Sheriffs office currently contracted to cover Proctor, but that could change
By LEE J. KAHRS
PITTSORD/PROCTOR — The Pittsford Select Board is asking the Town of Proctor to reconsider its contract with the Rutland County Sheriffs Department and use a full-time Pittsford police officer instead.
Pittsford Town Manager John Haverstock said in an interview last week that the town can apply for a federal COPS grant to pay the salary and benefits for a full-time officer for three years. COPS stands for Community Oriented Policing Services and is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Pittsford Police Officer Angie Schermerhorn has been a part-time employee for several years, and Haverstock said if Proctor agrees to use a Pittsford officer to patrol Proctor, Schermerhorn would go to full-time in that role. She is one of six part-time officers on the Pittsford Police force. Chief Mike Warfle is the lone full-time employee of the department.
“It may come down to timing,” Haverstock said. “The sheriff’s contract was up on June 30 and Proctor re-upped, so they may not accept the COPS grant idea. We didn’t get the word on the grant until last week.”
Haverstock said Proctor Select Board member Carrie Covey met with him and Warfle not long ago and “expressed dissatisfaction with the coverage being provided by the sheriffs department.”
“She wasn’t speaking for the whole select board,” Haverstock said, “but she wanted to see if this was something we would be interested in, so we applied for a COPS grant.”
Calls to Covey, Selectman Ben Curtis, and Proctor Town Manager Greg Maggard for comment were not returned by press time.
Proctor currently spends $80,000 a year to contract with the sheriff’s office. Haverstock said Pittsford’s proposal would “be in the same ballpark” as far as costs per year.
Pittsford would also have to agree to keep Schermerhorn on the force for four years, and the grant would pay her salary and benefits for three of those years. The additional costs to Pittsford would include buying and outfitting a police cruiser for Schermerhorn to use.
For now, Pittsford will just have to wait and see what Proctor wants to do.
