Police Commission Looks Ahead To Hiring A New Chief

By Andrew Gorosko

Now that the Police Commission has fired James E. Lysaght, Jr, as police chief, it is awaiting legal advice on how to proceed in selecting a new chief.

“We want to do that as quickly as possible,” Police Commission Chairman James Reilly said March 13.

The process of choosing a new police chief will start after commission members receive legal advice from their attorneys on an expected court appeal from Mr Lysaght contesting his firing, Mr Reilly said.

Attorney John Kelly, who represents Mr Lysaght, had said he would file an administrative appeal by March 10 in seeking to have Mr Lysaght regain the chief’s post. Mr Kelly has until early April to file that appeal in Danbury Superior Court. The town had not yet received the appeal Thursday morning.

Mr Kelly was not available for comment.

Mr Kelly has said the appeal would show that the Police Commission had “no just cause” to fire Mr Lysaght.

State law specifies that a police commission must show that it has just cause in terminating a police chief.

Albert Murphy, the hearing officer at Mr Lysaght’s December termination hearing, determined that the Police Commission had just cause to fire him.  Mr Murphy, however, recommended that the commission and the chief reconcile their differences and that he be reinstated as chief. Mr Murphy’s recommendations are non-binding.

Following his dismissal March 3, Mr Lysaght said he wanted to reach an accord with the commission for his reinstatement. Mr Lysaght had been on administrative leave for eight months before his firing.

Mr Reilly said he expects Police Commission members will publicly discuss selecting a new police chief at an upcoming commission session, possibly in April.

Asked how long it will take before the commission names a new police chief, Mr Reilly said, “We can’t tie ourselves down to specific dates.”

Since the Police Commission placed Mr Lysaght on administrative leave last July, Captain Michael Kehoe has run the police department. During that period, he has filled two roles – police chief and executive officer.

Asked whether Capt Kehoe will be named “acting chief” until a new police chief is chosen, Mr Reilly said that regardless of whether Mr Kehoe has the job title “captain” or “acting chief,” he is in charge of the police department.

Mr Reilly said the specifics of the commission’s search for a new police chief remain unclear. Commission members will be reviewing their specifications for the post, he said.

Mr Lysaght, 50, began work as police chief in July 1996, having been chosen from a field of 118 applicants for the job. Mr Lysaght had formerly served as a captain in the Bristol Police Department, where he was second-in-command.

After former police chief Michael DeJoseph announced in February 1996 that he was retiring from the police department, it took more than five months before Mr Lysaght started as Newtown’s police chief.

Although Mr Lysaght received a positive initial job performance review, three successive job reviews grew progressively more negative, with Police Commission members increasingly finding fault with his performance.

Police Commission members maintain Mr Lysaght did not demonstrate the leadership, planning, and management skills necessary for the effective and efficient operation of a police department, and thus unanimously fired him.