council members John Escobar, Anthony DeRosa, and Abby Lundy.
He asserted elected officials sitting in on police officer interviews was “inappropriate as it conveys to candidates that these particular individuals have a particular and discreet input into the hiring decision, thereby creating an unhealthy and inappropriate sense of obligation between these few elected officials and the employees.”
He said elected officials on a police hiring panel presented “a potential conflict of interest and raises some ethical questions.” Ruocco added, however, that he believed both candidates selected were “extremely well qualified.” His focus was on the presence of elected officials on the hiring panel.
Ruocco noted that Smith also expressed “some reservations” about the hiring process but that Smith would raise those concerns separately to the administrator.
However, the councilors who sat in on interviews disputed Ruocco’s view of the hiring process. And they said they did not ask questions related to law enforcement, rather more general questions that helped them get to know the candidates better.
DeRosa said it was “common practice” in business to have multiple individuals interview candidates under consideration for a position,” and while he agreed a hiring manager should make the final decision, he agreed “it was a very good policy to have multiple inputs.”
Lundy said she only asked about what the officers might bring related to community outreach in the borough. “We were not involved in the selection process. It was more of a meet and greet type of thing.”
Escobar told Ruocco that having elected officials sit in on police hiring interviews was “very common practice throughout the state and just because you don’t agree with it doesn’t make it wrong.”
When Ruocco again questioned the practice, Escobar added, “Your opinion is noted.”