At their meeting on July 1, the Montgomery Town Board reappointed John Van Tassel as the interim chief of the town’s police department.

“We appointed John Van Tassel as our interim chief several months ago and that interim appointment expired,” said Montgomery Town Supervisor Brian Maher. “This latest re-appointment was a formality as we continue to await results of the police chief’s exam, which we called for last year.”

This temporary chief situation came about as the town navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 amidst their longtime chief retiring. At that time, the town board wanted to ensure continuity and having part-time Police Officer Steve Ragni take more of a leadership role in the department was a recommendation made by outgoing chief, Arnold “Butch” Amthor.

Ragni served 20 years with the Town of Haverstraw Police Department from 1983-2003, served honorably in the United States Marine Corps prior to that and worked for the FBI as an investigative specialist from 2003-2015 before joining the Town of Montgomery Police Department as a part-time officer.

Don Berger, one of the founders of citizen’s group Residents Protecting Montgomery (RPM), voiced their grievances during the public comment portion of last week’s town board meeting. He possesses a letter from Orange County Human Resources to Maher dated Aug. 4, 2020, which states that officer in charge is not a title recognized by civil service. He added that there are other items that the Town of Montgomery Police Department is in violation of per civil service law. As a part-time officer in charge, Ragni cannot work more than 19 hours per week. His salary of $73,000 per year is three times more than his part-time position allows. Berger also questioned why Ragni attends town board meetings instead of Van Tassel.

Maher noted that the current chief, John Van Tassel, has utilized Ragni in a way he believed was best for the department and the town board compensated Ragni in a manner they believed to be fair based on his experience. Ragni continued to work 19 hours per work week in accordance with civil service law. Even with the salary adjustment to Ragni, the town board was able to save the taxpayers of the Town of Montgomery more than $150,000 over the past year alone. This savings came from not hiring a chief of police from outside of the town department. At the urging of Orange County Civil Service, however, the town board is looking into rectifying the salary adjustment.

The temporary situation over the past year was put into action to allow three sergeants within the Town of Montgomery Police Department to take the police chief’s exam. All three eligible sergeants took that exam several months ago and the town board is awaiting those results. When those results come in, the town board looks forward to giving an officer within the current department a chance to become the next chief.

“Sometimes an outside chief can be a good thing for a department but amid the pandemic, our town board decided to temporarily appoint one of our own, Sgt. Van Tassel, who utilized part-time Officer Steve Ragni’s skill set as he saw fit,” Maher said.

Orange County Civil Service does not recognize the title officer in charge or executive officer. Maher noted that the title was an internal designation used among staff. Moving forward, Maher has directed Chief Van Tassel and Officer Ragni to discontinue this practice.

Under the previous chief, Ragni was referred to as Investigator Ragni. This informal designation was also not an official title created by the town board or a recognized title under Orange County Civil Service. Maher added that this practice, which dates back prior to his time as supervisor, will discontinue moving forward.

“At the end of the day, over the past year, the decisions made by the town board were made because we felt they were the right thing to do for our town police department and the residents of the town, while realizing a significant cost savings to our taxpayers,” Maher said.

As acting Town of Montgomery Chief of Police, Van Tassel noted that it has been his honor to step up and contribute to the department.

“During my time as chief, I felt it was important that all of the sergeants who qualified to take the chief’s exam had an equal opportunity to become the next chief,” he said. “I have utilized all of our sergeants and officers, including Officer Ragni, based on their individual skill sets.”

Van Tassel added that as chief of police, the department has been consulting as a team and working together. Ragni’s experience has been invaluable to him and he had no issue with designating him to attend board meetings in his place and taking a visible leadership role in the community. Van Tassel noted that he did not have an issue with the town board adjusting Ragni’s salary and not his own, as he did not want to be treated any differently than his fellow sergeants who also qualify and will be applying to be the next police chief.

“I speak for all of us when I say we thank the town board for allowing us to have an opportunity to become the next chief instead of hiring someone from outside of our department,” Van Tassel said. “Morale in our department is higher than it has ever been and we look forward to receiving the chief exam results and moving forward with a full-time appointment.”