New Hartford town and village disagree over police commission
By
ELIZABETH COOPER Posted Apr 26,
2010 @ 01:02 PM Last update Apr
26, 2010 @ 09:15 PM NEW
The In February, the Town Board abolished the
Police Commission in a 3-2 vote. On Monday, Village Mayor Don Ryan said he and
other village officials had been told of the town’s decision the same day the
commission was abolished, and they had not had time to negotiate or react. After mulling their options, he and Village
Attorney Gustave DeTraglia Jr. met with Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski and
brought with them draft legal papers they might file if the town won’t change
the situation. Their position:
“Next step, they could take the police car
out of the village,” Ryan said. “Next it’s, ‘provide your own police
protection.’” Therefore, the village is requesting that the
town either re-establish the Police Commission or create an advisory board with
similar functions. Tyksinksi said he would discuss the situation
at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled Town Board meeting. Legal threat? Village officials insist they didn’t threaten
legal action when they met last Thursday with town officials, but that’s not
the impression Tyksinski had. “They walked into my office with the papers
already drawn,” Tyksinski said. “They hadn’t filed them, but the papers were
drawn.” DeTraglia, however, disagreed. “I drafted the papers for my own use, to
organize our thoughts,” DeTraglia said. “Only if things don’t get resolved
would we have to make it formal and actually file it.” Ryan said the same. “There was no threat,” he said. “We just had
a conversation, and I thought we had a nice conversation and a good meeting of
the minds.” DeTraglia said the village had fourmonths
from the town’s Feb. 10 abolition of the commission to take legal action. The agreement At the time when the village and town police
departments merged nearly 30 years ago, neither side wished to cede total
control over the police force to the other. Creating the Police Commission to oversee
police operations was an important part of the compromise, village officials
have said. In the 1982 memorandum of understanding, the
establishment of the commission was the second of nine stipulations. Town officials defend their action by citing
state law that states town boards have the right to create and abolish police
commissions. Village officials, however, contend that the
memorandum constitutes a contract between the two municipalities, and that
supersedes other laws. The memorandum expired Dec. 31, 1983. Village
officials, however, point to a 2004 decision by then-State Supreme Court
Justice Robert Julian that refers to an agreement between the village and town
for police services. Town Board members react Town Board members Christine Krupa and Don
Backman both said they did not want to see the town go back to having the same
sort of police commission it used to have. “I have no problem with an advisory board,
and that was something we were going to revisit,” Krupa said. But I would not
go back to a police commission as defined under New York State Town Law.” Backman said he would advocate setting up an
advisory board whose main function was to address complaints against the police
department, and would be overseen by the town board. Board member Rich Woodland Jr., said he
thought the town had acted too quickly in abolishing the commission and said he
liked the idea of putting something comparable back into place. Board member David Reynolds said he would
support either reinstating the commission or creating a new advisory board. “I think the whole issue could have been
handled differently,” he said. |
