NEPTUNE - Following several years of costly lawsuit payouts, allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a killing at the hands of Neptune police officer, the Township Committee changed the oversight of its police force this week to a three-member panel.

The governing body voted to restructure the oversight of its police department Monday night, shifting supervision from Police Director Michael J. Bascom to the three-person committee.

The 4-1 vote came after a contentious debate over whether the new structure would result in political decisions guiding the oversight of the police force. The lone vote against the new plan was from Committeeman Kevin McMillan, who serves as the township's police commissioner.

Bascom, who is the township's chief financial officer and emergency management coordinator, oversaw the department for the last four years. Bascom's $240,000 a year salary will not change, according to Mayor Michael Brantley. Bascom will continue as CFO and emergency management coordinator, the mayor said.

Under the new structure, Police Chief James A. Hunt will report to a three-person committee comprised of two township committee members and one other person, who is yet to be designated by the committee. "It’s going to be a civilian; we would like for it to be a former police officer," Brantley said.

It was not immediately clear which two members of the township committee would serve on the police oversight committee.

Bascom, who opposed the change, said during the Monday meeting that he felt the committee would "create a cumbersome structure for the chief of police to work under."

He said he felt civilian oversight of the police department would hamper police operations. Bascom highlighted some of his accomplishments as police director, including the department receiving accreditation in 2016 and revamping its presence on social media.

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Deputy Mayor Nicholas Williams said the township committee would not oversee day-to-day operations of the police department. "We just want to have more say. We want to be able to look at the police department and say this is what’s right, this is what’s wrong," Williams said. "We’re not taking over the police department."

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Committeeman McMillan said he was concerned about whether the township committee was adequately prepared to handle the responsibility of oversight of the department.

"There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered," McMillan said. "I don't think that extra layer of government is going to be more effective."

The department has faced scrutiny amid various reports 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.

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 below 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 settlement agreements.

A third Neptune officer, Kyheem Davis, who supported Gonzalez and Savage's accounts of harassment said he was retaliated against for his comments during the Turner investigation. Davis told the committee in July 2016 he was subject to unfair discipline.

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Davis filed a discrimination lawsuit against the township in 2016, which has not yet been resolved.

On June 16, 2015, then-Neptune police Sgt. Philip Seidle shot and killed his ex-wife, Tamara Wilson-Seidle, in Asbury Park. He pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September 2016.

The township police department is being sued by the nine children of Wilson-Seidle, who claim the department failed to discipline Philip Seidle properly and wrongly allowed him to use his service weapon to kill his ex-wife.

The Asbury Park Press is suing Neptune for the release of more than 600 pages of internal affairs records related to Seidle's tenure on the force.

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At Monday's meeting, Neptune City Public Safety Director Edward Kirschenbaum questioned whether the township committee had adequately thought out its decision. He praised Bascom's service as police director. "Have you actually sat down and asked Chief Hunt how this affects his day-to-day operations?" Kirschenbaum asked, which you can see in the video at the top of this story. "I've seen horror stories where towns and elected officials with political interference with their police agencies caused nothing but problems."

Jack Bredin, an Ocean Grove resident who spoke at the meeting, said he felt Bascom, a 30-year employee of the township, was being treated unfairly. "I don't know why in God's name you would want to publicly embarrass a loyal servant of this town. Whether I like somebody or I don't like them, that's not the way you do it."

Michael Golub, a former township committeeman, said he agreed with eliminating the police director position but questioned whether the new police committee was the right step.

"The very fact that administrative leadership is being shifted from one person to a small group raises additional concerns," Golub said. "The change does not stop the bleeding or address the wound."

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