Bristol Twp. Approves Deputy Public Safety Director Position

The Bristol Township Council voted last month to potentially shake up the organizational structure of the police department.

The council voted 4-0 to add a Deputy Public Safety Director position to it’s police force. Council President Craig Bowen voted for the position along with members Troy Brennan, John Monahan and Cynthia Murphy. Council Vice President Amber Longhitano abstained from the vote. Councilmen Joe Glasson and Murray Bailey were absent from the meeting.

The position, which Township Manager Bill McCauley noted was budgeted, will be in charge of the patrol division of the force and second in command to Public Safety Director Robert Coulton’s administrative role.

The ordinance states the candidate for the deputy public safety director position will have to 10 years police experience with supervisory time, knowledge of fire administration and police policy. McCauley would not specify the amount budgeted for the deputy position, noting the salary was up for negotiation.

McCauley did not announce who was in the running for the position.

The deputy public safety director position will be a civilian one, giving the new hire one calendar year to resign as an official member of the force before taking the position, according to McCauley.

The department currently has two lieutenants – John Godzieba and Terry Hughes. Sgt. Ralph Johnson is currently filling the lieutenant position that was opened when Lt. Guy Sava retired in early 2015.

Coulton, a veteran command officer from New Jersey, leads the department but is not a sworn officer in Pennsylvania. Godzieba and Hughes are currently the highest ranking sworn police officials in the department. Godzieba handles the administrative functions of the department, Hughes handles the criminal investigative section and Johnson oversees the patrol division.

Council Vice President Amber Longhitano’s reason for abstaining from the vote was recent litigation that had been posed against the township in regards to the public safety director role.

The litigation comes in the form of a lawsuit filed by the Bristol Township Police Benevolent Association (PBA) against the township and Township Manager Bill McCauley.

The PBA claims the township will “bear the ultimate risk of the township’s transparent attempts to evade the statutory civil service requirements of the first class township code and expose its new public safety director to undue political influence and manipulation.”

The PBA said they believe the township, which is one of the first class, has to hire a police chief and cannot get rid of the position in favor of another non-sworn command official.

Township officials have said in the past Coulton’s appointment is legal and no chief is needed.

Randy Flager, the township’s solicitor, noted the litigation was not served correctly and had no merit.

Coulton has received good reviews from police officers since he was hired in May by McCauley and the council. He oversees the police department and fire marshal’s office on paper. Sources inside the township said Coulton’s efforts are mainly spent dealing with police. The public safety director’s office is even inside the police department’s wing of the Municipal Complex on Bath Road.

Coulton does not receive township insurance, a badge or township-issue firearm. He earns roughly $115,000 per year.

Bristol Township has been without a permanent police chief since former Chief James McAndrew went on medical leave in 2013. McAndrew officially retired July 1, 2013. Godzieba served as acting chief until December 2014, when he was removed from the role and Johnson was promoted to the interim position in until Coulton was hired.

The PBA lawsuit does not yet have a date before a judge in Doylestown.