LOCKPORT — A proposal to have the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office set up a “silver alert” system for missing senior citizens will be discussed in committee before action is taken, County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross decided at Wednesday’s meeting.

The Wheatfield Conservative is a co-sponsor of the resolution with both party leaders, but he referred the plan to the Community Safety and Security Committee, which meets Monday.

That will give Sheriff James R. Voutour and his staff the opportunity to make their comments. “The sheriff will have a major role in the program,” Ross said.

The proposed law would require the Sheriff’s Office to be ready to alert the community and the media in case a senior citizen, such as one suffering from dementia, goes missing.

Also referred to committee, in this case Economic Development, was a proposal to appropriate an additional $40,000 for the use of the Niagara Military Affairs Council, which works to promote federal activity at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and has twice led fights to keep it open when the Pentagon wanted to close it.

Ross and Legislator Danny W. Sklarski, D-Town of Niagara, are the co-sponsors of that request.

Also on Wednesday, the Legislature voted unanimously to award a $278,000 contract to Parise Mechanical of the Town of Tonawanda to repair the heating and air conditioning system in the Shaw Building, home to the county’s Health and Mental Health departments.

The contract was stalled in committee during the summer after the Lockport legislative delegation sought to move the departments to rented space owned by the city in Harrison Place, a former auto parts plant.

County Manager Gregory D. Lewis and the affected department heads managed to squelch the proposal with a highly negative report about the building’s suitability.

The Legislature voted to increase its contract with Wendel Duchscherer Architects & Engineers of Amherst for design of the reconstruction of Beebe Road in Wilson by $139,159. It was the third amendment since the firm was hired in June 2008, and the contract now totals $804,248.

CIR Electrical Construction Corp. of Buffalo won a $73,800 contract to replace the navigation lights at Erie Canal bridges on Feigle Road in Pendleton and Carmen Road in Royalton.

Also, the Legislature agreed to spend $2,500 of the county’s Seneca Niagara Casino revenue on assisting the Taste of Middleport event Nov. 14-15. Legislator Michael A. Hill, R-Hartland, sponsored the measure.