Lee selectmen address concerns about Chief Buffis

LEE – When it comes to the FBI investigation of Police Chief Joseph Buffis and the raid on the police department, the board of selectmen appears to be as in the dark as the general public.

The topic of the investigation came up at the end of the select board’s Dec. 4 meeting, when Lee resident Deidre “Dee Dee” Consolati asked the selectmen for a statement indicating “everything will come out alright.”

“People are genuinely worried about the caliber of their town,” said Ms. Consolati.

The selectmen replied by saying they had nothing to say. In further comments, however, the selectmen revealed no accusations had been made and they hadn’t been served with anything detailing why the FBI was investigating the department.

“You’ll know as soon as we do,” said Select Board Chairwoman Patricia Carlino.

“It’s the Christmas season Dee Dee. We’re all hoping everybody’s going to be healthy, wealthy and wise and…we wish the best for everyone, but as for legal questions, we cannot answer,” said Selectman David Consolati.

“You can be reassured that we’ll follow through with anything we become aware of and that you’ll be probably the second ones to know,” said Chairwoman Carlino.

Later on, Ms. Consolati asked the selectmen whether or not they agreed with residents who thought Chief Buffis should take an administrative leave.

“No one’s ever said that to me,” said Chairwoman Consolati, who said that she didn’t think the chief should take an administrative leave.

Selectmen Consolati and Gordon Bailey also said that they didn’t think the chief should take an admistrative leave.

“Not unless there’s some kind of accusation being made and right now there’s no accusations being made,” said Selectman Bailey.

“We don’t have one piece of paper, Dee Dee, that tells us anything,” said Chairwoman Carlino.

When asked directly by The Beacon to confirm the FBI hadn’t told them why the Lee Police Offices were raided, the selectmen answered in the affirmative.

“My understanding is no,” said Chairwoman Carlino.

“No one’s brought forward any information to us yet,” said Selectman Consolati.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on December 13, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry