TOWN OF MANLIUS – For the past several months, the attorneys representing the municipalities in the town of Manlius have been working to revise the intermunicipal police agreement that the three villages and the town entered into in 1984.
Last week, a draft of the revised agreement was made public and circulated to the town board and trustees of the three villages.
Attorney Tim Frateschi, who represents the town of Manlius, said at the Manlius Police Committee last week the revised agreement better reflects the work that the committee has been doing, adding that he was “very pleased” with the level of cooperation between the attorneys working on the document.
Fayetteville attorney Ted Simmons said the revised agreement irons out “some inconsistencies” between the 1984 agreement and developments in state law that have taken place over the past 49 years.
The revised agreement maintains the structure of the police committee, which includes two representatives of the town and one representative from each of the three villages, but it appears the committee will be more of an advisory body than a decision-making committee.
The document lists multiple responsibilities for the committee and in almost all cases it is tasked with providing input and recommendations to the town board, which will make final determinations on issues related to the department.
For instance, the 1984 agreement states that the committee would be responsible for the hiring or dismissal of the chief of the police, while the new document calls for the committee “to provide input and recommendations to the Town Board,” related to hiring or firing the department’s top law enforcement officer.
The 1984 agreement also gave the committee the power to oversee personnel matters in the department, conduct disciplinary hearings, create department policies, enter into contracts and make purchases on behalf of the town. In all those instances, the new agreement calls for the committee to make input and recommendations to the town board.
Earlier this year, the town accepted the resignation of former Police Chief Mike Crowell, ostensibly under the threat of disciplinary action by the town. The abrupt nature of Crowell’s departure created friction between the town and the three villages and also cast into question the validity of the 49-year-old intermunicipal police agreement.
At the time, Manlius Supervisor John Deer said that the town, not the committee, had been handling many of the responsibilities granted to the committee in the 1984 agreement and the committee was acting in a de facto “advisory capacity.”
Bobby Schepp, who represents the village of Minoa on the police committee, said he and Mayor Bill Brazill have some concerns about the revised document.
“This guts the villages of all their powers that we did have through this committee,” Schepp said. “I think the police committee … we should be making decisions. We’ll see what the rest of our board says.”
At last Wednesday’s town board meeting, Councilor William Nicholson, who is one of two representatives from the town on the committee, said the new agreement more accurately reflects what the committee’s responsibilities are in 2023.
Each of the village boards are expected to review the document at their meetings in early September.