Town Board Agendas & Minutes

Webster Town Board November 9, 2023 A workshop meeting of the Webster Town Board was called to order by Supervisor Flaherty at 5:30 p.m. at the Webster Town Board Meeting Room, 1002 Ridge Road, Webster, New York, with the following officials present: Supervisor ................................................................................ Thomas J. Flaherty Councilman .............................................................................. William G. Abbott Councilwoman ........................................................................... Ginny L. Nguyen Town Attorney ........................................................................... Charles J. Genese Town Clerk ........................................................................... Dorothy M. Maguire Absent: Councilman .......................................................................................John J. Cahill Councilwoman .......................................................................... Patricia T. Cataldi Department Heads Present: Deputy Commissioner of Public Works-Sewer ................................... Art Petrone Police Chief............................................................................... Dennis Kohlmeier *** Police Chief, Dennis Kohlmeier, and Police Captain, Mark Reed, appeared before the Town Board to discuss the creation and transition to a Police Policy and Procedure Manual by Lexipol. Towards the end of 2022 the Police Department was being swamped by the amount of changes that were being made to law enforcement policies and procedures through various mandates by New York State Law and Federal court cases. Unable to keep up with the mandated changes manually, Webster Police Department staff reached out to other agencies to determine how they were handling the increased mandates. They found through their research there were legal services available to assist in the development of policy manuals that would be compliant with State and Federal Laws and include accreditation standards. Lexipol was selected as the vendor to create a new Police Policy Manual. Lexipol provides fully developed state-specific public safety policy services and policy management software with policies researched and written by experts and vetted by attorneys. Other manuals will be consolidated into the new Policy Manual such as the employee handbook that the Town Board issues to every Town employee. There are also separate rules, regulations and general orders for the Police Department that will be incorporated into the Policy Manual. Obtaining some perspective on who and how the general orders were issued was researched. It has been Chief Kohlmeier’s experience that in the past twenty plus years, general orders were issued by the Police Chief when necessary and there was little to no Town Board involvement in the development or implementation of the Policy. New York State Town Law Section No. 150 allows for the creation of the Police Department, and Section No. 154 outlines the administration of the Police Department. According to New York Town Law Section No. 150, the Town Board has authority to create a Police Department and then to manage the Police Department by either creating a Police Commission or designating the Town Supervisor to be the Police Commissioner, or as a default the Town Board manages the Police Department with the authority of that section of Law. To determine what had been done in the past, Town Board meeting minutes were researched, and a couple of references were 379 11-09-23  Webster Town Board found. In the 1970s, at one point, the Town Supervisor was designated to be the Police Commissioner for a specific period of time, but that expired. There was some later reference found in the meeting minutes in 1979 to the Town Board exercising its authority as the Police Commission to make some changes within the Police Department. Nothing was found in the meeting minutes since that designates a Police Commissioner or delegates the authority of Town Supervisor to be the Police Commissioner. Within the next two weeks, the Town Board, as the legal body exercising New York Town Law Section No. 154 will be asked to pass a Resolution to implement and maintain the Policy Manual created by Lexipol. Following the presentation, a general discussion took place. *** Appearing before the Town Board were Dennis Clough, Navitas Managing Director, Art Petrone, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works-Sewer and Rick Kenealy, Wastewater Treatment Plant Chief Operator. They provided a presentation on a proposed amendment to the current Article 9 Energy Performance Contract between Navitas Managing Director and the Town of Webster for the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s Asset Renewal and Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility Improvements Project. Construction has started at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. As part of the planned progress the Town Board is being presented with an Amendment to the Contract with Navitas. The reason an Amendment is being presented is to continue to finish delivery of the Project. There has been discussion about long lead times on equipment and electrical components. Also, with fairlife, LLC coming in, the parties involved have done a good job of simultaneous construction and design which will be ongoing through the Spring. The amendment will keep everyone involved on target and schedule. A timeline on the Project was provided: March of 2022 through April 2023 - Project design; May 2023 - fairlife, LLC selected Webster site; June 2023 - Plant construction began and fairlife, LLC Project impact design began; September 2023 - fairlife, LLC Project impacts are confirmed; November 2023 - Amendment to Construction Contract; and Spring 2024 - Second Construction Contract Amendment. The Town Board was provided with visual illustrations of where the construction work is in regard to the current Contract and the Amendment being presented. In addition, visual illustrations were also presented for what construction work remains that would be part of the second Amendment for Spring 2024. The funding for the improvements under the proposed Amendment are included in the $81,500,000 Serial Bond Resolution adopted in July 2023. Following the presentation, a general discussion took place. *** There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 6:18 p.m. ____________________________ Dorothy M. Maguire, Town Clerk 380 11-09-23