Almost eight months after Mayor Anthony Staffieri removed Robert Hughes from the city’s Police Commission the mayor says he is narrowing down possible replacements and expects to name a successor soon.
“I have people in mind, and I’ve been talking with them,” Staffieri said Tuesday. He declined to say who he had in mind.
When asked about the long delay in naming a new person to the board, Staffieri said “I was working on something,” but wouldn’t clarify what that meant.
“It’s an important position,” Staffieri said. “I just want to make sure I get the right person on there.”
The three-person commission has been operating with only two members since Hughes was removed in July. The move prompted criticism from Hughes, who said it was personally motivated because a business deal between Hughes’ son and Staffieri’s sons went sour.
At the time, Staffieri issued a statement on Hughes’ removal, saying that the dispute over the sons’ restaurant had affected Hughes’ objectivity as a police commissioner. The mayor’s statement was not more specific.
The commission has been able to meet and take action as long as the remaining two members — Leo DiSorbo and Theodore Estwan, Jr. — are present. Both members must vote in order for a motion to pass, according to the city’s corporation counsel Joseph Coppola.
“All votes require two nays or two yays to carry,” Coppola said.
Because of that requirement, the commission has been unable to elect a new chairman. On a first attempt DiSorbo voted in favor of making Estwan chairman, and Estwan abstained from voting. With only one vote, he couldn’t become chairman.
Aldermanic President Ken Hughes, the son of ousted commissioner Robert Hughes, said the position needs to be filled.
“In terms of meeting attendance, you need two people for a quorum,” Hughes said. “So you need to make sure each guy can be there to meet.”
Ken Hughes also said it’s important for the commission to have a chairman — and an Independent member.
The board is made up of a Republican, a Democrat and an Independent — and with only two members the balance is off, Hughes said. Robert Hughes was the board’s independent member.
The Police Commission oversees the Derby Police Department policy, and is a popular commission to volunteer for, Staffieri said.
“I can’t believe how many people contacted me wanting to be on it,” Staffieri said, without giving a specific number.
