Former New London police chief's suit against city still pending
New London – The month's jury selection for the civil trial connected to former Police Chief Margaret Ackley's four-year-old lawsuit against the city is on hold.
All court proceedings in the case are being delayed as Ackley seeks a new attorney because of the pending retirement of her attorney, Leon Rosenblatt.
Ackley’s suit dates back to 2013 and charges that the city failed to adhere to terms of a contract she signed in 2012 that kept her from retiring at the time.
Ackley retired at the beginning of this year but has shown no signs of abandoning the complaint against the city that stems back to the administration of former Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio. Finizio and attorney Brian Estep, who represented the city in Ackley's contract, have since been removed as defendants in the case.
The contract that Finizio signed and was later rejected by the City Council would have given Ackley enhanced benefits for life and paid her additional wages in the form of compensatory time payouts. A second agreement would have paid Ackley $25,000 to settle a harassment complaint against a former mayoral candidate.
None of the terms of the contracts were adhered to because of the City Council vote, and the city has argued that Finizio’s negotiated contract needed council approval to be valid.
The attorney representing the city in the case, David S. Monastersky, has argued as such in the motion for summary judgment on file in the case. If a judge grants the motion, the case would be dismissed.
Both Monastersky and Rosenblatt, who in court documents cites an illness as the reason for his retirement, declined comment on the trial delay. Rosenblatt said simply that the case was no longer his to comment on. Ackley could not be reached to comment, and court records do not yet list a new attorney.
A status conference in the case is scheduled Thursday in New London Superior Court before Judge Leeland Cole-Chu.
Even as the legal wrangling continues, the city is preparing to post the job opening for the chief’s position. The police department is currently being run by Acting Chief Peter Reichard, a former assistant police chief at the New Haven Police Department who is expected to enter the pool of candidates when the position is officially posted.
Both Mayor Michael Passero and Chief Administrative Officer Steve Fields have expressed confidence in Reichard’s ability to run the department.
Fields said on Friday that he expects the formation of a diverse selection committee and said the process of selecting the new chief will be heavily weighted on input from the community. He said further details on the selection process are forthcoming.
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