Byram Roundup: 2017

Friday, December 29, 2017

John Blankley: An open letter to the new BET

Republicans and Democrats can point to significant achievements over these past few years: financing the construction of the High School Music Instructional Space and auditorium known as “MISA,” the Town swimming pool in Byram and the start of the reconstruction of New Lebanon School. The board moved the ...

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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

NO CONFIDENCE: Chief James Heavey Has Repeatedly Failed To Control And Reform The Greenwich Police Department

GREENWICH TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: The Many Failures Of Greenwich Police Chief James Heavey Cost Greenwich Taxpayers Dearly

GREENWICH, CT: A federal judge has added Greenwich Police Capt. Mark Kordick as an individual defendant in a lawsuit filed last year by Greenwich’s first female police captain, alleging gender and sexual discrimination and the creation of a hostile work environment.

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Haight in late September ruled that Capt. Pamela Gustovich’s allegations against Kordick met the legal standard of extreme and outrageous physical threats that were intended to inflict emotional distress.

Gustovich also filed a motion to add Police Chief James Heavey and Capt. Robert Berry as individual defendants.

A 28-year-veteran of the force and a 2011 graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., Gustovich became captain of patrol in January 2012, joining Heavey and Kordick on the department’s senior command staff. Gustovich was promoted over Berry, the only other finalist for the higher rank.

Most of the events described in the lawsuit occurred after Gustovich became captain.

The alleged incidents cited in the 25-page ruling paint a picture of unprofessional, offensive and physically intimidating behavior toward Gustovich, sometimes committed by her command staff colleagues.

At a January, 2014 staff meeting, Kordick became enraged at Gustovich, repeatedly banged his hands and cellphone on the table, grabbed the bottom of his chair and began to jump up and down while grunting like an animal, according to the suit.

Further, no one at the meeting, including Chief Heavey, attempted to stop him.

Finally he pushed his chair so hard it hit a wall and he began to yell directly at his female colleague.

At that point, according to the suit, Heavey said, “Enough,” but Kordick continued his abusive behavior.

At a January, 2014 staff meeting, Kordick became enraged at Gustovich, repeatedly banged his hands and cellphone on the table, grabbed the bottom of his chair and began to jump up and down while grunting like an animal, according to the suit.

Further, no one at the meeting, including Chief Heavey, attempted to stop him. Finally he pushed his chair so hard it hit a wall and he began to yell directly at his female colleague. At that point, according to the suit,

Heavey said, “Enough,” but Kordick continued his abusive behavior.

After that meeting, Gustovich told Deputy Chief Mark Marino that she felt threatened by Kordick’s behavior, and when Marino mentioned Gustovich’s reaction to Kordick, he overturned a table.

A month later, Kordick walked around the third floor of the Public Safety Complex, where Gustovich has an office, wearing plain clothes and carrying a patrol rifle. She again complained to Marino that she felt threatened.

In that same time frame, Gustovich passed Captain Kordick in the hallway, and he made a “full body gesture by putting his arms up and out to the side while lunging towards the plaintiff,” the suit says.

Senior Judge Haight cited those three acts when he ruled that Kordick should be added as a defendant to the year-old suit.

The senior judge wrote, “Kordick’s conduct differs from that of Heavey and Berry because Kordick’s conduct alone was accompanied and complicated by acts and declarations sufficient to create in Plaintiff’s mind a reasonable concern that Kordick posed a threat to her physical safety.”

Gustovich also alleges that Chief Heavey on at least two different occasions “undercut the authority of her command and communicated to officers in the Greenwich Police Department that gender bias would be tolerated.”

The captain of patrol job has traditionally included specific oversight of the Community Impact Section.

However, when Gustovich took over as captain, the community unit’s leader, Sergeant Michael Reynolds, told her he would not take orders from a “female officer,” according to the lawsuit.

A month later, also according to the suit, Heavey moved the Community Impact Section out of the captain of patrol’s supervision.

Then, in April 2013, members of the Silver Shield Association, the police officer’s union, “attacked Gustovich’s competence and integrity in a meeting with Chief Heavey, and told Heavey that the association members would hold a no confidence against him unless he removed Gustovich for the position of Patrol Captain,” the suit said.

One month later, in May 2013, Heavey did just that. He and Marino told Gustovich, according to the suit, that “for the good of the department” she was being removed from the position of Patrol Captain and reassigned to the operations captain.

So, just 15 months after being promoted and praised for excellence for a career that spanned more than 25 years, Gustovich was effectively demoted, and given a job with fewer responsibilities. Kordick was given Gustovich’s post. Plus, the Information Technology Section, which had been part of the operations captain’s responsibilities, was moved to the captain of patrol.

As for Berry, he led the investigation into a sexual harassment charge brought by Gustovich after an incident at an “after action response meeting” on Dec. 3, 2014.

Gustovich’s amended complaint claimed that Daniel Hendrie, a traffic officer, “made an obscene gesture with his hand, mouth and tongue, implying that plaintiff (Gustovich) was performing fellatio on a fellow officer.”

Berry’s investigation found that Hendrie’s gesture was “shocking and prejudicial to good order and discipline,” but was “mere insubordination” and “not illegal or forbidden harassment.”

First Selectman Peter Tesei — also ordered an investigation into an incident in which Kordick sent emails monitoring a local education activist to the schools superintendent

“The chief and the deputy chief placed Capt. Kordick on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into a personnel matter,” Tesei said. He would not disclose details of the actions that put Kordick on leave.

The First Selectman said the administrative move was not related to a lawsuit filed by Capt. Pamela Gustovich alleging gender and sexual discrimination, now working its way through the courts.

Kordick has also been under scrutiny for monitoring a local political activist, Arthur “Cort” Wrotnowski, and sending out e-mails to the school administration about a meeting that Wrotonowski held on educational policy.

Tesei said that matter had concluded with a counseling session and a recommendation he take a class, “as a way to better judge circumstances.”

As to the matter leading to the recent suspension from duty, Tesei, who serves as police commissioner, said it would not be done in-house by police administrators.

“It will be reviewed by an outside investigator,” Tesei said.

“It’s the first step in an investigation, being removed from the workplace,” the First Selectman said. There are a range of possible outcomes, if it is determined that departmental codes or regulations were violated.

Tesei said he was expecting a report to wrap-up in a few weeks, maybe two. At that point, Chief James Heavey would make a determination. There is also an appeals process to the police commissioner — a position filled by Tesei — if warranted.

As to the Wrotnowksi matter, Tesei said the matter was set to be settled without a major disciplinary action.

“The deputy chief (Mark Marino) and the chief (Heavey) reviewed the matter and found he was not in violation of the manual. They did counsel and advise that he was over-zealous.” said Tesei.

Gustovich filed her first formal complaint against the town on August 27, 2014 and has filed complaints beforehand with the town human resource department.

She alleged that she was disobeyed by subordinate officers when she was promoted to captain in 2012 and was subject to verbal harassment and vulgar conduct as part of a campaign to remove her from the position due to her gender and sexual orientation, according to a summary of the settlement.

The lawsuit, charging discrimination against the town and the police department, is proceeding through the Connecticut Commission of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Police Commissioner, First Selectman Peter Tesei and Chief James Heavey plan to secure the services of a consultant to conduct an independent organizational assessment of the department.

The Board of Selectman voted 3-0 to approve a settlement to resolve complaints brought by Police Capt. Pamela Gustovich.

Gustovich will receive a lump sum payment of $143,000 to cover salary and legal fees and the town will purchase an annuity of no more than $135,000 to equal the amount of retirement payments that she would have received if she remained with the town.

The Board’s vote follows a unanimous vote by the Claims Committee of the Representative Town Meeting to approve this settlement.

The Town’s counsels have opined that given the nature of some of the charges, airing them in public could seriously hurt not just the Greenwich Police Department but the Town of Greenwich as well.

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