Southwick Select Board considers police promotions

June 15, 2021 | Peter Currier
peter@thewestfieldnewsgroup.com

SOUTHWICK –  The Select Board met June 7 to discuss possible ordinances on canvassing, a promotion of two new police sergeants and vacancies on town boards and commissions.

The Select Board interviewed three Southwick police officers with the intention of promoting two of them to the rank of sergeant. Officers Roger P. Arduini and Michael A. Taggart were promoted following their interviews.     Officer David P. Maasai was also interviewed but did not advance.

Both Arduini and Taggart expressed their desire to one day become the chief of Southwick Police Department. They both said during their interviews that they believe incoming police reform measures will impact Southwick’s police but neither of them believe Southwick to have a problematic police force.

“Our department doesn’t have the issues of a larger department. Everybody keeps each other in check,” said Arduini, “If I was on patrol and I saw something happening, I would tell the other officer that isn’t right.”

The Select Board later discussed recent issues in which individuals would be out canvassing in their neighborhoods at late hours in the day. Stinehart said that there have been instances in which canvassers have been knocking on people’s doors as they are putting their children to bed for the night. He suggested that there should be a time at which canvassing must cease in Southwick neighborhoods.

“What will be different in the future going forward, based on Town Meeting’s adoption of the civil fingerprinting bylaw, in the future these types of individuals will need to be fingerprinted,” said Stinehart.

Select Board member Douglas P. Moglin said that he was not opposed to having a canvassing time limit. He said that, by his interpretation of the bylaw, a licensed canvasser does not have to adhere to a specific time limit at night.

“I don’t know what is the right answer for what the time should be, but it seems that there should be some reasonable answer and this board and Chief [Robert] Landis should be able to come up with some sort of recommendation at Town Meeting to amend the bylaw,” said Moglin.

Select Board member Joseph Deedy suggested that when someone goes to get their canvassing permit, they should also be given a piece of paper telling them that the town would like them to adhere to a specific set of hours when canvassing, even if there is no legal recourse for someone breaking that time limit at this time.

No vote was made on the canvassing issue.

The Select Board moved on to a discussion about a vacancy on the Southwick Historical Commission. Select Board member Russ Fox said the Historical Commission is not the only board or committee that has vacancies.

Moglin agreed and said that a request had been sent out a couple of years ago for people to send in letters of interest for a board or commission they would like to be on.

“One of the things I have worked on over the last couple of years is to get some new folks, we have been successful in getting people elected to positions their first time running for office,” said Moglin.

He then added that he especially encourages people who have been critical of the Select Board or the town government in general over the years to try to get a spot on a board or commission.

“Any time you run into someone, especially if they corner you to yell at you and bitch at you, that is your opportunity to say, ‘I hear you, what do you wanna do, and how are you going to help?’,” said Moglin, “and what board or commission do you want to be on to help solve your problem or someone else’s problem.”

Deedy said that there is a vacancy on practically every other board.

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