Lewes police promotions draw ire

The union that represents Lewes Police officers has filed a grievance against the city, claiming City Manager Ellen Lorraine McCabe violated the labor agreement when she allegedly bypassed city policy in hand-selecting officers for recent promotions.

Members of Fraternal Order of Police Labor Lodge 22 also unanimously passed a vote of no confidence against McCabe June 10, the day after the promotions were publicly announced by Lewes Police Chief Tom Spell at a mayor and city council meeting.

Lt. James Locklear was promoted to deputy chief, Sgt. Tyrone Woodyard was promoted to operational lieutenant and Cpl. Rick Schiazza was promoted to sergeant.

The union said that Spell, in a June 4 email to the entire department, said the promotions were part of a restructuring of the department.

In a statement released Aug. 1, Lodge 22 claims McCabe hand-selected promotional appointees without the support of administrative staff, and that [Spell] was ordered to secrecy leading up to the email notification.

The union said McCabe’s actions violated established policy in the city’s employee personnel manual, which calls for competitive testing.

“The manual requires the City of Lewes to follow the established police department promotional policy which sets forth guidelines for a promotional process that identifies members who are best qualified for advancement based on merit and the ability to perform necessary job skills,” the union statement said. “The City of Lewes breached the contract when they failed to make modifications to established policies, post the modified policies electronically and send the modified policies to the union steward. The city manager’s flagrant disregard for the policy and procedures of the city and the police department has hurt the reputation of the city, the community and the police department.”

The union claims McCabe’s actions have had a “devastating” impact on morale in the police department, and will have an impact on retention and recruitment.

McCabe and mayor and city council issued separate statements Aug. 3 in response.

Both said they are aware of the grievance statement issued by the union.

“Agreements, policies and procedures are in place when grievances come from union members against management,” said McCabe’s statement.

“MCC has proactively initiated a process of interviews so we can address concerns raised by the city manager, chief of police and the union,” mayor and city council’s statement said. “We are confident both the city manager and the chief of police will continue to lead their staffs and serve our community with the utmost sense of professionalism.”

Both statements said that since the grievance involves personnel matters, they cannot comment further.