District 5 Councillor Joe Perlatonda remains committed to pursuing the Police Commissioner proposal despite contentious exchanges at last week’s City Council meeting. He is simply seeking an opportunity for discussion, he indicated on Tuesday.
“I’m still looking into the Police Commissioner thing and doing research this week,” Perlatonda stated. “We’ll see where it goes when it comes up next Monday. Maybe this is not the direction we need to go, but it’s on the table for discussion. It’s going to require a lot of work and some changes to the Charter if it’s the route we go. I’m still looking at it and I’m not done.”
The councillor found himself at the center of a heated dispute last week when members clashed over procedural questions. Councillors Leo Robinson and Giovanni Recupero were also drawn into the confrontation.
The outcome favored Perlatonda’s position, as his faction secured a 6-5 vote victory.
The Police Commissioner proposal will resurface at Monday’s meeting on Sept. 23.
A central point of contention involved routing the matter either through the four-member Public Safety Committee or directly to the full Council as a Conference Committee matter—an option Perlatonda exercised.
Reflecting on the incident, Perlatonda acknowledged surprise at the level of discord that emerged. He was equally taken aback by the support he garnered from the council majority.
“I didn’t talk to any of the councillor beforehand about this, so I didn’t expect all of them to vote in my favor,” he remarked. “I didn’t think it was that controversial to send it to conference. I thought that would have been a better idea to have all 11 minds hashing it out before we put a lot of work into it.”
Moving forward, Perlatonda intends to continue drawing attention to public safety concerns he has identified in Chelsea, though he has observed some encouraging developments in recent times.
“I have seen some cops on the streets walking lately, which is a good thing,” he noted. “I’d like to see more of that.”