The Town Administrator in Wareham has been struggling to negotiate a contract with Interim Chief Stanley…..or has he? It seems to me that the TA from North Andover and the Interim Chief are the ones setting the agenda for Wareham.

Let’s look at some facts:

Interim Chief Stanley has made some strides in Public Relations with the Town of Wareham, sending PR reports to the media for everything they have done, and that is a good thing I commend him for those accomplishments, but they were being done before he arrived. I give him an B.

The Police Officers moral has been touted as the highest it’s ever been……let’s examine that for a moment. Yes they seem to like the job the Chief is doing however at what cost to the Town, the overtime budget to this point has been spent to the tune of just under 600K, I would think at that price many officers would be happy. If you examine the Town’s 2010 Annual Report most of the highest paid Town employees are Police Officers, and many have earned about 40% over their base pay in overtime. How will the moral be when Police Officers have to go back to earning their base pay, because overtime needs to be cut to save the budget and pay Stanley's salary, and these Officers have not had a raise or updated contract in three years?

Policies and Procedures have been updated, well anyone with a computer and a Word Document could have updated these, but to be fair let’s give him a C, because it had not been done in so long, and it has not yet been completed. Again, these were already started before he arrived.

The accreditation goal is admirable, let’s give him an A+ for that effort and eventual achievement. Being mindful that Lt Wallace actually started this ball rolling.

Fiscal Management is a very important aspect of being a Dept. Head. The overtime budget this fiscal year has been spent 585K and counting, his own contract was overspent 30K plus FY10. The Auditor’s report specifically mentions the Police Department’s lack of accounting practices when it comes to Police Details and the documentation of receivables to the tune of 63K Plus. Cruisers bought with a grant(thanks to Lt Wallace) for the first payment, still costing the Town 50K per year? The Chief stated that if the Town could not afford them, he would take it out of the Department’s budget, which is already busted!!! Interim Chief Stanley has been here well over a year and a half, so his track record in fiscal management has been established. And the list goes on but let’s gives him an F in fiscal management.

Now he is trying to cut a sweet deal with Mark Andrews in Wareham, speculation puts the salary number anywhere from 160K through 175K, and one of his goals would be to cut overtime over the next three years. So to sum it up he would get his sweet deal on the backs of his officers….how would moral be then?? Definitely an F, and shameful on his part.

Just say NO Mr. Andrews!!!

Wareham has fine officers within the Department that can lead our Town into the future, at a price the Town could afford, and giving the rank in file the message that there is promotional opportunities within the Department.