It's all here.
Kevin Haynes is not here. Dr. Jeffrey
Present.
I'm here. Angela Sterling Present.
Solicitor Garvin is not here. Solicitor
Kieran is not here.
Um before we get into our business for
the evening,
this is a special occasion.
Um this is the last meeting with Chief
Watson. So we have a few things we'd
like to do to celebrate that.
Um
Aaron from Representative Salisbury's
office, you are up first.
Whereas Chief Ellis Watson has dedicated
more than 25 years to municipal law
enforcement including over 15 years in
executive leadership and 7 years as
Chief of Police earning the respect of
colleagues, elected officials, and the
communities he serves. And whereas
throughout Chief Ellis Watson's career
he has served as patrol officer, patrol
sergeant, assistant chief, and chief of
police demonstrating a leadership
philosophy grounded in accountability,
professionalism, and modern
community-focused policing principles
that balance enforcement with compassion
and engagement. And whereas as Chief of
Police Swissvale Police Department Chief
Ellis Watson led department operations,
achieved accreditation, secured more
than $400,000
in grant funding, oversaw the
construction of a new police facility,
and promoted community initiatives that
strengthened public trust.
And now therefore be it resolved that on
behalf of Representative Abigail
Salisbury, State Representative of the
34th District, joined with members of
the community to commend and honor Chief
Ellis Watson for a lifetime of
distinguished civic leadership and to
extend our profound appreciation for his
invaluable contributions to the public
good and the lasting positive impact he
has made on the safety and well-being of
the communities he serves. And directed
a copy of the citation sponsored by
Representative Abigail Salisbury be
transmitted transmitted to Chief Watson
in recognition of his lifetime of
accomplishments and eager anticipation
of his future endeavors.
I think the council is Well well you are
up next.
Whereas
Chief Ellis Watson has dedicated more
than 25 years to municipal law
enforcement including more than 15 years
in executive leadership and 7 years as
Chief of Police earning the respect of
fellow officers, elected officials, and
the communities he has faithfully
served. His leadership philosophy is
grounded in accountability,
professionalism, and a firm belief in
21st century policing principles that
balance enforcement with compassion and
engagement. And whereas after serving as
patrol officer, patrol sergeant, and
assistant chief of police, Chief Watson
was appointed Chief of Police of the
Swissvale Department in 2018 where he
led all aspects of department operations
including field services and
administrative oversight. He
successfully guided the department
through PLEAC accreditation, secured
more than $400,000 in grant funding, and
oversaw the construction of a new police
facility investments that have
strengthened both the infrastructure and
public confidence. And whereas Chief
Watson has demonstrated leadership
beyond his department by serving as
assistant commander for 202024
presidential campaign visit representing
the department on a
District Attorney Stephen Scholl's ALPR
committee and serving as the third vice
president of the Allegheny County Chiefs
of Police Association. And whereas his
commitment to community policing is
reflected in initiatives such as the
department's annual toy drive which has
just distributed more than 4,000 gifts
to local families reinforcing the belief
that effective policing is built on
trust, service, and compassion. And
whereas in 2026 Chief Watson was
appointed Chief of Police of the
Swissvale Braddock Hills Regional Police
Department where he then served as Chief
Executive Officer overseeing a $3.3
million
budget and more than 20 sworn sworn and
civilian personnel across two
municipalities.
In this role
he focused on strategic planning, fiscal
responsibility, officer development, and
strengthening community partnerships.
And whereas throughout his career Chief
Watson has worked collaboratively with
federal, state, and county law
enforcement agencies on major
investigations and regional task forces.
And as an Act 120 certified officer with
both advanced executive leadership
training, he brings both operational
expertise and forward-thinking
leadership to his profession. And
whereas for Chief Watson policing has
always been about people first. His
decades of service reflect a deep
commitment to ensuring that the
communities he serves remain safe,
supported, and proud of the police
department. Now therefore be it resolved
that we Allegheny County Council members
Michelle McMurray Chaplin and William
Watson do hereby uh congratulate,
recognize, and commend Chief Ellis
Watson for his distinguished career with
Swissvale Braddock Hills Regional Police
Department, his leadership within the
Swissvale Braddock Hills,
and its surrounding communities, and his
ongoing dedication to public safety and
community partnership throughout
Allegheny County. And witness thereof we
have we have hereunto caused the seal of
the county county of Allegheny to be affixed this 9th day of March
2026. Congratulations on your
retirement.
Yeah, I'm a little taller.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
And one more, we are going to need
sports better.
So I'm not getting mushy this time.
Here's a plaque for you from with our
appreciation for your dedicated service
to the Swissvale Police Department and
the Swissvale Braddock Hills Regional
Police Department.
Thank you.
very much.
And
uh as one of your final acts, can I get
a packet? Absolutely.
I'll give you a couple cuz I'll give you
the old ones, too. Thank you.
Nice.
All right. On to the regular business.
Uh we have a motion to approve minutes
from the February 9th, 2026 meeting.
Second. Second.
All eyes? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
All right, motion passes.
Uh motion to appoint Sergeant Dave
Zacchia as interim police chief for the
police department.
Second.
>> Second.
I'll move that.
Thank you.
And then somebody can second. All right,
any discussion?
No.
All eyes?
Aye. Aye. Aye.
Any opposed?
No. Motion carries.
Motion to approve agreement with
Sergeant Zacchia for wage while interim
police chief.
So a motion on that? I'll make that
motion. Thank you. Second?
>> Second.
All right.
All eyes? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Great, motion carries.
Uh
a motion to approve separation agreement
for Chief Watson. I'll make that motion.
Second.
All right, any discussion? Yeah, have we
seen this?
There
we do need to discuss this. We had in
our executive session we did have some
discussion about this. From what I
understand, there is an edit. I talked
to Kevin. It's no worries. No, okay. Um
Do we have a copy of it? I actually
don't know.
I mean I have you, Angela, Maureen, or
Shay seen this document at all?
The actual agreement?
>> Yeah. No. Yeah. I mean we can pass it
around, but I I mean I
don't know that it's
wise to vote on this if this is the
first time they're seeing this. I know
we had some conversation in in executive
session. Um actually it wasn't executive
cuz there were just a few of us to talk
about the Swissvale side of things as
well as the Braddock Hills or the the um
the regional police department side, but
I mean I'd like to have
we proposed some edits on that that was
supposed to go back between I don't know
if it was
Mr. Haynes or Mr. Bachi and
Chief Watson.
Yes. Yeah, but again I haven't I haven't
seen any of that.
So
how would we like to proceed with this?
Maybe table? Yeah, let's table. Yeah.
I'll get a motion to table it.
I'll motion. Okay, second? Second. All
right, any further discussion?
I mean, I would suggest that
um in the meantime because this I mean,
in some sense the difficulty in tabbing
this is it is
time-bound. It is time-bound. Um but I I
think that that's the the wise decision.
I think in the meantime until the next
meeting um
I mean, there is clearly plenty of
benefits that are offered to
Chief Watson that can can can begin to
be processed as as such. Um
But yeah, I mean, again, I I I I think
that we needed to have this form this in
our hands like the final copy prior to
the meeting in January.
>> Um what I will probably suggest is that
we schedule ourselves another executive
session um sometime between now and our
next regular meeting
>> That's fine. to handle this, but we can
table it for now.
>> Yeah, maybe we can we can approve that
in executive session cuz I think that
would fall under personnel and then we
can ratify it
uh at our next meeting. That way we're not delayed by a whole month to to
you know, leave Chief waiting on
confirmation of that. Okay.
Um
in the next motion, speaking of things
>> voted on tabbing it.
>> You are correct. I'm sorry. Sorry, I
didn't mean to interrupt your side of
the agenda.
We did have a second on that, correct?
>> Yes. Okay. Uh all eyes?
>> Any opposed?
No? Okay. Motion is tabled. Um this came
into my email late today. I will email
it out to everyone, but I have copies if
you would like to pass them around. This
is the contract for the uh police chief
search that we discussed in our
executive session as well as a timeline.
Um I think everyone's going to look at
it now, but that is our next motion.
So, we have a motion to approve the
contract for the chief search.
Would anyone care to make that motion?
Um
were there any edits at all? Um
there were not. There were
>> There were a few questions. and I sent
those answers out. Yeah. But nothing to
the document.
>> No, that didn't actually change any of
the document at all.
Do we have a motion?
I'll make it.
I'll motion it. Okay.
Second?
I'll second it. Okay. Thank you.
Any further discussion on this?
Okay.
I mean, that's the first thing our mayor
did was
new police chief. I don't want to do
anything but it's kind of important to
get the ball rolling. Oh yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, we need to Yeah,
absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we did have
this document prior. Right.
>> Um Right.
It's it's just simply the official
contract
and a time proposed timeline.
Have we had um
a solicitor look over it? We have not.
So, I would Can I I would like to amend
the motion? I'd like I make a motion to
amend the motion to
uh approve contract for chief search
pending approval by
one of the solicitors. one of the
solicitors.
I'll second that amendment. Okay. I just
think again, we we all had a chance to
look at this um
but I'm also not a legal expert and I
think it might be beneficial to just
make sure that there's
someone has their eyes on it. Okay.
So, I believe that's the current motion
to amend the motion to approve
>> I don't want to Yeah, sorry. approve the
contract
provided that it is approved by one of
our solicitors.
We have a second.
All in favor?
All right. All right. Any opposed?
No? Okay.
Amended motion passes. Well, hold hold
on.
Is no one here a solicitor, right? I
think we just voted to amend the
motion. We haven't actually approved the
motion yet.
I'm pretty sure that by
>> Not being Not being an expert on how
this works.
>> I know. This is
We need a solicitor. Do we need to do it
Get Thank you. Yes.
>> Um
he's correct.
>> Okay.
>> Um you amend you vote to amend the
motion and then pending the approval of
the amended motion then We need then you
vote to We need a solicitor.
The amended motion is what's now on the
table.
>> Okay.
Thank you for
This is why I'm sad that Kevin's not
here
>> I'm so sorry. It's all right. Um so,
would we like to approve the motion?
>> take the course in Robert's Rules? I You
know what? I didn't.
Yeah.
Not yet. I've been a little busy.
Um all right. So, the motion
is that we are approving the contract
provided that a solicitor approves it. I
don't know if others have thoughts on I
mean, I want to make sure everyone has a
chance to vote.
>> That's fine.
Okay. Quick question.
>> Yeah. Um have we gotten a contract like
this before? Is that the normal practice
to have it reviewed?
Yes.
That is Whenever we get a contract that
we Yes, always reviewed by a solicitor.
Okay.
Like even when I get memorandums or
understanding of the school districts,
they're reviewed by a solicitor prior to
that.
>> Okay.
Thank you for that. Any further
discussion on this?
Yeah. All right. Did we have a second on
the motion?
I think I think it's on the table. It
just It just replaces. So, it's already
>> Okay. Yeah. We're we're good.
>> So, then we're good. All right. So, all
in favor? All right. All right. Yay.
Any opposed?
No? All right. The amended motion
passes.
Uh
motion to pay bills in the amount of
$101,700.75
for the month of February 2026.
Have a motion for that? I'll make that
motion. Thank you. Second? Second.
Can we just have one question of
discussion? Sure. Um so, I I don't know
if Mr. Shaw, you know, I mean, on this
bill list that we see, it goes through
March uh 9th. Yeah, it goes up to today
cuz we did bills today. So, Okay. I
don't I don't know if you're okay with
it, but what I do is from
the day after the last meeting to this
meeting cuz I'm always usually doing
bills this meeting. So, it's actually
for meeting to meeting. Okay.
My suggestion would just be that in the
minutes we reference that that we're approving bills from, you know,
February 13th to March 9th. Just because
I mean, the way the motion reads, it
says February 2026 and we're approving
bills that are outside of that purview.
Again, I don't know if I'm being overly
No, well, no, cuz it Yeah, I I only do
that because if we do
bills after the last meeting or before,
but it doesn't reflect that.
>> Yeah. So, we can Yeah, we'll update the
agenda to reflect that. Yeah, that would
be helpful.
>> you want to amend the motion?
>> Yeah, that's what I was going to do
next. Oh yeah, we're learning. We're
learning.
Do you do you want to make that
amendment?
Amend the motion to bills paid
from February
13th to um March 3rd No, sorry, March
9th.
in the amount of $101,775.
I second that. All right.
Any further discussion on that?
A question. The police consulting
services,
was this
in relation to the contract or something
separate? No, that was just something
else.
What was that? It's $1,000.
Chief, can you speak to what that was?
a background check on Chief Watson.
Okay. That's that's for that service.
Okay.
That's correct. So, in the future
this will look different. That's Yeah,
that's my handwriting. That's why.
Any additional questions discussion?
Okay.
So, we are voting to accept the amended
to amend the motion
uh to read motion to pay bills in the
amount of $101,700.75
for the time from February 13th, 2026 to
March 9th, 2026.
Okay. Make that motion. Okay.
All in favor? All right. Yes. Any
opposed?
No? Great.
All right. So, then we have the motion.
So, you would like to make that motion?
I'll make it. Okay.
I'll second it. All right. Uh any uh All
of All in favor?
All right.
Any opposed?
Fantastic. Motion carried.
What is this is done?
Is there any new business?
All right. Announcements.
Um we did hold two executive sessions in
between these meetings, one on February
19th, one on February 23rd, I believe.
Um
those meetings were to discuss
uh Chief's departure.
Um we talked about the uh contract
negotiations a bit.
Uh reports. President's report, not much
to report since I'm not the president. I
do want to uh
say that we are making some progress in
the contract negotiations. Um we have
recognized the union
um and that's a very positive
development. Um and there are more
meetings on that to come.
So, but we're moving in the right in the
right direction. Um and I believe that's
all for now. Chief's report.
Uh I have attached a report for the
month for your information and also be
put up on the uh
Facebook page or our website this month.
Okay.
Uh last meeting, that's Do you have Do
you have like parting words or
something?
Uh no.
I think it's been a
an eventual working here.
Uh I hope I made a difference and uh
I hope it
carries on in the direction it's going.
I I think a lot of things have been
accomplished in a very short amount of
time with the police department.
And I really believe it's in the best
interest of both communities that this
succeed. And I hope I
did something to get it started.
It's okay.
Head that way.
Thank you, Chief. You're very welcome.
Thank you. Is today your official last
day? Yeah, Friday. Friday.
Just last day.
Friday, May 13th. Yeah.
I didn't plan that far ahead.
All right, if nothing else, will
somebody please motion to adjourn?
at 6:28 p.m. Second.
All right.