The Village Board of Trustees and Police Chief Lloyd Perkins have signed an agreement that will keep Perkins at the head of the village police department on a part-time basis for the 2013 calendar year. The arrangement, which was the result of Perkins’ intended retirement at the end of this year, will allow the village to still have a police chief and Perkins to begin reducing his workload in preparation for full retirement.

The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the arrangement on Nov. 1, and the village board unanimously agreed to accept the MOU at the Nov. 8 regular village board meeting.

Trustee Mary Sennett said at the meeting that Skaneateles Police Sgt. Marty Stevens – who was at the Nov. 8 meeting with Perkins – will take the Onondaga County police chief’s examination in 2013 in preparation for a possible succession to the job after Perkins’ full retirement.

“We are very fortunate that we have Sgt. Stevens, who has a wealth of experience and in the past has essentially run the department. And we have Chief Perkins ready to stay on as a part-time and supervisory chief while Sgt. Stevens prepares to take the chief exam,” Sennett said. “We are a very lucky community to have these two men cooperating with us and working so hard for us.”

The entire issue began when Perkins announced over the summer his intended retirement. The village investigated the possibility of not hiring a new chief but instead creating an “officer in charge” to run the department. The state attorney general’s office, however, responding to a query from the village on the possibility, stated that the village was required to have a police chief under current state laws and municipal codes.

The village board voted in September to keep Perkins on after his Oct. 25 retirement as interim police chief at least until June 30, 2013, when the county police chief exam was administered, knowing that Sgt. Stevens and other members of the village police department would be taking the exam.

The MOU signed by Perkins and Mayor Marty Hubbard states that Perkins will be a part-time employee of the village for the entire 2013 calendar year, and his duties will include all duties and typical work activities of a police chief as required by the Onondaga County Department of Civil Service.

Perkins will be paid an annual salary of $14,640, along with the usual clothing and uniform allowance, necessary equipment and a vehicle provided by the village for work purposes. He will not receive health insurance through the village because he already receives such insurance from his previous job as Camillus police chief.

Perkins previously had stated that he intends to spend certain periods of time in Florida as part of his partial retirement. The MOU states that any time he is absent from the village for extended periods of time he will not receive his weekly salary payments from the village. Upon his return to duty, his salary payments will re-commence and the agreed-upon salary balance will be pro-rated over the remaining weeks of his term, so that he will receive the full annual salary amount stated in the agreement.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].