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ANDREW TUTINO atutino@leader.net
Tuesday, February 08, 2000 Page: 1A
HAZLETON – Police Officer Kenneth Zipovsky has accepted a grievance
settlement from the city, five months after former Mayor Michael Marsicano
suspended him.
The terms of the settlement essentially erase the suspension from
Zipovsky’s personnel file with the Police Department.
Zipovsky, a patrolman, will be paid two weeks back salary, totaling about
$1,360, and have the original grievance removed from his personnel file, Mayor
Louis Barletta said Monday.
Marsicano handed down the suspension last August after Zipovsky appeared at
a City Council meeting where government officials were discussing the sale of
a police K-9 dog, Rolf, that had been taken from the patrolman earlier in the
year. Marsicano suspended Zipovsky for two weeks without pay.
The dog was then sold, but the city is researching how it might get Rolf
back.
The exact reasons for Zipovsky’s suspension are unknown. Barletta said
confidentiality laws do not allow him to disclose that information. Marsicano
had said Zipovsky was suspended because of his performance, but would never
elaborate.
Zipovsky could not be reached Monday for comment.
Rolf had been a source of controversy in 1999 when it was revealed the dog
was taken from Zipovsky last March. Zipovsky previously said department policy
prohibited him from discussing the reasons why the dog was taken away.
Last Aug. 19, City Council voted unanimously against selling Rolf.
Marsicano ignored council’s vote and sold the dog.
City records show that Sgt. Thomas Wardle, of the Wilkes-Barre Township
Police Department, purchased Rolf for $3,250 in the last week of August. In an
October interview, Wardle said he bought the dog through a personal
transaction, but planned on using Rolf in his work as a policeman for the
township.
Last September, City Council passed a resolution authorizing its legal
adviser, the Falvello Law Firm, to research how the city might get the dog
back. The law firm is now the city solicitor.
Barletta on Monday said the city is still seeking Rolf’s return.
“We are going to look into the situation with the dog,” Barletta said.
“The dog should have never left the city in the first place.”
Call Tutino at 459-2005.