NEW CASTLE City council OKs Sansone as police chief

Council increased the city wage tax to 1.6 percent.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- While New Castle council members say they didn't like the process used to pick a new city police chief, they did like the choice.
Lt. Thomas Sansone, 43, was unanimously approved by council for the position during Thursday's council meeting. He is an 18-year veteran and most recently has served as head of the detective bureau.
"I hope to do the best job I can and not let anyone down," Sansone said after being sworn in. He replaces John Kindel, who has been acting chief since the resignation of Victor Cubellis last April. Kindel will return to his position as a lieutenant.
Before Sansone's appointment, some council members were upset that they had been left out of the interview process.
Panel appointed
Mayor Wayne Alexander appointed a committee consisting of law enforcement officers and citizens to interview the eight candidates. Some council members wanted to sit in on some interviews, but were told they could only be present if they sat in on all eight.
"I believe the process for selecting a new chief was flawed, but in no way was the choice of the chief flawed," said Councilman Will Quimby.
Other council members agreed.
"The person will be judged on his character and his ability to work," said Council President Christine Sands.
Quimby and Councilman Rob Ratkovich were turned away from the interviews because they arrived after some officers already had been interviewed.
Also on agenda
In other business, council approved an increase in the wage tax to help fund the city pension fund.
The wage tax will increase to 1.6 percent. The city and school district each share a half-percent and the 0.60-percent will be used to fund the city pension -- it had previously been 0.35 percent.
The city has about $20 million in unfunded liabilities in the pension, which means if everyone retired at once, and there were no more people contributing to the fund, the city would need that amount of money to pay pension benefits.
The increase in the wage tax is expected to bring in $2.324 million. The ailing stock market is the reason the city needed the extra cash to fund its pension fund. State contributions and anticipated borrowing are expected to provide the rest of the money needed to keep the pension fund solvent, city officials said.