Scotia mayor says residents would vote on any proposal
Police consolidation talks between the Town of Glenville and the Village of Scotia will become clearer after a joint public meeting between officials in the upcoming week.
The Glenville Town Board and Scotia Village Board of Trustees are converging on Scotia’s Village Hall on Tuesday, March 29, at 7 p.m., so Glenville Police Chief Michael Ranalli can present concepts for a possible consolidation or enhanced shared services between police departments. Consolidation talks aren’t a new topic for the village and town, but fiscal restraints have led to the situation being seriously evaluated.
Residents are going to ask what are you doing to look at consolidation of services and how are you trying to save money I figured we ought to take a serious look, said Scotia Mayor Kris Kastberg. `I approached the town and we had a couple of informal meetings and the town made a proposal for consolidation. Both boards are going to get a chance to hear what the proposal is.`
Currently Kastberg said there is not a solid enough plan to say whether the village would be interested in consolidating. There have been some ideas tossed back and forth between the police chief, but only the Kastberg and police liaison Thomas Neals have really seen ideas.
`The first thing I want to find out is if there is any desire among the village trustees to truly take a look at consolidation. If the idea of consolidation is not right at this point and time I am not going to waste people’s times on putting together a total complete plan,` said Kastberg. `I think the first thing the residents of the village are going to say is don’t take my police away.`
Any final say on the matter would be put before village residents to vote on, he said, so if even after a feasible plan is established the proposal could fall through.
Kastberg also contested there isn’t any wasteful spending in the Police Department, but with economic restraints alternatives should be evaluated.
`There isn’t wasteful spending in any department in the village. We watch every single cent that is spent,` said Kastberg.
At the recent Town Board meeting the upcoming presentation was announced and Councilman John Pytlovany credited Ranalli’s effort on possible ideas and implementation.
`We have had two meetings looking at the possible consolidation or contracting of services between the town and village police departments,` said Councilman John Pytlovany. `Chief Ranalli has put in an awful lot of work into putting together a base program for us to expand upon.`
Glenville Town Supervisor Christopher Koetzle said there hasn’t one particular concept selected to move forward with yet.
`[Ranalli] has a couple different models that we are talking about and I think it is too early to say we are settled on any one and that’s why we want to get the boards together,` said Koetzle after the Town Board meeting on Wednesday, March 16. `We are looking at a model that will save residents of the village and town money and I think enhance services for the village residents.`
Koetzle said the town could provide investigative services the village currently doesn’t have and Kastberg also said a consolidation could provide additional services for the village.
`The attractive thing to having a larger police force is you have more resources available to you. We would have more resources to do policing in the village,` said Kastberg.“
