Over one trustee 146 s objections New police procedures adopted
Over one trustees objections
New police procedures adopted
ALTAMONT The villages police department is now working under standard operating procedures that only half of the village trustees said they had read before voting on the new procedures.
In a 3-to-1 vote, the village board adopted the procedures on a provisional basis. Trustee Harvey Vlahos was opposed. Mayor James Gaughan said that he wouldnt vote on the manual but he would have sided with the majority if he did. Vlahos proposed putting off the vote for a month since the whole board hadnt read the manual; the vote had been tabled at the September meeting for the same reason.
Although the roughly 400-page manual had been available for review at the village hall for weeks, it had only been effectively available for less than a week before the Oct. 3 village board meeting when each board member was given his or her own copy. Trustees Vlahos and Dean Whalen both said that they hadnt been able to read the manual.
Trustee Kerry Dineen, though, said, "To put this off again seems silly."
Anthony Salerno drafted the manual. The village board hired him in August of 2005 as Altamonts public safety commissioner after a citizens committee surveyed residents and decided the police department needed restructuring. Gaughan, Dineen, and Whalen all served on the committee before they were elected to the board.
Although Vlahos said that he had only looked through parts of the manual, he raised several questions about it. Among them, a portion of the manual says "funds seized through asset forfeiture" are to be accessed by the public safety commissioner or the mayor, rather than the village board.
Vlahos also questioned another procedure. "Officers are encouraged to be aggressive but courteous and respectful of constitutional rights," Vlahos read from the section on patrol operations in the manual.
He also read from another section on employee evaluations in the police department: "The review will be conducted by someone superior and then the evaluation will be reviewed and signed-off by the commissioner of public safety/chief." Vlahos then said, "We don’t have a lieutenant or sergeant" so basically it makes the commissioner judge, jury, and executioner."
"Without answering these questions, why would they vote on this"" Vlahos asked during a phone interview this week. He added, "Unless they didn’t read it."
In response to questions regarding the manual from Trustee William Aylward, the only board member other than Vlahos to ask questions, Salerno said, "I feel this is basically unfair."
"All of us campaigned on open government and I’m not sure what’s unfair about that," Vlahos said of Salerno’s reaction to questions from the board about the manual.
Salerno did not address any of the issues that Vlahos raised during the meeting and he would not comment on the manual or answer questions about it from The Enterprise this week.
"Just to be clear, we’re talking amongst ourselves and people are observing us," Gaughan said to Vlahos after he had voiced his concerns. He went on to say, "Raising these issues should be vetted carefully before we give opinions that may not be exactly correct."
"Two months ago, I asked Jim about this and he said, ‘This is all just standard stuff,’" Vlahos told The Enterprise. "Now that I look into it, it’s not all standard stuff. There’s a lot of really serious questions."
The Enterprise has filed a request for a copy of the manual under the Freedom of Information law, but was unable to obtain a copy before press time.
Other business
In other business, the board:
Heard from Whalen that the master-planning committee is nearing the finish of its draft plan and plans to present it to the board in the next couple of weeks;
Heard from Keith Lee, the mayors partner, that work started on the Maple Avenue park on Sept. 13 and the shelter may be completed this year;
Heard from Gaughan that the village is debt free as of this month. "We are A++ in the bond world," he said;
Heard from Gaughan that the village received a $580 check to cover the assignment of Altamont Police officers during the Irish Fest, which was held at the Altamont fairgrounds;
Voted unanimously to accept Steven Risco as a volunteer firefighter;
Voted unanimously to accept Barton & Laguidices recommendations for awarding bids on the villages water project.
The village has purchased a well site on Brandle Road and will be piping water from there to the municipal system.
Iota Construction Corp. will be doing the well site general construction for $246,091, Stilsing Electric Inc. will be doing the well site electrical construction for $131,950, and Highlander Construction Inc. will be doing the water main construction for $548,627;
Voted unanimously to set up a water-improvement reserve fund. "What we’re doing is setting up a reserve fund to hold funds coming in to basically pay off this project," Gaughan said. The project is estimated to cost $1.4 million overall;
Voted unanimously to authorize up to $500 for a structural engineer to evaluate the Crounse house on Route 146 at the edge of the village. The village and the town of Guilderland jointly purchased the historic house, which has been vacant and fallen into disrepair, from Albany County;
Voted unanimously to appoint Jean La Crosse, the village clerk, provisional court clerk until April of 2007; and
Voted unanimously to hold a Halloween party in the community room at Village Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 31. There will be a parade from Orsini Park at 6 p.m. that will end in the community room.
