Hurry Up and Wait, Chief

The Southampton Town Police Department will have to wait another month before its new police chief officially takes office. Supervisor Jay Schneiderman announced last week that Steven E. Skrynecki would not start full time until mid-April.

“He has a personal reason that would have put him out for the early part of April,” Mr. Schneiderman said by phone Tuesday morning. “I thought it would be disruptive to start in March, not be around for two weeks, and then start up again in earnest.”

The new police chief was named at the end of September, but was not scheduled to begin until early 2017, after he retired as chief of the Nassau County Police Department. In January, it was decided he would not take his post until mid-March because of Civil Service regulations that required he use up his accrued vacation time with Nassau County before starting his new position. In the meantime, he was to work two days a week in Southampton as a consultant, with his pay not to exceed $10,000.

The two-month delay offered some cost savings for the town, and the additional month’s delay will save the town even more money, Mr. Schneiderman said.

“Things are going very smoothly right now,” he said of Police Department operations. Capt. Lawrence Schurek is the acting police chief and effectively working a full-time schedule until Mr. Skrynecki takes over. “He seems to be working all the time. The relationship he has with the department is already so strong,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “It’s made a world of difference.”