ORANGE : Official’s Ride in Police Car Debated

Councilwoman Joanne Coontz said this week that she did not violate city policy when she hitched a ride in a police squad car to keep up with Fourth of July festivities.

Coontz’s 5-mile trip in a patrol car from a city-sponsored pancake breakfast at the American Legion Hall at 143 S. Lemon St. to a parade route along Orange Park Boulevard caused a resident to complain last week that Coontz had used city property for personal reasons and should reimburse the city for police services.

“With this city’s critical budget deficit of nearly $2 million at last count, it seems an unnecessary extravagance that Councilwoman Coontz should be using the city’s police vehicles and personnel for her own personal taxi-service use,” wrote David V. Hart, an Orange native and former planning commissioner, in a July 10 letter to the City Council.

While he had not seen Coontz’s trip himself, complaints from several witnesses prompted him to address the matter, Hart said.

Coontz said in an interview Tuesday that she was rushing from one Fourth of July event to another when Lt. Tim Brown asked her if she needed a ride to her car. Realizing she was strapped for time, Coontz said she first inquired whether it would be proper for her to accept a ride in a patrol car and then asked to be driven to the parade across town.

Calling Hart’s complaint a “game of trivial pursuit,” Coontz said that “the assistance given me was justified and needed under the time and distance constraints of two events going on at the same time.”

Police Chief Merrill V. Duncan also responded to Hart’s concerns in a July 15 memorandum to the council.

“Good manners and a desire to help” prompted an officer to ask Coontz if she needed a ride to her car, Duncan said in the memo. Once in the car, Coontz requested a ride to the parade, the memo continued.

“The Police Department manual does not restrict this type of activity,” Duncan added.

Hart’s criticism prompted several members of the public to speak in support of Coontz.

“I can’t believe that I sat here for 30 minutes and listened to such garbage,” said William Ernest, a resident of Orange Park Acres who offered to reimburse the city for police services. “This sounds more like Washington, D.C., than it does the city of Orange.”