by Kristina Gabalski
The recent village election in Brockport and the rejection of a proposition by voters to change supervision of the code enforcement officer from the mayor to the chief of police, was still fresh in the minds of several Brockport leaders at the regular meeting of the Village Board June 26.
Trustee Kent Blair, who supported the proposition, said all those who shared his support should be happy because “they didn’t run a smear campaign and mislead the community.” He said the campaign in favor of the referendum was fact-based.
He also took issue with arguments against the referendum that stated the Brockport Police Department would become an army of tax collectors. “Fines are not taxes,” Blair said and added that any increases in fines would be a village board decision, not a decision of the Police Department.
During his report, Police Chief Daniel Varrenti said the referendum was not about taking away power from or increasing the power of public officials, but about improving management of code enforcement.
“I didn’t ask for added responsibilities … I (also) didn’t refuse them,” he said.
He said advertising against the referendum was “misleading,” and like Trustee Blair, noted that not everyone in the village pays fines, “only those who violate the law,” he said.
Chief Varrenti argued the change in supervision would not have turned Brockport into a police state. He said the change was about management, policies and procedures for unilateral code enforcement.
Final election results had 481 “yes” votes on the referendum to 560 “no.” Five votes were blank and void.
In the race for the two trustee seats in which Trustee Margaret Blackman (571 votes) and Bill Andrews (575 votes) were elected, 412 votes were listed as blank and void.
