By Jake Palmateer
Staff Writer
ONEONTA _ The city's police chief tonight will present a summary of steps the department has taken in the wake of the resignation of three officers regarding misconduct allegations.
Mayor Dick Miller called earlier this year for Police Chief Joseph Redmond to report to the Board of Public Safety on the changes. Redmond was to have made his presentation last month, but when two aldermen said they could not attend, it was rescheduled for this month.
The Board of Public Safety consists of all eight aldermen and meets at 6 p.m. in Common Council chambers at City Hall. The regular Common Council meeting follows at 7:30 p.m.
Redmond said Monday that he would not discuss the details of the report in advance of the Board of Public Safety meeting, but said that the department is in a better position than it was six months ago, even though the staffing level is down by five officers.
"Morale is good," Redmond said. "We're getting the job done."
Daniel Fetterman, an officer for seven years, resigned Feb. 22. He was scheduled to appear for a disciplinary hearing the following day before an independent arbitrator regarding a series of alleged encounters with women while on duty from July to September. The accusations included sex, drinking, giving rides in a police car and allowing one of the women to drive a police car while intoxicated, according to a list of the charges obtained by The Daily Star.
City officials never publicly released any details of the allegations facing Fetterman or the other two men implicated in the misconduct, Andrew Barber and Joseph Stockdale, who both resigned Oct. 5.
Barber, a sergeant, was the midnight-shift supervisor of Fetterman and Stockdale.
Steps taken immediately after the allegations surfaced included rotating sergeants to cover different shifts.
The extent of what could be done was bound by union contracts, according to a March 2 memo to aldermen from Miller
That memo indicated the department will be understaffed for the next year, while new members are trained and hired.
In addition to the three officers who resigned, two others retired in the latter half of 2009.
The Common Council is expected to hire five full-time officers and one part-time officer at its meeting tonight.
Redmond said department members are looking forward to working with the new officers.
But those officers will not be fully trained until early next year.
