Holley buys 4 body cameras for police officers
Village also approves ‘dangerous buildings law’
HOLLEY – The Village Board on Tuesday approved the purchase of four body cameras for the Holley Police Department. The cost of the cameras is being covered by a $5,000 Division of Criminal Justice Services grant.
Village leaders had discussed obtaining body cameras in the past, and Police Chief Roland Nenni, who also serves as Albion Police Chief, said the cameras are being purchased now because he wanted to work out details of the program in Albion, before going ahead with body cameras in Holley.
Holley police officers will, “activate their camera any time they speak with anyone in public,” Chief Nenni said.
He noted that data from the cameras will be kept for a minimum of one year. He said the body camera policy in place in Albion can also be used in Holley. Trustees said they will review that policy.
In other action at the Village Board meeting:
• Holley adopted a dangerous buildings law which will help the village address dilapidated and unsafe buildings.
Mayor Brian Sorochty said during a public hearing in September that the new law is an, “extension of the current process” the village utilizes in getting property owners to bring their buildings up to code. The Village of Albion has passed a similar law, Holley leaders said.
Previously, the village had been able to serve citations to village property owners regarding violations of building codes and unsafe buildings, but the new law provides a process by which the village has recourse to the Supreme Court of the State of New York to obtain a court order to compel property owners to take action when their buildings become unsafe.
The law includes conditions constituting dangerous buildings; duties of Code Enforcement and Fire Prevention, which will enforce the law; the process of surveying a premises to determine if it is unsafe and deem it a nuisance; execution of court orders; and penalties for offenses.
Sorochty emphasized the law does not pertain to the old Holley High School, which the village would like to see renovated for a new use, potentially including village offices.
The new law does pertain to, “dilapidated (buildings) where the owners are resistant to working with the village,” either to bring the properties into compliance with village codes or to demolish buildings which have been deemed a nuisance, the mayor said.
Conditions stated in the law constituting dangerous buildings include structures, “which have become or are so dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, unsanitary or which so utterly fail to provide the amenities essential to decent living that they are unfit for human habitation; and those which have parts thereof which are so attached that they may fall and injure members of the public or property.”
Penalties for failure to comply with any order of the Supreme Court to demolish or repair a dangerous building include a maximum fine of $250, jail time of up to 15 days, or both, and, “each and every day such failure to comply continues beyond the date fixed for compliance by an order of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.”
• The Village Board approved the purchase of a hybrid lift truck as part of the Municipal Alternate Fuel Vehicle Program at a cost of $153,275. Village Water & Electric Department Superintendent Matt Campbell said the purchase is necessary to replace the village’s aging lift truck.
The hybrid truck will be purchased on an interest-free loan to be paid for by an increase in monthly electric bills for village municipal electric customers.
