By BILL SHUMWAY

POTSDAM – If voters decide to abolish the village on Nov. 8, should the town take over operation of Damon Field Airport?

Should the town hire a town administrator? Create a police force? Continue maintaining parks within what is now the village? Pay for Christmas lights downtown?

Those are just a few of the dozens of decisions the town board will have to make in 2012 if they are forced to take over operations now handled by the village.

Road maintenance, local courts, fire department coverage, building permits, building code enforcement and tax collection would continue because both the town and village currently provide those functions, and the town would be required to absorb the extra workload.

The town would almost certainly take on some optional village services including a police force in some form.

But the town board would have to make scores of decisions on which village services to continue, and at what funding level. And town residents might be surprised to learn they currently benefit from a number of village services.

Here’s a look at some of the services “at risk” if the village were dissolved, recommendations to the town from the village Dissolution Study Committee and issues town councilmen may wish to consider:

Airport

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends continuing to operate the airport in the same manner, but spreading costs town wide.

Currently, the village shoulders costs of snowplowing, maintenance, hangar rental and administration at the airport. It is unlikely the town would close the airport because of the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in it by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport allows for critically ill or injured patients to be airlifted to advanced-level hospitals in Burlington or Syracuse. If the airport were shut down, employers such as UPS, which require extensive use of the airport, might have to move from Potsdam to another community with an airport.

Town Administrator

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends creating a town administrator position at the same salary level as the current village administrator. However, the committee suggests three village clerical positions to 30 hours.

The village currently employs a village administrator, who oversees a total budget of about $9.1 million, including water, sewer, trash collection and the hydro-electric plant, in addition to the general village budget.

The town has an annual budget of about $3.1 million, but no administrator, relying instead on the town supervisor, highway department superintendent and town clerk for much of the oversight.

While there certainly would be some cost savings due to dissolution, the town budget would nonetheless be expected to at least triple, creating more need for administrative oversight by the town.

Police Coverage

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends creation of a town-wide force, and the police sub-committee suggests adding “2-3 additional staff and at least one additional police cruiser” to cover the entire town of about 100 square miles, compared to four square miles within the village.

Sheriff’s deputies and state police say their level of service to the town should remain at current levels if dissolution occurs. That means if town police officers respond to West Potsdam or Norwood and a second incident is reported within current village limits shortly afterwards, sheriff’s deputies or state police who now handle town calls would be available to respond instead of town police.

Village police services most at risk are the “low-level” benefits such as responding quickly to noise complaints, ticketing college students for open container violations and rowdy behavior, providing fast response to frequent calls by Canton-Potsdam Hospital and Clarkson University, and acting as “first responders” before rescue squad volunteers arrive.

The wild card is what the Village of Norwood will do with its police force, now composed of nine part-time officers earning a combined total of $44,000 annually and two cruisers, according to Mayor Jim McFaddin. Unless a special police district is created, which is viewed as unlikely since it would require state approval, the town must provide police coverage throughout the entire town, or none at all.

That means if a town police force is created, Norwood’s police department might be viewed as redundant and abolished to allow Norwood village taxes to go down instead of up if the Village of Potsdam is dissolved. However, Norwood officials could decide their community wishes to continue paying for its police coverage so that service levels, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, remain.

Creation of a town police force would mean the Potsdam village contract with officers would become void, allowing for the possibility of drastically reducing labor costs without cutting jobs. That’s because retirement benefits, which many view as unsustainable, sometimes allow police retirees to receive retirement and health benefits for twice as long as the number of years they worked.

However, the Dissolution Study Committee reports the town “is required to negotiate with employees if under New York law they petition to be represented by a union.”

Also, creation of a town-wide department would open up the door to establishing a number of part-time positions without benefits and at lower pay as in Norwood. The part-timers could be used to “beef up” forces at such busy times as weekend nights but may be difficult to incorporate into a department of full-time staff.

DPW/Highway Department

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends no change to primary Department of Public Works operations such as road maintenance and plowing. The committee suggests eliminating leaf and brush pickup within what is now the village and adopting the village sidewalk policy town-wide.

But abolishment of the village would force the town board to decide many other issues: should the town pay for Christmas decorations downtown and pay the DPW to help set up, tear down and clean up after the annual Potsdam Summer Festival?

Should the town pay the DPW to continue to mow and maintain parks behind the Clarkson Inn and Evans & White Ace Hardware, at the corner of Maple and Pine streets and along the Raquette River next to Market Square Mall? Or should the parks go unmaintained and become overgrown with grass and weeds?

Would maintenance and plowing of downtown municipal parking lots continue?

Should the town continue to plow sidewalks in the winter and pick up leaves and brush at other times of the year within what is now the village?

Some town residents complain they should not have to pay for sidewalk plowing and brush pickup within the village because they don’t use the service. However, continuing those services might be justified if town board members determine the average cost per property to maintain and plow the many miles of town roads costs more than the average cost per property of maintaining and plowing just a few feet of street along with sidewalk plowing and brush pickup in what is now the village

In addition to village property taxes, village residents are billed separately for water, sewer and trash collection, so those costs would not be passed on to town taxpayers.

Community Development Office

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends converting the village Community-Economic Development Office into a town-wide department, but with one less employee.

From 2006 to 2010, the report notes, the office received $2.9 million in grant funds, with 89 percent going to the village, 7 percent to the town and 4 percent to Norwood.

The money went towards housing rehabilitation, extensive reconstruction of Clarkson Avenue and Pine Street and new sidewalks and bicycle lanes, business start-up and expansion loans, downtown revitalization projects, waterfront revitalization planning and expansion at Damon Field Airport,

The office also provides land use planning services and administered the Potsdam Empire Zone, which is being phased out. The town has no such department.

Village Ordinances

The Dissolution Study Committee notes the town could create special ordinances for denser population areas, such as within what is now the village.

Some of those responsible for recruitment of staff, students and physicians to area colleges and the hospital are concerned drawing people to Potsdam would be more difficult if the appearance of Potsdam deteriorates.

That would happen if the town failed to adopt regulations requiring lawns to be cut and forbidding cars to be parked on front lawns. Even if the town adopted such measures, the town would also have to fund village police and the code enforcement office at a high enough level so officers had time for enforcement.

The same would be true of apartment inspections for safety and building code compliance, required now by the village. The town only requires inspections when three or more apartments are in the same building.

If the town failed to require inspections of all apartments, some college recruiters are concerned that could reduce the appeal of the community because students could no longer expect off-campus housing to meet safety and building codes.

Rescue Squad

The Dissolution Study Committee recommends no change to current operations of the Potsdam Volunteer Rescue Squad.

But if a town-wide police force were created with no additional staff, it might force town board members to address the challenge of slow response time in some cases by the rescue squad.

Currently, village police often act as “first responders,” arriving before rescue squad volunteers are able to reach the scene and sometimes helping to stabilize a patient. Especially when only two rescue squad volunteers respond, village police act as a “helping hand,” such as when heavy patients need to be carried down steps in a stretcher or when rescue squad volunteers need physical protection in alcohol-fueled incidents.

Police might no longer be able to provide “first responder” service if they are asked to cover the entire town.

The town board might consider adding more paid rescue squad driver positions to benefit the entire town. Currently, paid rescue squad coverage is only available during weekday hours.