Jersey City council confirms new acting police director

August 10, 2012, 3:03 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City now officially has an acting police director, with the city?s assistant business administrator taking on the role for an additional $10,000.
The City Council approved the appointment of Assistant Business Administrator Robert Kakoleski to replace Samuel Jefferson, the former police director, who retired in February. Kakoleski will see his pay boosted to $126,404.

He will perform both roles simultaneously.

The Police Department is headed by a police director, who acts as the administrative leader of the department, and a police chief, who runs the day-to-day operations.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy initially attempted to have Police Chief Tom Comey handle both roles after Jefferson?s retirement, but the City Council balked, with members saying they weren?t comfortable with Comey acting as his own boss. Comey would have served with no extra pay.

Kakoleski, who was fiscal officer for the Police Department before being named assistant business administrator in 2010, began serving as acting police director on an interim basis after the council rejected Comey?s appointment in May. Healy was able to appoint Kakoleski for a 90-day period before seeking the council?s approval.

Explaining the pay boost, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said Kakoleski is ?taking on a significant amount of additional duties.?

?If a full-time replacement was hired for police director, the salary would be close to $150,000 plus benefits,? Morrill said. ?Kakoleski?s additional pay expires once he is no longer acting director.?

Comey urged the council in a letter to appoint Kakoleski, saying ?any change in leadership will have a detrimental effect? on the department.

Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro was the only council member on the nine-member body to vote against Kakoleski?s appointment. Lavarro said he wants an operational study of the department to gauge its effectiveness, and he won?t favor any appointee who doesn?t pledge to conduct such a study.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_council_confirms_n.html

He has plenty of experience.

http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/NJ/Mat ... deen-Baseball-League.html

Perhaps, Jersey Journalist, you could explain how it is that an Assistant Business Administrator has been named to the role of Police Director? Does he have a law enforcement background? I mean, if he doesn't, shouldn't that be the story and not the silliness about 90 days and increased foot patrols?

Jersey City mayor, City Council members clashing over police director appointment

May 23, 2012, 5:58 PM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and members of the City Council remain at an impasse today over the legality of Healy?s recent appointment of an interim police director, with council members saying they must approve the action and the mayor?s legal team insisting Healy has the final say-so.

Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro is leading the charge for his allies on the nine-member body, saying city code prevents the mayor from appointing another interim replacement for former police director Sam Jefferson without council approval.

The city wants ?free reign,? Lavarro said today.

Police Chief Tom Comey had acted as police director on an interim basis since Jefferson?s February retirement. When Healy moved to make Comey the police director until Healy?s term expires next year, the council balked, rejecting Comey?s appointment by a 5-4 vote.

Healy appointed Deputy Police Chief Peter Nalbach as interim police director last week, then withdrew the appointment due to concerns about Nalbach acting as Comey's subordinate and director. This week, Healy made a third interim appointment, Assistant Business Administrator Robert J. Kakoleski.

Now Lavarro and his allies on the council say Healy can?t appoint Kakoleski without the council's consent.

?That?s why we have these checks and balances in place,? Lavarro said, adding that Healy?s picks haven?t met the ?certain criteria? he?s looking for, such as increasing foot patrols and increasing the number of African American supervisors.

City code permits the mayor to appoint interim city directors for 90 days ?unless the council shall, by resolution, authorize one or more extensions thereof.? Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis, in a written opinion sent to the council today, said he interprets that passage to mean the mayor can appoint different interim directors every 90 days if he so wishes.

?Where the council declines to approve a permanent appointment, or an extension of an acting appointment for an additional period time, (city code) compels, not prohibits, the mayor to appoint someone new in an active capacity,? he writes.

Allowing the position to remain vacant, Matsikoudis writes, would ?undermine the operation of the police department.?

Regarding Lavarro's comments on the criteria he wants the new police director to meet, Healy said in a statement that assigning officers to foot patrols is a prerogative of the police chief, not director.

"As for African Americans and other minorities, we have actively recruited minorities from across our city preceeding my tenure as mayor and as I sat on the City Council, and we continue to do so," Healy said. "Regarding superior officers, we are subject to the various rules and regulations of the civil-service system of the state of New Jersey."

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