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Town, village of Massena reach three-month deal to police airport

Posted 10/3/13

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- The Town Council and Village Board of Trustees each unanimously approved a three-month deal this week to provide law enforcement at all take-offs and landings at Massena …

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Town, village of Massena reach three-month deal to police airport

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Town Council and Village Board of Trustees each unanimously approved a three-month deal this week to provide law enforcement at all take-offs and landings at Massena International Airport through Dec. 31, as required by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Under the deal, the town will pay $68.85 for a police presence at three flights per day, seven days per week, for one hour each. The deal also calls for the town to pay $25,000 in back payments from the last year. The figures are one-third of the cost, which is the current TSA reimbursement rate.

The rate is set by Congress, Massena Police Chief Timmy Currier said Tuesday night. Village Trustee Timothy Ahfeld suggested the village and town ask Rep. William Owens if there are federal grants that could get them the remaining two-thirds.

TSA was reimbursing the town for the service annually but the money dried up last year because of what Town Supervisor Joseph Gray has described as “a paperwork snafu.” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said the municipality doesn’t have the funds to cover the full cost.

One option would be to look into getting TSA approval for guaranteed response time, which means they are exempt from having to have law enforcement present if they can prove an agency can be there within minutes, if necessary.

A document distributed at the board meeting said New York State Police and the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department have refused to provide a regular presence at Massena International flights.

Gray said the board is looking at “other possibilities to take the burden off of the village police department,” but it’s in “very early stages.” A document provided at Tuesday’s village board meeting says the town has two options: get help from the village police or create its own police department.

Town Councilman John Macaulay said he doesn’t understand why the village police would want other agencies to perform the airport duty.

“Do they understand if we do something different than what we’re doing now, they’re going to lose money from their budget?” he said, adding since the officers are being sent as routine duty, the reimbursement covers part of their yearly budget. “It’s not a financial issue, it’s a management issue – it’s how you manage your people.”

Macaulay also questioned if they village would have to reimburse other law enforcement agencies, and if so, will the TSA reimburse them and will the agency be satisfied with the one-third reimbursement rate?

“We don’t have all the info,” Gray said. “I think the TSA will reimburse any law enforcement expense the town incurs.”

“We have to worry about making sure that somebody is there – I’d rather that money go to the village,” Macaulay said.

Currier said he sends his officers in light of the non-payment because it’s more important that the airport remain open.

He noted that the TSA used to allow airports to be staffed by private security firms, but that went out the window in 2004. Currier noted that the private firm came with a $130 per hour price tag, or $142,550 per year.

“And that’s a rate that’s nine years old,” Currier said.

Currier said he thought about having his department’s two part-time officers handle the detail, but doesn’t think it would work out long term. He cited mandatory training, the cost of equipment and uniforms, and didn’t think they’d be willing to uproot themselves from day-to-day life to handle a one-hour assignment.

Gray has previously stated that an airport in the North Country doesn’t have police on-scene for each takeoff. He would not say which, but did say it’s not in St. Lawrence County. Gray noted that Massena’s airport is under the Syracuse TSA office, whereas the other airport is under Albany-based TSA’s watch. He said the other location gets the approval because they have a response time law enforcement presence, meaning police can be there in minutes if a TSA official at the airport calls them.

“We have numerous law enforcement agencies,” Gray said in August, pointing to state troopers, Border Patrol, U.S. Customs, and Department of Homeland Security in addition to local police. “If a suspicious car is pulled over on Highway 37 in Massena and an officer calls for assistance, there are several vehicles there within five minutes. Why is this not good enough for them?”

He says that TSA officials in Syracuse will not give him a straight answer as to why Massena doesn’t fall under the response time law enforcement presence rule.