Members And Guests Partake In Professional Fellowship, Good Food and A Great View

Ideal weather and an ideal location served as the backdrop for the 13th general membership meeting of the Massachusetts Association For Professional Law Enforcement. Members began gathering at the main function tent of the Fruitland’s Museum in picturesque Harvard MA at about 11AM. Our surprise visitor of the day was member Mike Pavone, who had been under the weather of late but felt sufficiently strong enough to join us yesterday. It was good to see him. Lunch was served promptly at noon.

            The President gaveled the meeting to order promptly at 1:00PM and the membership began devouring the business with same intensity they did eating their lunch.  The meeting began with the pledge of allegiance.  Director Al Puller read the invocation and the meeting was off and running.  The minutes for last December’s general meeting were quickly approved on a motion by Robert Champagne, seconded by Ross Hymon. One addition was made and that was adding Kathy Dennehy’s name to the attendee list. It had been inadvertently left off.  The minutes were approved unanimously with changes.

            President Galvin presented the Treasurer’s report which recorded all income and expenditures since the last general meeting. MAPLE took in a total of $1,475.00 in donation and dues since last December. When matched with the starting balance from last year, total revenue was reported at $4,695.00. Expenditures consisted of payments for last December’s general meeting, the US post office box rental, an IRS annual filing fee and our annual fee to the webmaster which totaled $1,082.91 showing an ending balance of $ 3,552.91.   A motion to approve the Treasurer’s reports was made by Anne Marie Rocheleau and seconded by Brian O’Hara.  The report was approved on a unanimous vote.

MAPLE’s budget was presented next. The Executive Board offered a $5,620.73 budget, which was comprised of $3120.73 of carryover revenue and an estimate $2500 in new revenue for a total of $5620.77. Expenditures included PO Box rental, IRS filing, Secretary of State Filing, the costs for two general meetings and the webmaster’s fee for a total of $1687.00 in expenditures. Reserve accounts consisted of the President’s discretionary fund (275), Free Cash (3158) and stabilization (500) for total reserve account of $3,933.73. A motion to accept the budget was made by Pat Faiella and seconded by Anne Marie Rocheleau. The budget passed unanimously.

            The President gave a short report of developments from the December meeting to the present (see report).  Bob Champagne gave the committee report. There are currently four active committees.

(1)   Police Leadership:  Members:  Galvin, Champagne, Martin, Dupont, Beausoleil.  Cronin and Puller joined during the meeting

(2)   Police Culture:  Members:  Galvin, Puller, Parham, Faiella, Beausoleil.  Cronin joined the committee during the meeting

(3)   Strategic Planning:  Members:  Authorized but not organized

(4)   Standards Committee: This is a standing committee.  Members are Beausoleil, Rocheleau, Mroz, Denmark, McLaughlin.

(5)   Mental Health Policy:   This is authorized but is being held in abeyance until other committees clear.

         Following the committee reports, Michael Perreirra, the Labor Relations Manager from Mass Cops addressed MAPLE and provided an overview of the state’s POST C commission from his union’s perspective.  He highlighted transparency and due process issues that his union has identified and explained the actions being taken to address them.

The last issue on the agenda was a proposed statement to be approved by the meeting regarding the need for a deeper commitment to police reform. The importance of police culture was stressed and the relationship of police and civilian leadership in creating that culture was addressed. Pat Faiella motioned to accept the statement and Anne Marie Rocheleau seconded the motion. The matter was put to a vote and it passed unanimously. The meeting then adjourned. (statement to follow)