NEW MAYOR: CHANGES IN POLICY, NOT NECESSARILY PEOPLE, ON THE HORIZON


Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News

04-02-11 - Newly-elected mayor Tom Curran is promising changes in the way things are done in Chatham, but that doesn’t necessarily mean changes in the faces of village officials.

Even retired Chatham Police Chief Kevin Boehme may be welcomed back in a part-time capacity to oversee the police force. So said Curran, who will take office April 4 after unseating longtime Mayor Paul Boehme, during elections on March 15.

During a recent interview with ccSCOOP, Curran said he would like to keep many of the department heads and commissioners on board “if they will work with me.”

“I think we have so much talent in the village. I would like to keep what they have as much as possible and work with the people that already know what they are doing,” Curran said.

He even said Kevin Boehme, whose 30-year tenure at the helm of the police force ended just after his brother’s defeat in the polls, may be considered to re-take the reins as chief of the force in a newly reduced position of part-time police chief.

“I think we will end up with a part-time chief. If we are going to bring this in to a no-increase budget, that may have to occur,” he said.

“(Kevin) would still have to go through the civil service process, but we have talked,” said Curran.

Curran, who said he is going through the village’s fiscal books in preparation for taking office, said the fiscal problems for the village are mounting and changes will have to be made to reduce the costs and tax burden for residents.

Whether or not that means the remaining full-time officers in the police force will be reduced to part-time in addition to the part-time police chief, Curran said “that remains to be seen.”

While hoping to have no tax increase for his first budget, Curran said that such a lofty goal may not be possible.
“I am hoping the public will understand that we are new at this and cut us some slack if we need it,” he said.

A new budget must be presented by May 1 and he said he is working with other officials to ensure that deadline happens.

He is also looking at ways of making the entire budget process this year and in coming years open, which was a foundation of his successful mayoral bid.

His first meeting at the helm of the Village Board will be April 14.