Marijuana Policy Project

ENFIELD The Town Council decided Thursday to appeal to the state Supreme Court a legal ruling involving a police dispatcher fired three years ago after he was arrested on marijuana possession charges.

The dispatcher, James Argenta, was fired in January 2004 after admitting to police that he occasionally smoked pot inside his home.

Argenta and his union, AFSCME Council 4, Local 1029, appealed. A state arbitration panel ruled in his favor, saying a five-day unpaid suspension would be the appropriate punishment.

Superior Court Judge Jerry Wagner reversed the panel's decision, upholding the firing. But the state Appellate Court recently overruled Wagner, ordering Argenta's reinstatement.

The council discussed the matter behind closed doors Thursday for about an hour. State law allows council members to discuss pending litigation in executive session.

Afterward, Mayor Patrick L. Tallarita said a consensus of the council decided to take the case to the state Supreme Court. He referred questions about the decision to Town Attorney Christopher Bromson, who also is the director of public safety.

Bromson said the ruling, as it stands, constrains the town's ability to discipline public safety personnel under like circumstances.

He said the town wants to ensure that residents can trust and have confidence in public safety personnel.

"It isn't personal to Mr. Argenta," Bromson said Thursday. "We think the proposition is so important to public safety and public policy that we feel we have no choice but to pursue it."

The town has until April 30 to file its appeal.

In a series of interviews last week, several council members signaled a willingness to take the matter to a higher court; saying police dispatchers have a duty to follow the law.

Others expressed concern over mounting legal fees the town has incurred pursuing the matter in court.

Shipman and Goodwin, a law firm with offices in Hartford, is representing the town in the matter.

Town officials said they did not have the amount the town has spent on the case in legal fees readily available. The law firm frequently represents the town, and expenses from the various cases are lumped together, town officials said.

In 2003, while Argenta was working for the Police Department, an investigation which included officers surreptitiously combing through Argenta's trash outside his Enfield home led to police obtaining a search warrant for Argenta's home.

Argenta cooperated with officers, showing them where he kept a small amount of pot for personal use in the basement of his home.

He admitted to investigators that he occasionally smoked pot recreationally, but said he never used the drug outside his home, around his children, or while on duty.

He was arrested, but completed a pretrial drug education program for first-time offenders, and the charges were erased from his record.

Argenta had a spotless employment record, and the Police Department did not give dispatchers drug tests. Nevertheless, the town asserted that his conduct had violated a prohibition against town employees using dangerous drugs and had set a bad example. He was fired Jan. 12, 2004, one month after his arrest.