CITY OF LOCKPORT: Police Board appointment is halted

By Joyce Miles<br><a href="mailto:joyce.miles@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Joyce</a>

Police and fire commissioners should be city residents, Mayor Michael Tucker conceded Tuesday.

Tucker is withdrawing his appointment of Marianne Currie-Hall, a Town of Lockport resident, to the police board after a finding by City Attorney John Ottaviano that “city officers” should reside in the city.

Tucker referred the question to legal counsel last week after complaints began to surface that appointment of a town resident to the city board was improper. Former Common Council member Phyllis Green publicly declared it a “slap in the face” to all city residents.

While the section of the City Charter authorizing the police and fire boards makes no direct mention of a residency requirement for members, a separate section concerning city officers requires they be city residents at the time of appointment or election. Another section, “appointive officers,” empowers the mayor to appoint police and fire commissioners.

“While the City Code does not specifically state ... the commissioners are considered officers, city officers fill city offices. Therefore, it is my recommendation that we err on the side of caution and require police and fire commissioners to be city residents at the time of their appointment,” Ottaviano advised Tucker in writing.

“At the time of their appointment” is an important caveat.

A current police commissioner, Richard Conley, moved into the Town of Lockport since Tucker appointed him. Conley likely will not be asked to resign from the board, Tucker said; he simply won’t be considered for reappointment when his term ends in December.

The flap over residency of city volunteers — police and fire commissioners are not paid to serve — has surprised Tucker somewhat. After the Council added fifth seats to the police and fire boards late last year, only one resident, departing 5th Ward Alderman John Lombardi III, expressed interest in the police board appointment. Currie-Hall, who is principal of Roy B. Kelley Elementary School, expressed her interest to Tucker several times.

“She was born in the city, raised her family in the city and she works in the city,” Tucker said. “To me, this residency thing is kind of nitpicking — but I get it. City boards should be made up of city people.”

The residency issue may affect the future composition of the planning and zoning boards as well.

Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Kevin McCabe, a 17-year member of the board, built a house in the Town of Lockport last year. He alerted Tucker at the time and asked for an opinion on the propriety of continuing to serve. Ottaviano determined, at the time, that there is no residency requirement for planning and zoning commissioners; this week he added that the City Charter does not refer to them as “officers” either, so McCabe is in the clear.

Such hair-splitting is troubling to Tucker. It’s inconsistent to require some appointees be city residents but others not, he said.

McCabe’s circumstances presents food for thought on the topic of a residency requirement. His primary residence isn’t in the city, but he owns four residential properties and a business, American Concrete, in it.

“It’s not like he’s not a taxpayer here; he probably pays more city taxes than I do,” Tucker said. “I don’t know if it’s fair to say someone like him can’t serve — but then we’re back to consistency of the rules.”

All city employees hired after mid-2005 are required, by local law, to be city residents within six months after they’re hired, unless they get a waiver for cause from the mayor. Police and firefighters are exempted by state law; but the local police union has treated an officers’ residency requirement as a concession in recent contracts with the city. Currently, newly hired officers must establish residency in the city or the town.

Tucker said doesn’t have a city resident in mind to appoint to the fifth police board seat. Anyone who’s interested may call him at 439-6665.

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