Community Corner

Police Commission Creates New Advisory Board

New two-man advisory board will be made up of outgoing chairman Fred Brow and commissioner James Krebs, whose two-year terms expired at midnight Wednesday.

The battle between the East Haven Board of Police Commissioners and Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr's administration continues.

"The administration has not discussed anything with this board since the mayor took office," Police Commission Chairman Brow said during tonight's meeting at the .

New Advisory Committee

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This evening, the commissioners unanimously voted to approve the creation of their own two-man advisory committee just moments after unanimously voting to recommend the disbandment of the mayor's recently formed .

The commission's new advisory board will be made up of outgoing Police Commission Chairman Fred Brow and commissioner James Krebs. Both men's two-year terms expired at midnight Wednesday.

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But following tonight's meeting, Brow told East Haven Patch the remaining commissioners felt it was important to maintain an official line of communication between the new commission and the two now-former board members.

"I think they want to hold onto our knowledge," Brow said. "And so if they needs us, they can call on us, on all issues related to the board."

Surprise Move

But most of those who packed the senior center for Tuesday night's meeting were not happy with its outcome. Many expressed not just outrage at the formation of the new advisory commission, but how it was created.

The consideration and vote to approve the new board was not included on the commission's original agenda. Instead, the commissioners voted to amend the agenda and add the item at the end of the meeting.

By not including the item on the original agenda, many said it did not allow residents the opportunity to express their opinion on the committee's creation during the public comment portion of the meeting, which was held early on in the evening.

Following the vote to create the advisory board, former East Haven Town Council Ken McCay approached the commission to express his anger over the amended agenda and the new board. (see video posted in the gallery that accompanies this article.)

Recommendation: Fire Gallo

In addition to creating the advisory board, the commission unanimously voted to recommend Mayor Maturo terminate the contract of East Haven Police , prior to his of Feb. 2.

Prior to the vote, a long list of alleged "failures" of the embattled police chief in serving as the department's head was read into the public record (the document is posted on the gallery that accompanies this article).

Brow said as well as firing a town employee that commissioners felt was not properly running his department, terminating his contract would also more than $95,000 in accrued sick and vacation time.

Additionally, calling into questions the accuracy of the police chief's bookkeeping, the commission unanimoulsly voted to approve a request to audit Gallo's sick and vacation time ledger.

"They're not consistent with the time he served," Brow said of Gallo's figures.

Complaint for 'Taco Comment'

The police commission also unanimously voted to approve filing a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities regarding Mayor Maturo's to a television reporter last week.

The commission is asking for the state board to conduct an investigation into the incident.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here