Murley gets six months
Police chief’s time away adds up



GUILDERLAND — As Police Chief James Murley remains on paid leave while the town continues its investigation, The Enterprise has learned that, according to his contract, Murley is allowed up to a maximum of six months of paid leave in a given year.

He earns $96,844 annually.

According to records obtained by The Altamont Enterprise through a Freedom of Information Law request, Murley’s maximum vacation, sick leave, and personal leave hours could total up to half a year of paid leave annually.

The maximum amount of leave time Murley could accumulate, allotted by his contract, is a total of 180 days, or 1,440 hours. If factored into five-day work weeks, it would take nine months to use up the time.

In the last five years the amount of vacation time Murley took fluctuated, ranging from 17 days in 2004 to nearly 35 days in 2002, according to his time bank records.

Supervisor Kenneth Runion said no actual attendance records can be produced because the only records that exist for Murley are individual leave slips and his time bank.

Murley, who has worked for the police department for 35 years, was placed on leave Feb. 8 and is currently receiving his regular pay, but, according to Runion, he is not allowed to go to his office or have any contact with Town Hall or police employees while on leave.

Murley’s contract with the town states he is allowed 25 days of vacation per year, a maximum of 1,200 hours or 150 days of accumulated sick leave, and five days of personal leave per year. Personal leave cannot be carried to the next year, Runion said, but if it’s not used it can be transferred to vacation or paid back to the employee.

Up to 40 hours of vacation time a year can also be bought back, the supervisor said, and both vacation and sick leave can be carried over to the next year with a cap of 40 days and 150 days respectively.
"Because Jim’s been with the department for so long, he’s pretty much at the maximum for all of the time allotments in his contract," Runion told The Enterprise.

Murley began working for the Guilderland Police department on Feb. 16, 1972, according to his personnel records. He was one of four or five officers to serve the department when it was formed.

The Guilderland Police contract allows an employee to start accumulating sick time after three months of continuous employment and workers are credited one day, or eight hours, of sick leave after each month of continuous work.

Murley had accumulated the maximum 150 days, or 1,200 hours, in 2003, but became sick with Lyme disease in 2004. He was out for seven weeks between July 19 and Sept. 12 of that year as a result.

Coming into 2007 this year, Chief Murley had 932 hours worth of sick leave accumulated, or 116-and-a-half days.

Murley’s leave
Runion said the police department is "making due" in Murley’s absence.
"Maybe some people won’t be able to just take vacation exactly when they want to, but we don’t have to work overtime to make up for it," he said.
According to the police contract, an employee has to get permission from the police chief 24 hours in advance for personal-time leave. The contract goes on to say that, if the appropriate notice is not given or there are "other exigent circumstances," the leave can still be granted by the chief, or his designee, at his discretion.

Personal leave cannot be denied by the police chief if the proper 24-hour notice is given, the contract says, except in cases of serious emergency or if it requires more than 50 percent of the shift coverage to be on overtime.

In Murley’s case, being the chief of police, he can file for his own personal leaves.
"Requesting leave is not as critical when it comes to an administrative official as it is when an officer is requesting it," Runion said, indicating that the policy prevents possible gaps in police coverage and keeps overtime hours to a minimum.

Labor law states that police officers must be paid for overtime work and cannot simply accumulate hours for overtime work like other town employees can.

Runion told The Enterprise last week that the town is not incurring any exorbitant cost in relation to Murley’s leave despite criticisms from town residents angry about taxpayer waste and non-disclosure by the town.
Admitting that the town is sustaining some "administrative fees" on a personnel investigation, Runion said he could not comment on whether or not there would be costs to the town in the future.
Runion called for an executive session at the end of Tuesday’s town board meeting to discuss a "personnel investigation," but continued to maintain he could not comment on the situation.
He described the meeting as an "informational meeting" to bring the board up to speed on the investigation.