Marblehead picks group for review of fatal accident

MARBLEHEAD – Without debate selectmen voted 3-0 Wednesday night to award the contract for an independent review of the Allie Castner fatal accident to Strategic Policy Partnership, a Martha’s Vineyard firm which offered to conduct the review for $25,000.Selectmen Chairman James Nye read a brief summary of Chief Procurement Officer Rebecca Curran’s recommendation letter, recommending Strategic Policy Partnership of Tisbury as "the most advantageous proposal."Selectmen Jackie Belf-Becker and Judy Jacobi voted to award the contract, along with Nye, who noted that after ranking the four firms according to their experience Strategic Policy Partnership ranked highest and also happened to be the lowest bid of the four.Selectman Mike Rockett, who attended the meeting, voted "present" because he is related to the Castner family by marriage.Curran, Nye and Town Ad-ministrator Tony Sasso acted as the evaluation committee and on June 7 they ranked the four proposals rece-ived from Public Safety Solutions Inc. (PSSI) of Chester, Md., Resource Management Associates of Tinley Park, Ill., Strategic Policy Partnership and Tanya S. DeGenova of Marblehead, operating as TSD Security Consulting Group.Strategic Policy Partnership moved ahead of the other firms in one area, furnishing three successful examples of similar evaluations. PSSI submitted one example and the other firms submitted none.Curran is expected to contact Strategic Policy next week. Under the contract terms Strategic Policy is scheduled to conduct a 60-day evaluation of the Marblehead police and their investigation of the Aug. 24 traffic death of Marblehead High student Allie Castner.