Burnham Advises Police Commissioners to Keep Quiet in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

Plans to Consider Action After Attorney General Investigation is Complete

OLD SAYBROOK - About 30 members of the public disappointedly walked out of the Old Saybrook Police Commission meeting on Mar. 24, many whose questions regarding the McMurray-Kirtland Fund went unanswered.

While public comment was taken at the beginning of the meeting, Chairwoman Christina Burnham told residents that commissioners would not comment on the fund until the end of the meeting, which was approximately 90 minutes later, during an item listed on the agenda as "comments and concerns of commissioners".

Several residents asked the commission to take over the administration of the fund but Burnham said the commission "doesn't have jurisdiction if it is not budgeted funds...The (Freedom of Information) FOI ruled that it's a public fund but not that it's a municipal fund," meaning the fund will continue to be controlled by Chief Edmund Mosca.

Mosca was on vacation and also absent from the meeting were Commissioners Tim Conklin, Ernest Sparaco and David Gallicchio.

First Selectman Michael Pace has previously told the Pictorial Gazette that the police commission has full authority over the police department including all funds used by the department.

Resident Gloria Cahill told commission members that they should have voted on how the fund was used throughout the years.

Cahill questioned several items purchased with the funds that are listed in a pile of 2,500 documents that were made public after a ruling by the FOI.

On OSPD letterhead and signed by Mosca, one letter thanked a donor for contributing to the fund and that monies are "used for programs and functions benefiting the youth of Old Saybrook."

The paper trail tells a different story, for example, funds were used for dinners for police chiefs and their wives, liquor for parties, official Major League Baseballs, miniature police cruisers, BJ's Wholesale Club memberships, and hotel and travel expenses so that Mosca and Conklin could attend a ceremony for Lieutenant Michael Spera, who had completed an FBI training course.