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The Daily Mail Copyright 2022 Columbia-Greene Media Volume 230, No. 89
Serving Greene County since 1792
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FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
Sheriff’s office body cameras clear hurdle
Man charged, guns seized
By Ted Remsnyder Columbia-Greene Media
CATSKILL — Every deputy in the Greene County Sheriff’s Office could soon be outfitted with body cameras after the Greene County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday approved $250,000 in funding for the equipment during its meeting on Wednesday night. The measure will head to the full Legislature for a vote. The Greene County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaboration that was formed in 2020 recommended in March 2021 that the sheriff’s office adopt body cameras for its entire force. After initially declining to fund the cameras, the Legislature is moving to adopt a measure that would purchase 60 for the agency. “It started two years ago when we had the police reform committee,” Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said following Wednesday’s meeting. “It was a recommendation that came out of the police reform committee and then during the next year’s budget cycle, the board turned down the request to go to body cams. Now (Sheriff) Pete Kusminsky has brought it back up because there’s a general assumption that any accredited agency will pretty much be mandated to have them now. So that’s pretty much being forced.” The resolution, which was adopted unanimously by the Public Safety Committee, notes that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office believes the purchase of the cameras would represent a positive step toward modern See CAMERAS A2
TED REMSNYDER/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA
Greene County Sheriff Peter Kusminsky speaking to the Greene County Legislature during its Public Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday. The police agency could soon be outfitted with body cameras after the committee approved $250,000 in funding for body and car cameras for the department on May 4.
FILE PHOTO
A Saugerties man was charged with assault, following a domestic incident on Fred Short Road.
By Bill Williams Columbia-Greene Media
FILE PHOTO
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office could soon be outfitted with body and car cameras after the Greene County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee approved $250,000 in funding for the equipment during its meeting on Wednesday night.
SAUGERTIES — Following an investigation into a reported assault that occurred in April, an Ulster County man was arrested and charged Tuesday, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said Thursday. Several guns were seized by police, after they took Adam J. Derivera, 27, of Saugerties into custody, Sinagra said. On April 29, Saugerties police responded to a residence on Fred Short Road after receiving a 911 call there was a domestic dispute taking place. When officers arrived, they interviewed the victim, who was bleeding from a head wound she sustained when she attempted to break up an argument between Derivera and his girlfriend, Sinagra said. The victim told officers that when she attempted to break See GUNS A2
Law setting fees for solar developers passed By Ted Remsnyder Columbia-Greene Media
CATSKILL — A local law that sets a specific fee rate for developers hoping to build solar projects in Greene County was adopted by the Legislature in a special meeting Wednesday. The local law was adopted unanimously Wednesday after the board closed a public hearing on the proposed law. The approved local law is designed to promote the installation of solar fields in the county through paymentin-lieu-taxes, or PILOT, programs. Under the law, for solar projects with a capacity greater than 50 kilowatts, the annual payment under each PILOT agreement will be set at $8,750 per megawatt of capacity. The law dictates that the annual
payment will escalate 2% each year and if an annual payment is not made to the county when it’s due, the county may cancel the PILOT agreement and the solar project would be subject to taxation at its full assessed value. The law, which was crafted by Greene County Director of Real Property Tax Services Ray Ward and Greene County Attorney Edward Kaplan, will allow the county to avoid PILOT fee negotiations with solar developers that would see the county receive a percentage of the revenue generated by the energy created by each facility. “The state used to give recommendations and they used to tell you somewhere between 3% and 3 1/2% is where your PILOT should fall,” See SOLAR A2
Index
Courtesy of Tribune News Service
The Greene County Legislature unanimously passed a local law on Wednesday night that establishes a set rate for solar project PILOT agreements in the town.
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