Secret retirements of chief and assistant have taken a heavy
toll on morale; POA says search should start now
Gilroy – Breaking weeks of near-silence, Gilroy’s police union condemned the undisclosed winter retirements of the department’s chief and assistant chief, and called on the city to immediately start recruiting a new chief.
By failing to announce their retirements, the chiefs eroded trust, damaged morale, and violated the department’s core values of respect, integrity and accountability, the union agreed in a statement adopted March 5, and released to the Dispatch March 13.
“This decision was made of design and not by mistake or miscalculation,” the statement reads, “and it is this fact that is the most troublesome.”
Nearly a month ago, news broke that Police Chief Gregg Giusiana and Assistant Chief Lanny Brown retired late last year, then returned as hourly employees, nearly doubling their pay. State officials say the plan is legal. In fact, the city saves nearly $125,000 in benefits and pension contributions, said City Administrator Jay Baksa, who quietly arranged the deals.
But perceptions of secrecy have ruffled feathers among some councilmen and the rank-and-file cops, who registered their discontent in the union statement. Upon retiring, Brown announced he’d leave the department by July; Giusiana didn’t tell officers he’d retired until Feb. 15, prodded by a pending Dispatch article. Rumors of the chief’s coming retirement had long circled the department, but the news that Giusiana was already collecting his pension and hadn’t told his officers stunned police.
“You’ve got to trust your leadership,” said Councilman Craig Gartman, responding to the union’s statement. “They’re saying there’s an atmosphere of distrust, and that’s very difficult to have in a law enforcement organization.”
Tuesday, Baksa said he wished he’d announced the retirements immediately to spare Giusiana and Brown the heat.
“These guys are two of the best police professionals I have ever known in my 33 years in the business,” said Baksa, who lamented that the chiefs’ longtime records might be sullied by the controversy. “If you’re going to take someone out and beat them, take me, not these guys … That’s the thing I feel worst about.”
In an e-mail, Lanny Brown wrote that not sharing the details of his retirement was “probably a judgment error on my part.” To mend morale, Brown and Giusiana met Friday, March 9, with Jim Callahan, president of the Gilroy Police Officers Association.
“My decision was not based on a lack of trust or respect for my coworkers,” Brown wrote. “I just didn’t feel it was important to be shared.”
Giusiana did not return calls seeking comment.
Recruitment is still scheduled for this spring, said Baksa, who has previously stated that the chief’s spot will be advertised in April, at the earliest. Union members are pressing for recruitment to begin immediately.
“We see no benefit in delaying commencement,” wrote Callahan. Recruiting and selecting a new chief could take up to a year, Baksa said earlier this year, and state law restricts the number of hours Giusiana can work each fiscal year as a retiree.
“If Gregg is only working until the end of January,” as previously announced, said Gartman, “it makes sense to start the process immediately.”
Mayor Al Pinheiro said Baksa and city council would decide whether to accelerate the search on the basis of the city’s interests, not the union’s directives.
“We’re all aware of their concerns,” said Mayor Al Pinheiro. “This council runs this city, and we’ll do what’s best for our city.”
In the scandal’s wake, union leaders met Feb. 26 and called a general meeting for the following Monday, March 5. Members voted overwhelmingly to issue the statement, wrote Callahan, who said he had been directed by membership not to comment further on the statement or its timing. The union’s statement was issued just days before the department dedicates its new station, named for the city’s first chief, C.J. Laizure.
When the retirement controversy first surfaced, Baksa and Pinheiro said the retirements weren’t a significant issue, and Giusiana urged the Dispatch to “stop all the divisiveness being generated by your articles.”
Now, with the first public statement of officers’ discontent, Baksa said he could understand their concerns. The mayor said he wasn’t surprised by the statement, which formalized the frustrations voiced privately by individual officers.
Councilman Roland Velasco said the statement was important, as a barometer of police opinion.
“If that’s the feeling of the majority of the Police Officers Association,” he said, “I have to accept that.”
