Ocean View extends police chief's contract

Ocean View Town Council members voted 3-1-0 on Tuesday, Feb .16 – with Councilman Richard Nippes abstaining and Councilman Perry Mitchell dissenting – to extend Ocean View Police Chief Ken McLaughlin’s contract by two years.

Mayor Gordon Wood had asked that McLaughlin’s original contract, which was not due to expire until 2012, be changed to run eight years, instead of six, with the end date changing to 2014. “It will have no fiscal impact,” emphasized the mayor.

The contract extension did not sit well with Mitchell or Nippes.

“While the chief is well-qualified, I don’t like the idea of extending the contract and binding future councils,” explained Mitchell.

Nippes added that he believed it would be bad for morale. He offered an amendment that the town manager’s contract also be amended, and that the town’s finance director and administrative official/public works supervisor also be offered two-year contracts.

“I have no problem extending the contract, but I think it should run its course,” said Nippes. “It creates a tremendous morale issue with other departments, and they could see this as a slap in the face.”

Town Solicitor Dennis Schrader advised that he believed Nippes’ amendment would be in violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), because those topics were not on the meeting’s published agenda as “discussion and possible voting on” items.

After Mitchell asked if contracts were exempt from FOIA regulations, Schrader replied that the negotiations for contracts are private but not the contracts themselves.

“Any matter brought for a vote has to be publicized with seven days’ notice,” Schrader said, adding that the subject matter of the amendment was the issue, since the only subject matter advertised in that area was the chief’s contract extension.

After the vote, McLaughlin emphasized, “For the record, this was completely unsolicited.”

The council on Tuesday also discussed the establishment of a police chaplain position. Councilman Bill Wichmann said that, after the death of Georgetown Patrolman Chad Spicer, the town realized that a police chaplain would be an asset to the area’s officers and the people they serve.

At the council workshop prior to the council meeting on Tuesday, the council had decided to put the issue of a chaplain on their March agenda, with the agreement that Wichman could send a letter to the bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, since representatives of the diocese said they would have to get approval to get involved in such a program. But in the council meeting itself, the council voted to move ahead with pursuing a resolution.

“The purpose of the resolution is to get it started,” explained Wichmann.

Nippes suggested that they have a “town chaplain,” rather than a police chaplain, and that they create guidelines for such a position, but Wood and Councilman Robert Lawless expressed concern about having a “town chaplain” and related issues of separation of church and state.

“I would support a police chaplain or a town staff chaplain, but the idea of a town chaplain, regarding separation of church and state, scares the death out of me,” said Wood.

McLaughlin noted that he would have liked to have had a police chaplain accompany him when he recently had to break the news of a man’s death to the man’s widow.

“It would have been helpful to me – not to assist us, but for the family,” he said.

McLaughlin also added that the chaplains are volunteers and likened them to Historical Society members, to explain to Nippes the need for flexibility.

“I don’t envision these folks being here on Mondays from 2 to 3. Hopefully, they will be at our beck and call, and I am not going to support having them be at town hall at a certain time,” McLaughlin said.

Also on Feb. 16, the council voted to appoint Carolyn Lewis, Vincent Bertone and Elaine Herbert to the town’s Board of Assessment for another one-year term. They also voted to appoint Jefferson, Urian, Doane & Sterner as their auditing firm for 2010 through 2012.

On Tuesday, the council also held a public hearing on a second reading of an ordinance imposing a moratorium on applications for annexations, amendments to the zoning map, change-of-zone applications and conditional uses, to allow time for the adoption of a revised comprehensive land-use plan.

They also held a public hearing on a second reading of an ordinance imposing a moratorium on signage permit applications within town.

The council unanimously approved both readings.

Finally, the council held a public hearing on the first reading of an ordinance annexing the last portion of Lord Baltimore Elementary School into town limits. The town has had to wait until the portion of the property was de-annexed from Millville before proceeding with the annexation. Once approved, the annexation will place all of the Lord Baltimore property within Ocean View town limits.