Town Council Chairman Richard Kehoe said he had to postpone the combined meeting of two of the Council's committees due to a personal scheduling conflict - and becuase the town's personel director, Stephen Bielenda, could not be present.

Although five of the 9 members of the Town Council were to have met the group does not consider the ongoing meetings to be regular Council meetings. The purpose of the joint sessions, according to the agenda, was to consider pay scale and eligibility of non-civil service and non-bargaining town employees, a small group which includes both the mayor's top directors as well as library aides.

The Gazette reported that the group was considering a pay scale that would have set the base pay of town department heads. The base would be the current director's salaries with an upward scale of 20-25 percent.

By way of explanation Council Chairman Richard Kehoe said the Council wanted to restore uniformity to the way mayor's directors have been compensated. The directors serve at the pleasure of the mayor. Under East Hartford's strong mayor form of government, a change in the mayor's office could bring a change in 12 of the 14 town department directors with the exception of the police chief and the library director who can only be replaced for 'just cause' by Town Charter. In the case of Police Chief Mark Sirois, he is also protected from dismissal by state statute, Kehoe points out.

The police chief's protection from the will of the mayor to replace hinm or her resulted in a costly, year-long 'trial' here in East Hartford. The 2000 trial of former Chief James Shay, presided over by the very person who wanted the chief replaced, Mayor Timothy Larson, led to accusations of lying. Although the town ended up settling with chief Shay, depositions in the case revealed apparent mishandling of an emergency call January 23, 1999 in which an East Hartford police officer, Brian A. Aselton, 26, was shot and killed investigating a reported noise complaint outside 454 Main St.

The town spent hundreds of thousands on depositions and lawyers in the Shay dismissal, costs that were to have been reimbursed by the town's insurance carrier. However the insurance carrier went bankrupt. Years later, East Hartford finally recouped a small percentage of the costly expense of firing chief Shay. The town was still in court this year defending its police department procedures in the Aselton shooting.

The town revised the Charter but left the protections the police chief has, which town officials say it must ubder state law. Current Police Chief Marc Sirois, who was a former commander under chief Shay and was hired by Mayor Larson at $24,000 a year more than his former boss, is also eligible for overtime, a perk not shared with other town department heads.

The five Council members who are part of the group are Kehoe, William P. Horan, Jr., Don Pitkin, Mary Alice Dwyer-Hughes, Marc I. Weinberg and Stephanie L. Labanowski.

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