Cobleskill will keep its cops.
Unable to resolve what it identified as five critical issues, the committee looking into merging the village police with the Sheriff’s Department Tuesday advised against it.
Mayor Mark Nadeau and trustees agreed—but also agreed to give the group another month to explore other options, presumably a police district or a townwide PD.
“With all the work we did, we just couldn’t get past the critical issues as it stands now,” said Acting Police Chief Larry Travis.
Among those roadblocks were providing 24/7 coverage, pension and retirement differences between the two departments, and guaranteeing Schoharie County would extend the arrangement past its initial five-year contract.
Even if those issues could be resolved, pointed out Trustee Mark Galasso, who also served on the committee, there’s no way that could be done before September—when the village would need to decide whether to put the issue on November’s ballot.
“We’d have to spend a lot of money to bring it to a vote with no guarantee of it passing,” Mr. Galasso added.
“It just wouldn’t make sense.”
At Mr. Galasso’s request, they’ll report in July on some options they haven’t had time to fully explore; he said he’s not ready to elaborate on what they could be.
Officer Jeff Brown, Police Benevolent Association representative, said they appreciated the public’s support during the debate.
“It’s very good to know, as police officers, we have their support and they want us to stay,” he said.
Mayor Nadeau and trustees voted unanimously to give the committee another month; Mayor Nadeau alone opposed Trustee Linda Holmes’ motion that the cop-merger issue be put to bed once and for all.
Mr. Galasso called Ms. Holmes’ motion “meaningless,” pointing out that they can’t act for future boards, but voted in favor of it just the same.
“I just want the community to realize what we’ve done,” Ms. Holmes added.