Standard-Speaker
HAZLETON, Pa. — Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat has no plans for changing a years-old practice that allows certain city employees to take city-owned vehicles home when the workday ends.
His reasoning is based partly on practicality and precedent.
“It’s been in place prior to my time in office,” Cusat said Friday when asked about the practice. “The fire department, police department and streets department — for emergency situations — have to have the capability of shutting down a road or responding to an emergency.”
The vehicles aren’t available for all employees. Vehicles are issued with the understanding that they must be driven solely to and from work — unless an emergency arises that warrants a response, the mayor said.
City vehicles are available to plainclothed police, detectives, the fire chief, two deputy fire chiefs, the police chief, two streets department foremen and the assistant streets foreman, Cusat said. The number of take-home vehicles that employees use each day depends on the number of plainclothed officers and detectives who are on the roster, the mayor said.
Streets employees who have access to take-home vehicles drive pickup trucks that carry materials and equipment that can be used for closing a street or responding to an emergency, Cusat said.
Police and fire department employees use take-home vehicles in accordance with their work schedules, he said.
“Basically, it’s an understanding that they’re (to be used) to and from work and while on duty and in emergency situations,” Cusat said.
Most of those employees live in or within 10 miles of the city, but one city employee’s trip home is longer than most.
Interim police Chief Jerry Speziale, who lives in Paterson, New Jersey, where he also serves as police commissioner, uses a Hazleton police vehicle when traveling the first leg of his return trip to New Jersey, Cusat said.
The mayor did not disclose the exact arrangement with Speziale, but would say only that no city-owned vehicles leave Pennsylvania.
Cusat said he doesn’t believe the practice creates liability issues for Hazleton because city employees are using the vehicles and they are not driving out of state.
Some of the highest mileage is wracked up by drug task force officers who use unmarked police cruisers while carrying out operations, Cusat noted.
“Our undercover and task force officers drive vehicles all the time outside the city limits,” he said. “A lot of our undercover operations may take place hundreds of miles outside the city.”
The practice of using take-home vehicles was in place before Cusat became mayor — and had even been challenged by a former police chief who wanted to put an end to it about four years ago.
Former chief Frank DeAndrea attempted to end the practice, but the police union successfully grieved it.
“I believe when (DeAndrea) came in, they wanted to stop police (from using take-home) vehicles and it went to grievance,” Cusat said. “They filed grievances and they won.”
DeAndrea used a vehicle to drive to and from work, Cusat recalled.
Councilwoman Grace Cuozzo said she has no issue with the fire and police chief using take-home vehicles, as long as the vehicles aren’t driven out of state, but asked why city police detectives should be able to drive city-owned vehicles home.
Take-home vehicles could create liabilities for the city if any of its employees were to use them to drive family members or if they were not using the vehicles for reasons other than conducting city business, she fears.
“We can’t afford any lawsuits,” Cuozzo said.
The vehicles accrue additional miles and consume gas that taxpayers must ultimately pay for, she said.
“The fire chief (and) police chief, I understand,” she said. “Anybody else, I can’t justify.”
The city has a system in place for checking mileage of each vehicle each time they are refueled, Cusat said. Since the employees typically use the same vehicles, the city can monitor mileage on each of its vehicles.
“All of the take-home cars are usually used by the same person,” Cusat said. “Each car has a vehicle number. In short, there’s a way of tracking it.”
Copyright 2016 the Standard-Speaker