Mayor: Safety Top Priority During Michael Vick Event

The addressed concerns of two residents Tuesday regarding the police presence and shutting down of Butler's Main Street Sunday when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback at Butler Sports Cards, Inc.

from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. following the event, while fans and protesters were barricaded on opposite sides of the street.

Ken Montanye, a Butler resident, approached the council and asked about how much policing the event cost the borough and the taxpayers.

"As far as putting a monetary value on it, that's a difficult thing to do," said Butler Mayor Robert Alviene

Borough Administrator James Lampmann said the cost of the five police officers who were at the event was $2,799.92. The chief, captain and lieutenant from the who were at the event do not get paid a separate hourly rate for patroling the event because they are salary employees, Lampmann said.

Lampmann said two officers were also paid by the store owner, in addition to 12 officers from Morris County Rapid Deployment, two officers from who came at no cost to the borough because of mutual aid, as well as one officer from and one officer from Riverdale, who also came at no charge. was also present, as well as an attorney who was at the event in case any legal challenges were brought forth in regards to how the protesters and fans were separated by barricades.

The borough and police department, in coordination with the county, began planning for the event last week, Lampmann said, before agreeing with the mayor's sentiments about how safety was a priority in the situation.

"We had the potential for a nightmare there. The presence that we had stopped that," he said.

"Am I happy that the situation had to be dealt with? No, but I can't stop it," Lampmann said.

"As far as what the expense [was] to the taxpayers-what options do we have? We're all taxpayers here. We have to protect our people. If one person was hurt, at whatever the cost may be, it's not worth it," Alviene said.

Later in the meeting, the mayor showed the council and public a large card signed by many of the protesters thanking the borough for the police presence and for the safety precautions taken during the event.

During their comments, Montanye and resident Sherry Bednarz-Mosier said that they had heard that the Main Street business owners were unhappy that the street was closed during that time, but Lampmann said that he had spoken to the deli and restaurant owners on the street and that they had done a lot of business on Sunday.

"The business owner I spoke to was not happy and said that he did not make any more money than he did on a regular Sunday," said Montanye.

Bednarz-Mosier said that while she knows the borough was concerned with safety, she thought the police presence was "overkill" Sunday.

"There was a lot of negative attention, but I think this was just overkill and now we have to pay for it," she said.

Councilman Stephen Regis responded to Bednarz-Mosier's comments.

"Do we want the businessmen not succeed? Of course not. I wish the people who went down there and protested bought a ton of stuff down there, unfortunately they didn't," he said. "But you can't take that chance. If it did happen down there and we didn't have those people and it was a major problem, what would people be coming to us right now and saying?"