While no joking matter, the recent decision by the City Council to cut $425,000 from the Greenfield Police Department’s (GPD) budget has turned into a three-ring circus with more and more Greenfield residents (myself included) increasingly outraged by the theatrics.
I understand Mayor Roxann Wedegartner does not agree with the council’s decision to cut the GPD’s budget, but accusing the council of endangering public safety and focusing on absolving herself for responsibility for the cuts does nothing to resolve the situation. Be part of the solution or be part of the problem.
I also understand that by linking the bulk of the cuts to the GPD’s salary budget the council has tied the hands of the Acting Police Chief William Gordon because under the union contract he has no choice but to make staffing reductions in reverse order of hire. I don’t know whether this was the council’s deliberate intent or not, but given that it is the reality, I wish they would clarify their intent for the public and, if necessary, revise their decision to align with that intent.
What is clear to me is that the acting police chief had the opportunity to ask the council to take less of the reduction from salaries and more from operating expenses to allow him to preserve more positions while cutting bloat from the operating budget (removing items such as stipends for wearing body cameras, clothing allowances, etc.), and he did not take it. Instead, he has chosen to drum up public fear with dire predictions of calls to the police going unanswered, and has played on public sympathy by threatening to take away our comfort dog. Again, be part of the solution or be part of the problem.
If the mayor and acting police chief are hoping their theatrics will pressure the council into restoring the $425,000 to the GPD’s budget I think they are seriously misreading the situation. A jury has spoken, the people have responded, and the ouncil has acted. This genie is not going back in the bottle, nor should it.
I believe the mayor has options at her disposal that would help to offset the GPD budget reductions while also sending a clear message that she understands the severity of the issues within our Police Department. She could terminate Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr.’s employment. I know the mayor has stated she can’t just fire Haigh, Donald Trump style, but actually, she can. It’s true that she can’t arbitrarily fire a unionized, contract employee for no reason at all, but she can fire a union employee for just cause. If being found responsible by a court of law for discriminating against a police officer under his command and creating an environment of racial animus in the Police Department he was in charge of for years, resulting in $1 million liability for the city in damages and fees does not constitute just cause for termination, then I don’t know what does.
If the mayor is unwilling to terminate Chief Haigh’s employment she has the option of placing him on unpaid administrative leave. An appeal, should one move forward, could take years to be resolved — does the mayor intend to keep Chief Haigh on paid administrative leave indefinitely? Even should the verdict be overturned upon appeal it defies reason to think that Chief Haigh could ever again lead Greenfield’s Police Department. Restoring him to his position would be a slap in the face to the people of Greenfield, in particular, people of color, and send a strong message that the mayor and the Police Department have learned nothing from this experience.
And finally, the mayor could withdraw her public support for Chief Haigh and strongly urge him to resign or retire from his position for the good of the Police Department and the city of Greenfield. Doing so would allow everyone to move on, and would be a significant first step in the hard work that needs to be done to change the culture of Greenfield’s PD. While I’m sure there are those who would object to the chief drawing a taxpayer-funded pension, it seems a far better choice than continuing to pay him his full salary while on administrative leave, basically paying him not to work, and doing so indefinitely.
I ask that the mayor, the City Council, and the acting police chief work together to resolve this budget reduction issue as a first step in restoring people’s trust in the city’s leadership.
Susan Olmsted lives in Greenfield.