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General News: Police Consolidation Still on the Agenda
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| Village officer John Pena on duty at the 4th of July parade. |
July 16, 2008
Talk first, study later. That’s the consensus of how the village and town will handle the issue of police consolidation.
Two village board members, trustee Barbara Gosda and Mayor Joe Gross, will start meeting with their counterparts in the town of Cornwall to discuss merging the two police departments.
Mayor Gross made the move in response to a letter from Cornwall supervisor Kevin Quigly asking for a meeting. In June, village trustees asked the town to join them in requesting a state study of consolidation, a step that Quigley said was premature. Gross didn't agree with that assessment but noted they were at the mercy of the town, who must agree before the state will do a study.
At the meeting on Monday, Mayor Gross said that he has not made up his mind on the issue and noted that as long as the village has a police force, he wants it to be the best possible.
Each of the trustee were asked their opinion at the meeting and Mark Edsall said that he would have to be convinced. “Cost savings is not the bottom line if it’s a detriment to how you live,” he said. Trustee Bill Fogarty agreed with Edsall, saying a police force whose officers you can call by name is part of “the quality of life we are willing to pay for.”
Barbara Gosda and Rick Gioia stressed their interest in seeing that village residents get what they pay for in the village police force.
On the subject of costs, village police chief Charles Williams questioned Mayor Gross about the source of information in an article in the Times Herald-Record last week that put the budget of the village police force at $800-900,000. Williams said that his department’s costs are just over $700,000.
Mayor Gross did not say who had provided the information but said he suggested it could be as high as $900,000.
Williams objected to the data and said that village residents are entitled to accurate information. “It’s a guesstimate that I don’t think does anyone any good,” Williams told the board.
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