New Haven police and fire department losing Garrett Graham Limited Jersey assistant chiefs to retirement

Assistant police chiefs Thaddeus Reddish and Denise Blanchard are scheduled to retire, and fire Assistant Chief Ralph Black has notified the department that he plans to retire by the end of June.

Both Reddish and Black said they would be leaving in part due to a change in medical coverage that is set to kick in at the end of June. Blanchard couldn be reached for comment Friday.

Police who retire prior to July 1, 2014, will pay a maximum of $140 a month for family coverage for retiree medical benefits. Those who stay after that would pay the same premium as when they retired and each year the premium would increase by six percent up to a maximum cap of $500 per month. Firefighters switched to a Health Savings Account plan with a high deductible and a cost share between the city and individual firefighters.

Neither plan offers retiree medical to dependents and Randy Bullock Authentic Jersey both pay only 50 percent of the cost of a spouse.

There are about 112 vacancies in the Police Department among sworn officers and about 116 for the Fire Department. Both departments currently are filling academy classes. Police started a class of 26 recruits in early April and the Fire Department plans to start a class in the near future.

The Police Department also plans to have another academy class in place around July. The class will run concurrently with the first class.

Mayor Toni Harp said the city is in debt of www.texansonlineprostore.com/WOMENS-SHILOH-KEO-JERSEY.html the three soon to be retirees.

forward, (Police) Chief (Dean) Esserman and (Fire) Chief (Allyn) Wright assure me their respective departments will transition seamlessly despite the void left by each of these departures, she said in a Garrett Graham Elite Jersey statement.

Esserman expressed his gratitude to both Blanchard and Reddish and said they will be missed both by him and the rank and file of the department.

worked together in the early 1990s when they were rookies and we worked together 20 years later as the leadership team of the New Haven Police Department, he said. been a long journey and I will miss them tremendously.

Police Union President Louis Cavaliere Jr. said both assistant chiefs are well respected and that it will be the city loss that they are leaving.

I think both chiefs were huge assets to this department, he said. It essentially leaves officers with no choice but to retire if they are eligible and has caused the department to lose valuable experience as new recruits are being hired.

the numbers, you are losing experience, he Randy Bullock Elite Jersey said. hard to replace that with a person coming out of the academy.

eats, sleeps and drinks the Fire Department, Wright said. is great under pressure.

Fire Union President Lt. James Kottage said there is no doubt that Black departure is a loss and that he hopes the vacant position will be tested for competitively. He predicted the department will have about 130 vacancies by the end of June due to the contract change.

a shame we have come to a point in time where texansonlineprostore.com/WOMENS-SHANE-LECHLER-JERSEY.html we are losing people because of health benefits, he said.

The effects will be compounded by future contracts if more changes are made to health benefits.

The union proposed the change to a health savings account as a way to save the city and firefighters money and to maintain other contract benefits that may have been cut. Kottage argued that the change to healthcare in the fire union contract is less drastic than the police contract.