By Alex Brooks
The Town of Petersburgh held an “emergency” meeting on Monday, March 2, in which they scheduled a public hearing on Local Law #1 of 2015, which establishes the position of Town Constable and enumerates the duties of the Constable.
[private]Councilman Neil Geary explained that the Board thought they had established the Constable position previously, but apparently what they did was not adequate, so they are doing it again, as directed by Town Attorney Ferlazzo.
The Public Hearing on this law will be held at 6 pm on Monday, March 16.
The Town has already appointed Gerald Russell to this position, so as soon as the position has legitimately been created, Russell stands ready to fill it.
There was some discussion about whether the Constable will be armed. Russell said since he is charged with preserving the safety of everyone in the courtroom, and it is possible that someone in the courtroom will have a weapon, it would not make sense for him to be without a weapon.
Councilman Jack Barnhill then clarified the matter definitively – “The Constable will be armed during court sessions.”
Russell assured the Board and members of the public who were present that he is a Federal law enforcement officer, and his training far exceeds the requirements for a Peace Officer (A Constable is a Peace Officer). Russell was a criminal investigator and a Military Police officer in the U.S. military for 13 years, and has worked for ten years since then in civilian law enforcement.
The Town Board meeting was chaired by Deputy Supervisor Mario DiDomenicantonio because Supervisor Krahforst was out of Town, but he didn’t know why the meeting had been called or what the Executive Session on the agenda was about. On the latter point, he remained in the dark, as Councilwoman Denise Church informed him that the Executive Session was to be attended only by the four Board Members, and he remained in the meeting room with the clerks and the public while the four Board members went into the back room to hold an Executive Session.
Church said the emergency meeting had been called at the suggestion of Town Attorney Ferlazzo, so they could schedule a Public Hearing on the Local Law establishing the Constable position, and be able to vote on it at the March 16 meeting and get Russell on the job expeditiously.
Executive Session
The Board members at the Executive Session had a conference call with Town Attorney Ferlazzo, When they returned, Town Clerk Deidra Michaels said they had discussed the Constable position with Ferlazzo, and had discussed “other legal issues within the Town.”[/private]