GUILDERLAND — The town’s police force has promoted four officers among its ranks.

On Tuesday night, the town board unanimously approved the permanent appointment of Daniel P. McNally as lieutenant, from sergeant, and Donald F. Jones as sergeant, from patrolman. The board also approved the provisional appointment of Emanuel Shulman as technical police first sergeant; he had been an investigator.

A fourth Guilderland Police officer, Dean Spazaro, was promoted to senior patrolman, from patrolman. All of the men were ceremoniously promoted yesterday afternoon in Town Hall.

Guilderland Police have been without an official police chief since the retirement of long-term chief James Murley on May 30, following allegations of misconduct. Deputy Police Chief Carol Lawlor has been running the department since mid-February when Murley was put on administrative leave.

Supervisor Kenneth Runion told The Enterprise that the police force is revamping its ranks, but that a new chief has not been named as of yet. Lieutenant Curtis Cox is currently the second in command at the police station under Lawlor.
"We’re trying to get all of the other things in place before we begin searching for our new chief," Runion said.

When asked in May, after Murley announced his retirement, Lawlor told The Enterprise, "That’s a decision that I will have to make when the town board is ready to start looking for someone"We’re just concentrating on doing our jobs to the best of our abilities right now."
Officers in the police department are required to go through the same Albany County Civil Service requirements as other town employees, which includes interviews, meeting particular qualifications, taking a test if it is deemed to be in the "competitive class," and then being picked from a list of several potential candidates.
"The first-sergeant position was never a civil service position before," Runion said about why Shulman had a "provisional" appointment. The county has to create a test for him to take because the position includes administrative duties and information technology functions.

Once Shulman takes and passes the exam, he can be permanently appointed by the town board, Runion said.

After the meeting, the town board went into an executive session to go over and discuss employee performance reviews. As part of the town’s new employee manual, which was adopted earlier this year, workers town-wide have their performance reviewed by their supervisors.
"The board has a lot of performance reviews to go over," Runion told The Enterprise yesterday. "The reviews are handed in and put into personnel files."

Runion then reviews the work of supervisors and department heads around town. He called the executive session because he wanted to give the board a chance to go over reviews and personnel files before the budget workshops begin, Runion said.

Currently, the reviews are used for evaluation and for budgeting talks; there is nothing in place to reward employees with good reviews or penalize them for bad ones.
"There isn’t anything like that in place now, but it might be something the board may want to look into in the future," Runion said.

When it comes to elected officials, however, Runion said that’s the public’s job.
"We have the voters do our performance reviews," he said.

Other business

In other business, the town board unanimously:

— Approved issuing civic facility revenue bonds by the town’s Industrial Development Agency to finance a project for Wildwood Programs, Inc. Councilmen Paul Pastore commented that there was no public comment when the project was proposed at a meeting;
— Approved the request of Stuyvesant Plaza for an easement along Western Avenue for an underground electric line. Stuyvesant Plaza’s attorney, Jim Schultz, said that the power line was only an "upgrade" and would not add lighting or fixtures to the plaza. Schultz also said that the new power line could provide the lights for the McKownville Park behind the plaza;

— Authorized a grant application for refurbishing and upgrading the Guilderland Performing Arts Center. The GPAC renovations is part of a $177,000 project that will also include a new pool house. The grant money, from the county, will chip in $85,000.
"The pool building is going to be totally removed and a new building constructed to meet the codes and regulations of the county health department," Runion told The Enterprise. Work on the new pool house is planned to begin at the end of the pool season this summer, after Labor Day, and a new building is expected to be in place by the start of the 2008 season; and

— Scheduled the next town board meeting for July 10, after the holiday.