Council Punts Police Capt. Promotion, Rejects Proposed Contract

The Cranston City Council on Monday heaped praise on Cranston Police Capt. Todd Patalano but voted to reject a proposed employment contract and postponed his promotion to the rank of major for 30 days in the hopes of securing a less generous pact to vote on before Jan. 13.

Meanwhile Patalano, who has been serving as acting major, his lawyer and the city’s administration are reportedly back in negotiations as the City Council keeps its fingers crossed that Patalano doesn’t walk away from the promotion altogether -- a concern expressed Monday night during a lengthy debate about promotion process so far, which they complained has been flawed and unfair to Patalano.

“I’d hate to lose such a qualified major. It would be a travesty to the citizens of Cranston if we cannot figure this out,” said City Council Vice President Michael Farina.

At issue are terms in the proposed contract agreed upon between Patalano and the city that would have given him similar benefits and pay raise promises that members of the police union would receive, said Councilman Steve Stycos.

As a major, Patalano would no longer be a member of the police union and would instead work in the same capacity as any other member of the city’s administrative team. Up until Monday, few details about the specific aspects of the contract have been revealed.

Stycos said that the “worst aspect” of the proposed pact was the “tying [of] a management person’s wages and working conditions to a union collective bargaining agreement,” a reference to the police union contract.

The administrative handbook details the benefits that managers recieve, encompassing vacations, comp time, and so on, Stycos said.

“I think those things were passed and they’re law and they govern everybody else in the management group in the city,” Stycos said. “They aught to govern Mr. Patalano also.”

Stycos and other council members did say that they understood Patalano’s concern about job security. As a manager, he could be out of the job with the elimination of a major’s position in the city budget on a whim. And with no union behind him, he would have little recourse.

With recent turmoil in the department, and the fact that Patalano’s name has been in the news for months -- first while waiting out a lengthy paid leave for an internal investigation launched by the now-retired former police chief before being cleared and reinstated, second for his subsequent filing of a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the city for his suspension -- council members said they had sympathy for his job security concerns.

The contract reportedly included provisions that would allow Patalano to re-join the police union with the rank of captain first class if his position were defunded and “we currently have two more captains than are called for under City Charter,” Stycos said.

With the votes, the council followed the recommendation of the council’s Finance Committee subcommittee, which met last week and brought dozens of Patalano supporters and fellow police officers to City Hall in a show of support.

The lone vote against the continuance of the promotion item came from Councilman Mario Aceto, who said he didn’t understand why the council couldn’t just approve his promotion with the understanding that the contract is still being negotiated. He suggested that it would be a positive signal to the captain that they’re behind him on getting the promotion.

“He’s come to two committee hearings, he’s serving at this position as acting major, if we give advice and consent . . . that really doesn’t do anything other than saying the process has been fulfilled,” Aceto said. “This has been going on for a long time. If I were Capt. Patalano, I’d wonder when the advice and consent was coming. This is the third meeting and they ‘haven’t let me in?’”

But Councilman Farina noted that it might be even more unfair to Patalano if he couldn’t come to terms with the administration on a new contract and ended up having to reject a promotion approved by the city council.

It was also agreed that leaving the promotion hanging sets a Jan. 13 deadline and puts pressure on both sides of the negotiations to come up with a deal sooner than later, though the promotion would automatically go through if the council fails to vote before Jan. 13.

“Capt. Patalano is currently serving as acting major. He’s not going to lose any money. His benefits are all there. He’s fine where he is right now,” said Council President John E. Lanni Jr. “In 30 days, he’s going to be fine. Now we’re just giving [them] time to negotiate the contract. We’re all looking out for Capt. Patalano. We don’t want to be pushing him to the brink.”

Council members did take issue with the process, which they said has been fraught with glitches. And Deputy City Solicitor Evan Kirshenbaum said that employment agreements normally follow a “certain ordinance track” because the hiring would necessitate an amendment to the handbook and “that has not happened in this case.”

Typically, the the council gets a look at the proposed contract and has a chance to review before being presented with something to vote on. In this case, the council got the contract before getting to deliberate on it, Farina said, among other issues, Farina said.

“It feels like everything regarding this has been done backwards,” Farina said.