North Branford Top Cop Forced Out; Gets Huge Check to Resign

NORTH BRANFORD, CT – When town officials put out an announcement recently announcing the retirement of Police Chief Matthew Canelli the glowing press release praised the town's top cop for his four decades of service to the community.

Turns out there was a lot more to the story - and part of that story is that Canelli didn't leave of his own accord and will be receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars to leave footed by taxpayers in North Branford.

Reading the minutes of the meeting where the severance package was approved, some officials were hoping the details of the deal would remain unknown.

Canelli, under the terms of the agreement will be receiving two annual installments of $119,000 each; the first will be paid before July 31st of this year, the second July 31st of next year.

He will also receive $91,310 in unused sick time and more than $18,000 for unused vacation time.

Besides the hefty payout that will be paid for by town taxpayers, the special meeting of the Town Council and the Police Commissioners also brought up issues that were never mentioned in the press release announcing Canelli’s retirement - namely that the Police Commission wanted him gone.

In the minutes of the meeting, it states that “the Police Department would be better served with another chief.”

Some at the meeting questioned whether the amount of money being spent to force Canelli’s retirement was a wise investment for the town and its taxpayers.

The vote to approve the separation agreement was 7-1.

There was even discussion at the meeting about how much of the meeting discussing the chief’s separation agreement would be public information, which the answer was that it would all be once the minutes were written, which is where Patch found the information for this story.

Those at the meeting discussed whether the information talked about at the meeting should be in the press release concerning Canelli’s retirement, but decided it would be “best if everyone would refrain from commenting positively or negatively.”

If you'd like to read the entire meeting minutes as recorded officially by the town, please click here.