selectmen response 1/23/02

The selectmen have been waiting for the opportunity to be able to comment on as much of the pending Bob Snow investigation as they could. The selectmen have cooperated fully with the attorney generals office from day one and it has been on their advice and counsel that we withheld comment lest it jeopardize their case in court.It has been extremely difficult to remain silent on the many issues concerning this case especially when the letters and comments are directed at the officials and employees of the town who have been dedicated, loyal and trustworthy. We hope that all citizens will consider the facts presented here and then form their own opinions and offer constructive criticism.Shortly after the first briefing by the AGs office outlining certain aspects of the charges against Chief Snow, the selectmen implemented a couple of policies and were ready to implement some others, but could not do this since the implementation or even announcement of those policies could have had an impact on the case. These policies were and are being put in place in an attempt to prevent this conduct from occurring in the future, are improvements over existing policies, and provide another level of security.The so-called Drug Account This is an account established some years ago from proceeds from drug arrests and forfeiture of money, assets, etc. This is an account which is established by federal and state statute and is governed and handled exclusively by the Police Chief and by Federal and State rules. There was no accounting of this account to the selectmens office. The reasons for this are to protect the identities of witnesses, informants, etc. How much the selectmen can and should know about this account, if we continue to have one, is something we will be asking federal and state authorities. If the new chief thinks this account is something he and his department need, we will establish specific reporting requirements and a complete accounting will appear in the annual town report if the federal and state authorities tell us we can do this.Witness fees These are fees for testimony in court paid to officers under state law. They are administered and paid by the court system through the State of New Hampshire. The town receives a check from the court system along with an accounting of how much which officers should be paid. The town acts as a pass through and pays the officers the amount directed by the court. The selectmen have directed the new chief to reaffirm with all the officers the applicable state laws governing the witness fees.Parking tickets/pistol permits/accident reports/other receipts New receipt and reporting systems are now or will be in place and the AGs office has made a couple of specific suggestions that will be brought to the new chief.Checks from the court system for ordinance violations, restitutions, etc. The courts have been notified that all such checks should be made payable to the Town of Bartlett and sent to the selectmens office where they will be deposited by the treasurer.Negotiated or plea bargained cases as in any case in local, state or federal court, the prosecution has the right to negotiate or plea bargain a case. If, as alleged, monies were paid for the benefit of the DARE program, this is an area where there probably is no policy to cover such instances. In any DWI case that is plea bargained, a report is supposed to be sent to the state. The most effective policy will be to insure that the new chief files any such cases with the AGs office and notifies the courts that if they have any reason to believe there is an inordinate number of such cases, they should notify the selectmens office and the attorney generals office.Employment contracts The town has a policy where if we hire a person as a police officer and they have to go to the police academy during which the town pays their salary while there, the officer agrees to work at least three years for the town. If they do not work the three years, they then owe the town some money to reimburse the town for expenses paid them while at the academy. In the future, the employment contracts will be with the town, not the police department, and when a police officer resigns or otherwise moves on, they will do so through the board of selectmen.Police details For some time, the selectmen have had a policy of being notified of and approving any outside private detail work. The reason for this policy is to prevent an officer from working too many outside hours, thereby not being able to properly perform his primary job, which is with the town. In order to save time, money and bureaucracy, the policy was that the police department would be in charge of the details, pay the town for the cruisers, and distributed the pay to the officers. Shortly after the initial information of the pending case against Chief Snow were released, the selectmen reaffirmed our policy of needing to approve details and requiring any checks for cruiser use be paid directly to the town. Since that time due to meetings with the new chief and the AGs office, the new chief has been instructed to devise a new and better policy regarding private detail work.Auditor The elected auditor only fills out a state form which is reviewed by the state. There is nothing any previous auditors found or could have found relative to any allegations pending against Chief Snow. The auditors report only seeks to reconcile funds reported to the town. Auditor Kathy Nealley resigned on August 21, 2001.DARE funds and other funds in general There are no funds missing or misappropriated from any budgeted town account. For the past several years, $500, and most recently $400 has been budgeted for the DARE program. Between $0 and $452 has been expended in those years and every cent is accounted for and listed in the town report, as is every expense made by the town each year. The monies the town spent on DARE were for such items as shirts, pencils, stickers, posters, and other promotional items. Monies may not have gone to the school for the DARE program but there are no town funds unaccounted for or missing from the DARE line item in the budget. The selectmen have notified every department head that we need to know if they have any separate accounts for any purpose which are not or have not been reported to the selectmen. The selectmen have also notified all the banks in the area and will be notifying businesses in the area that no one, town employee or not, is allowed to cash any check made payable to the Town of Bartlett or any department thereof. We have also notified the local banks that no employee is to establish or maintain any account. No one should have been nor should be able in the future to cash any check made payable to the town or any of its departments.Payment of Chief Snows retirement and severance pay Chief Snow retired in August prior to any charges being filed against him. During his employment by the town, payment was made (as required by law) into the New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS) on his behalf. It is the NHRS that determines and pays the chief any retirement benefits that he is entitled to and the town does not have any control over that program. However, during the chiefs employ with the town, he had unused vacation time that he had accrued and to which he was entitled by law. The issue of whether the town had to pay this given the circumstances at the time was discussed on three separate occasions with the towns legal counsel and the advice we got all three times was that it is required by law (N.H. RSA 275) to pay an employee who has severed employment any unused vacation time to which the employee is entitled. The board of selectmen settled on payment in the amount of $11,750.88 which was made to Bob Snow on October 12, 2001, representing 60 days of unused vacation time accumulated over the past 6 years.The attorney generals office plea bargain with Bob Snow As to the negotiated plea agreement, as the case is scheduled for trial in June, we do not feel it is appropriate at this time to comment on this matter to ensure that both sides receive a fair trial.As Acting Police Chief, Lt. David Goldstein of the N.H. State Police, has been instrumental in a number of areas of improvement in the police department, primarily but not limited to a better system for the departments evidence. One room has been better secured and a totally new room constructed. Additionally, formal procedures have been adopted by the department regarding the use of and access to the evidence room and those policies will also be reviewed by the new chief. Lt. Goldstein has been a source of leadership and guidance during a difficult period in the Bartlett Police Department and we are indeed fortunate to have been able to have him fill in during this interim period.There have been many selectmen in and out of office over the past few years and a number of police officers who have left the department for various reasons, and a number of businesses, banks, attorneys, court officials all of whom in hindsight may be able to point to some transgression by the former police chief but there was never one complaint to the selectmens office regarding any alleged criminal activity. Certainly there were complaints regarding the chiefs demeanor, dress, alleged harassments of individuals but nothing of a criminal or monetary nature.The selectmen believe that the new policies already in place and policies to be adopted in conjunction with the new chief will provide another layer of protection against future cases such as this. Additionally, the selectmen will be hiring an outside audit firm to do an audit and there will probably be some suggested improvements as a result of that audit. We will continue to cooperate with the attorney generals office regarding information on this case.While hindsight is always easy, the selectmens office felt that the procedures in place and trust in our department heads provided sufficient protection against the alleged wrongdoing by Chief Snow. Whether proven or not, the allegations showed a weakness in our system and we have taken the steps necessary to help protect the system.Bartlett SelectmenGene ChandlerDavid SheddDoug Garland