Board wants info on departing police officers
The Saugerties Town Board wants to review the number of officers leaving the Police Department over the past decade.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » The Town Board wants to to review the town police department’s gasoline purchases over the past six years, and, in an unrelated matter, the number of officers leaving the department over the past decade.
The request for information was made in a unanimous vote at a board meeting Wednesday. Town Supervisor Fred Costello said the board wants to determine what can be done to improve pay and retain officers.
“There’s a crisis among policing,” he said. “Every agency is looking for people to hire. Our pay is not necessarily representative of areas only a half hour to 45 minutes south of here, so there’s competitive opportunities for young officers to go to.”
Councilman Mike Ivino, who has been on the Town Board since January, requested the information, saying there has been a significant number of retirements and resignations.
“I think in my time (on the Town Board), five have crossed my table,” he said.
Police Chief Joseph Sinagra, in a telephone interview Thursday, said 37 police department employees have retired or moved to other agencies during the past 10 years, and that exit interviews have been informal. He added that 18 of the departing police officers had “reserve” status, or were listed as parttime following their initial training.
“We put you through the police academy at your expense and then you have to do 360 hours of volunteer time here with the Police Department in order to obtain your certification,” he said.
“Our program became an avenue or vehicle for people who wanted to become police officers to go through the police academy,” Sinagra said. “When they came out, there were no strings attached because they’re paying for the academy cost themselves, and they’re paying for all the background checks (and) drug testing out of their own pocket.”
Board members also wanted details of gasoline purchases through WEX, a private company that bills agencies after removing charges that municipal governments are exempt from paying.
“What the card does is it gives users ... the opportunity to go to any filling station across the country,” Sinagra said. “When they use the WEX card, the state, local and federal taxes will be forgiven off the cost of gas.”
Sinagra said the town moved to the WEX program after learning that fuel being dispensed by
the Highway Department, which has bulk storage tanks, could not be tracked because it was being combined with other town agencies.
“It was a total disaster,” Sinagra said. “At the time there was only a certain number of keys that were allotted at the gas pump. When somebody lost a key, the Highway Department ... would just issue another key ... so multiple departments had the same key number.”
Sinagra acknowledged that WEX has reduced some of its volume discounts, while the town appears to have improved controls over fuel dispensing at the highway garage.
“This year, (officials) decided that we would ... keep WEX as our backup and go back to fueling up at the town Highway Department as our primary program,” he said.