Police Commissioner Fails in Attempt To Be Branford Board Chair

BRANFORD, CT - An attempt by one of the members of the Board of Police Commissioners to replace the current chair of the board with himself failed at the most recent meeting.

As part of the regular agenda of the commission meeting was the election of officers for the current year.

Currently Democrat Jill Marcus is the chair of the commission. Fellow Democrat - and commissioner - Anthony Lasala - placed Marcus’ name in nomination to serve another term as chair of the board.

Marcus, the current chair, quickly seconded her own nomination.

The surprise came when Republican Richard Goodwin placed his own name in nomination to chair the board instead of falling in line with the rest of the board and supporting Marcus.

But Goodwin’s attempt to lead the board didn’t go far, as nobody seconded his nomination.

So, instead Marcus was voted back in charge of the board, garnering all the votes except for Goodwin, who didn’t vote against Marcus but said he was “abstaining,” from backing her for another term.

Goodwin offered no reason at the meeting as to why he wanted to be its chair or why he wasn’t supporting Marcus.

Marcus didn’t respond at the meeting to Goodwin putting his own name in nomination for her position.

Even though he received no votes to be chair, Marcus did receive the rest of the board’s backing, including that of Marcus, to serve in the role of its vice chair.