City Council To Meet Tonight On Ackley Agreement

The City Council will hold a special meeting tonight to determine whether it should make public an agreement between the city and Chief Margaret Ackley of the .

The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. at . The agenda contains three items, two of which will be discussed in public. The first will determine “whether or not to release to the public the agreement that the city has with Chief Ackley,” while the second will “discuss and act upon the implications of the recently disclosed April 2011 agreement(s) between the administration and police chief.”

The council will also meet in executive session with law director Thomas Londregan, City Manager Denise Rose, attorney Brian Estep, and personnel coordinator Bernadette Welch. This session, which will be held behind closed doors if agreed to by the council, will receive a report from Londregan on “a pending claim and/or litigation, namely Margaret Ackley v. City of New London.”

The City Council held a special meeting to discuss Ackley’s employment, but held no vote and made no comment after a two and a half hour executive session. Londregan said after the session that there is an agreement with confidentiality provisions between Rose and Ackley.

Ackley does not have an individual employment contract with the city, according to Rose. She has been a member of the New London Police Department for 25 years and serving as the chief since 2009.