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
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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
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