Approval expected for merger of Batavia police and dispatchers
BATAVIA — A consolidation of city police and Genesee County sheriff’s dispatchers that stirred bitter opposition months ago should be in place by Sept. 1 with expected approval by the City Council and the County Legislature.
The county lawmakers Wednesday passed two resolutions as a prelude to the merger. The intermunicipal pact, opposed early this year by police, many Council members and the downtown business community, will likely be approved by the Council at a meeting Monday and by the Legislature on Aug. 27.
At its regular meeting, the Legislature authorized the establishment of a capital project of $76,000, the bulk coming from a state Shared Services Incentive grant. The money would be used for equipment for “the consolidation of Enhanced 911 and Dispatch Services.”
A second resolution creates two full-time dispatchers. Two former city police dispatchers — Steven L. Robinson and Francis A. Riccobono — are being trained at the county’s new Communications Center on Park Road.
It is that center — part of the Sheriff’s Administration Building opened last fall— that prompted merger talks. However, the consolidation appeared to be dead in the water as late as February of this year.
City operating budget problems helped change the Council’s thinking when it appeared that the consolidation could save the city up to $1 million over the next five years.
So as of Sept. 1, the downtown Police Headquarters — home to the force since Batavia was incorporated in 1915 — will be a 9-5 weekday operation. Plans are being made to have emergency access nights and weekends. Also available for help is the county jail only yards away.
Less settled is the county’s problems with new federally mandated voting machines for disabled citizens that are supposed to be in place for next month’s primary and the November general election.
The county has purchased 40 computerized machines from Sequoia Voting Machines of California.
Election Commissioners Richard E. Siebert and Dawn E. Cassidy say the new equipment is causing problems, from software glitches to inadequate training.
The legislators in response voted to add $4,000 to the $6,000 already spent on training staff and part-time election personnel to learn how to use the new machines and troubleshoot problems.
