By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE
Correspondent

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. — The Town Board has eliminated the position of deputy police chief and instead will have a lieutenant serve as the department’s second-in-command.

The board approved the change during a meeting on Thursday at which Supervisor James Quigley said a small police department doesn’t need a deputy chief.

“It is not customary for towns of our size to have a deputy chief,” he said.

At the same meeting, the board approved the promotion of Detective Sgt. Anthony Cruise to lieutenant as of March 1. His salary will be $80,389.

Cruise has been with the town police department since May 1992, was promoted to detective in 2002 and became a detective sergeant in 2007.

The lieutenant’s position has been vacant since the last person to hold it, Matthew Taggard, became town police chief in October 2010. The deputy chief’s job has been vacant since Joseph Sinagra resigned in November 2011 to take a job with the Saugerties Police Department.

“I’ve been working without any administrative help for several months, running the department by myself,” Taggard said.

The chief said he’s been working “12- to 14-hour days and having to handle three administrative positions of responsibility.”

“Now, with the second-in-command being the lieutenant, we can take a look at all the administrative responsibilities, restructure it, and with maybe one of the sergeants as support, make the workload a little easier to manage,” Taggard said.

He said the changes also will allow him to develop a community outreach program. Continued...

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“I would like to spend a lot more time in the community trying to find out what is needed from the services we provide,” he said.

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