It has come to the attention of Hamburg First that the Hamburg Town Board is considering dropping the position of Chief of Police and Assistant Chief of Police from the Command Officer Union contract. This is another major victory for Steven Walters.
Just the fact that Walters has gotten the Town Board to consider this is huge. The Democratic Party in Erie County and in every town has handed out excessive contracts to unions at all levels. This Command Officers Union has strapped the town with every imaginable union benefit costing the tax payers thousands of dollars each year.
By accepting the fact that the top two police positions are supposed to be management confidential positions, the Democrats are showing they realise they made a mistake and are considering correcting it. Saver this folks because this doesn’t happen all that often in government. Now we just have to wait and see at the July 16th Town Board Meeting if they follow through and remove the positions from the contract.
Meanwhile Joe Coggins made his retirement/resignation official as of tomorrow. He sent his letter to the supervisors office this week and Walters accepted it. This ends a long career for Coggins in Hamburg and I wish him well in his retirement. He still has a lot to answer for and the lawsuit hanging over his head could possibly eat into his retirement package should Coggins lose. He picked up his last check yesterday for $122,400 take home and his yearly retirement is $114,000.
As mad as I am that he was the cause of multiple lawsuits the town had to fight and settle with our tax dollars during his employment, I am more grateful that he stood on the front line of making our town safe to live in. For that I would like to say thank you Joe Coggins.
More on this from the Buffalo News.
TOWN OF HAMBURG
Coggins ends 8-year career as police chief on Saturday
By Elmer Ploetz NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 06/29/07 7:11 AM
Hamburg Police Chief Joseph Coggins has made it official: He is retiring.
Coggins filed his letter of resignation to the Town Board on Wednesday, said Hamburg Supervisor Steven Walters.
His last day on the job will be Saturday. Assistant Chief Carmen Kesner will be in charge of the department after Coggins’ departure.
Councilman D. Mark Cavalcoli, the board’s liaison to the Police Department, said it’s not technically necessary, but he expects the board to vote on a resolution supporting Kesner as temporary chief when the board meets again on July 16.
Coggins’ base pay as chief is $103,000 a year.
“I’m sorry to see him go,“ Cavalcoli said. “He’s a very good guy, a good chief. . . . But you reach that point where you say, ‘I want to do other things.’ I understand him wanting to retire.”
Cavalcoli isn’t seeking re-election this year after 24 years as a councilman.
Coggins and Kesner were unavailable to comment Thursday afternoon.
Coggins, 63, took over as chief in 1999. He joined the Hamburg Police Department in 1972.
In Hamburg, the police chief and assistant chief are members of the Command Officers Union, a bargaining unit for management level officers.
At a recent Town Board meeting, a speaker in the audience brought up the possibility of taking those two positions out of the union and making them management.
Cavalcoli said that would be one of the issues to be discussed when the board is choosing the next police chief.
