Parking officer is demoted, suspended


   A Princeton parking enforcement officer was suspended for four weeks without pay and demoted, the town said Thursday in announcing the disciplinary steps they had taken this week to clean up issues with him and another meter reader.

   Jon Hughes will be reassigned to a parking garage where he worked as an attendant before going over to enforcement, town administrator Robert W. Bruschi said in an email.

   Mr. Hughes has been an enforcement officer for the past six years, at a salary of $44,000. His pay grade will not change.

   The punishment handed down to Mr. Hughes was made public the same week in which the town announced Monday that it had fired the other enforcement officer, Chris Boutote, a retired Princeton Borough police officer.

   Though the town suspended both men without pay last month, Mr. Bruschi said the punishments were for different reasons.
   ”Jon’s disciplinary action was different from Mr. Boutote’s because Jon didn’t follow some proper internal procedures when it comes to processing of a ticket that was going through the court system,” Mr. Bruschi said in an email. Responding to a follow-up question, he said it dealt with his not properly dismissing a ticket.

   ”It was a single incident but we felt that a very strong message had to be sent that our procedures need to be followed by the letter of the law.”