East Rutherford has appointed a new top cop in Larry Minda, the department’s deputy chief who has been acting as department head in the months since John LaGreca announced his retirement and took his leave.

Minda was sworn in at the July 15 mayor and council meeting and will officially begin his tenure pending a standard review process.

New police Chief Lawrence Minda is sworn in by Mayor Cassella and councilman Joel Brizzi while Minda’s wife Maryann looks on. Minda is taking the reigns from John LaGreca, who’s retirement became official last month after six months of paid terminal leave.

He later addressed the mayor and council, expressing his gratitude for being "blessed with the greatest resource a police chief can have, a police department that is filled with truly good people."

LaGreca, who had spent 39 years on the force in East Rutherford, including 13 years as chief, was granted six months of terminal leave before his retirement became official on June 30.

Retiring municipal employees in many towns receive buyout packages that include money for accrued leave and sick days, but East Rutherford gives a standard of six months of terminal leave instead. And unlike some retired workers who continue to receive coverage under their municipalities’ health insurance plans, East Rutherford employees are switched into state coverage programs upon retirement. According to Councilman Joel Brizzi, who serves as the borough’s police liaison, the system is designed to save money and red tape.

"A lot of towns get stuck figuring out buyout packages," said Brizzi. "Back in the day, nobody kept track of the sick time. Besides, you start out making $35,000 [as a police officer] and then you retire making $140,000, so you have to keep track of what rate to reimburse," he said.

LaGreca will be paid for his six months of terminal leave at his 2008 salary level of $156,624. Prorated, the figure works out to $78,312.

LaGreca agreed to receive the money in installments over the next four years, which would amount to about $19,578 annually.

Brizzi said the deal was a further effort to deal with tightening purse strings in a year that has seen the loss of $200,000 in state aid and significant increases in the amount owed to the state’s pension system.

The state’s Division of Pensions and Benefits formulas dictate that retiring police officers over the age of 55 receive an annual pension of two percent of their final year’s salary for each of the first 30 years of service. An additional one percent of final salary for each year over 30 is then tacked on.

LaGreca, 63, served from January 6, 1969 and could therefore receive a total of 69 percent of his $156,624 salary—or $108,071—each year for the remainder of his life. The pension program also allows a member to take less money up front in exchange for continued payments to spouses upon the member’s death.

Minda’s salary as incoming police chief has yet to be set, but it will almost certainly include an increase from his current $125,695 salary.

"Our intentions are to [give Minda a raise], but what we're trying to do here is hold off a little bit on new hires in order to save money," said Brizzi, who added that Minda has been accommodating throughout the process.

"Larry's been very amenable to us. He's definitely going to get a bump, but it’s not going to be something that turns people's heads."