NEPTUNE – The Township Committee is considering an overhaul of its police department management, including eliminating the police director position in favor of a three-person committee.

The restructuring proposal comes after a turbulent time for the police force, currently embroiled in allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and internal strife.

The department is overseen by Police Director Michael J. Bascom, who also serves as the township's chief financial officer and emergency management coordinator. Bascom has been employed by the township for more than 30 years. Bascom has served as police director since May of 2013, according to township municipal clerk Rick Cuttrell.

If the proposed ordinance receives final approval on July 24, two township committee members and a third yet-to-be designated person would have oversight of the department and management of the police chief. The chairman of the police committee would be selected by the Township Committee, according to Mayor Michael Brantley.

Brantley said the changes were not being made in response to the accounts of turmoil in the department but had been planned for some time. "It's coincidental," Brantley said. "It responds to it but it's not being done in response to it," Brantley said.

Bascom criticized the proposed change in an email to the Press on Monday.

"It is critical that the day-to-day operations of the police department be protected from political interference, and I sincerely hope that the township’s actions do not create such an interference," Bascom said.

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Eliminating the position allows for the Township Committee to have more oversight of the police department, but the mayor says the committee will not deal with day-to-day operations.

Committeeman Kevin McMillan, who currently serves as the township's police commissioner, said he opposed the new proposal.

"I didn’t think there was a need to switch to a different format. I realize the other committee people are entitled to their different opinions," McMillan said.

Brantley said the Township Committee never intended for the police director position, established in 2013, to become a permanent position. He said it decided to create the position in the wake of several senior officers retiring as well as a police chief.

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During the last three-and-a-half years, the department has come under scrutiny for allegations of officer misconduct.

In late 2013, the Township Committee hired Gregory K. Turner Consulting LLC, to investigate the claims of two officers, Elena Gonzalez and Christine Savage, who said they had been sexually harassed and discriminated against at work.

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The Township Committee paid $27,000 for the so-called Turner report, which was completed in 2014 but never read by the committee and has not been publicly released. The video at the top of this story explains how the township has kept the report obscured from the public view.

The two female officers settled separate lawsuits against the township in 2014 for $330,000 each and received promotions as part of their settlements. The township did not admit any wrongdoing in the agreements.

But Gonzalez resigned this past spring after she said the alleged harassment never abated. She filed a second lawsuit against the township in 2016 that has not yet gone to trial.

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A third Neptune officer who supported Gonzalez and Savage's accounts of harassment said he was retaliated against for backing up their accounts in Turner's investigation. Officer Kyheem Davis told the township committee in July of 2016 he was subject to unfair discipline after being interviewed for the Turner report. Davis filed a discrimination lawsuit against the township in 2016, which has not yet been resolved.

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On June 16, 2015, then-Neptune police Sgt. Philip Seidle gunned down his ex-wife, Tamara Wilson-Seidle, near the intersection of Sewell and Ridge avenues in Asbury Park. Philip Seidle pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September of 2016.

The township police department is being sued by the children of Wilson-Seidle, who allege among other things the department failed to discipline Philip Seidle properly and wrongly allowed him to use his service weapon, which he used to shoot his ex-wife. The Asbury Park police department and Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office also are named as defendants in the suit.

Last month, the local NAACP chapter called for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate conditions in the police department. "My feeling is that we really need to have an independent investigation," said Adrienne Sanders, president of the Asbury Park/Neptune chapter of the NAACP, voicing her frustrations with the department, as you can see in the video below.

Bascom makes about $240,000 per year for his service as chief financial officer and emergency management coordinator, according to New Jersey state pension records. His compensation will not change as a result of the proposed ordinance, according to Brantley.

"Notwithstanding my disagreement with the committee on this issue, I can look back at my time as police director with great pride," Bascom said. He praised Police Chief Jim Hunt, who reports to him.

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“Unfortunately, Chief Hunt and I were left to handle the fallout from lawsuits, although we were never involved in the allegations that led to the suits and the subsequent settlements ... I am proud of our accomplishments and feel strongly that the performance of the great majority of our police officers speaks volumes as to the integrity and values of our department.”

Both Hunt and Bascom are named as defendants in the 2016 lawsuits filed by Gonzalez and Davis, as well as the one filed by the Seidle children.

Brantley said Bascom would continue on in his roles as chief financial officer and emergency management coordinator, saying he was "very important to the township in that position."

A public hearing on the new committee structure will be held on Monday, July 24, at the township's municipal headquarters, beginning at 7 p.m.

Austin Bogues: 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com