Brockport village board reorganizes

New trustee begins term; assignments made

The July 17 meeting of the Village of Brockport board was one of introductions and reassignments.

Hannelore (Hanny) Heyen was introduced as the newest trustee. She won the election in June to the seat that Mary Jo Nayman had held since 2005 when she was appointed by Mayor Mort Wexler to fill his unexpired term.

Wexler appointed Trustee Maria Castaneda to serve as deputy mayor - a position formerly held by Trustee Carrie Maziarz. "I thank Trustee Maziarz for serving with me; last year was certainly an interesting one," he said.

The nearly three-hour session was the village's annual reorganization meeting in addition to the regular monthly meeting. Village Clerk Leslie Morelli was unanimously re-appointed to a two year term. Village Treasurer Ian Coyle was reappointed village treasurer unanimously but his reappointment to the position of village manager was by a vote of four to one, Castaneda cast the dissenting vote. "I ran on a platform of not needing the position of village manager. We could save money by not having that position," she said.

Heyen disagreed, saying, "I can't think of anyone more talented and active than Ian," she said. "I think he's worth more than the money we pay him."

As part of the regular board meeting, resident Jennifer Wolfley questioned village officials and the police department on their procedures as they relate to informing residents of sex offenders living within village limits.

Police Chief Dan Varrenti said the village currently has eight registered sex offenders, five level one, two level two and one level three offender. Level three, he said, is the highest level. Varrenti said in his opinion some of the level one offenders hold a higher level of concern than some of the other offenders. With level two and three offenders, police departments are allowed to disseminate all available information, including the offender's address. With a level one offender, they are not allowed to release any address information. "We do extensive background checks on sexual offenders when we are notified that one will be locating in our area," he said. "Once we do that, then we decide who to notify. We are very proactive."

Wolfley chastised the village because even though it prides itself on being a walkable community it isn't a safe place for children to walk alone. "People within a three block area of the offender should be notified," she said. "Also, he lives three blocks from a playground. Am I going to be the only watchdog for this village?"

Wexler said photos of the man in question are posted on the village bulletin boards. "There are certain procedures we have to follow in these cases," he said.

Varrenti said the village followed the law. "Our general orders mandate who we give the information to but no matter how much information we give there will always be someone who says 'how come I wasn't notified?' "

Wolfely, who said she works with post-incarcerates, said she wants to see how far the community is willing to go. "I think they'd want to be notified," she said. "I'm willing to pay the postage to notify residents."

July 23, 2006