VIENNA — While trustees didn’t have much to report or approve at their meeting Monday, locals raised hard-hitting questions about speed cameras and overtime during the public comment portion.

Vienna resident Tarin Brown asked trustees what percentage of the township police officers’ time on the clock was dedicated to holding the speed cameras, which were put into action Aug. 5 via a contract with Blue Line Solutions. Motorists were warned for the first 30 days, and tickets were issued starting Sept. 5.

Trustee Mike Haddle told Brown their full-time officers were only holding the camera 20% of their active time, at which he and other residents expressed skepticism.

“Just because he’s sitting out there, he’s out on the road, doesn’t mean that’s what he’s getting,” Haddle said. “You got the hours for the traffic cameras; just because he’s sitting there, doesn’t mean he’s holding the cameras.”

Cortland resident Lance Atkins questioned whether the police department had a variance on the camera, as there’s a plus and minus 2 mph on lidar and radar, which he’s familiar with because of the job he worked before retirement.

“I got a ticket — I think it was 46 in a 35 just south down here by the tax company; there’s a plus or minus variance on that,” Atkins said. “When you put a traffic camera ticket in somebody’s hand, or when you put a traffic camera in somebody’s hand, you’re taking away every ounce of officer discretion; you’re missing guns, you’re missing dope, you’re missing warrants, you’re missing stolen cars.”

Atkins also asked whether police Chief Brian Darbey was staying and working overtime to review the speed camera’s tickets, or if he was doing it on township time when he should be out on the road.

He said officer Chris Russo issued him his ticket, but Darbey’s signature was on all of them.

“He’s not in the car doing that — is he back at the office on your guys’s township dime?” Atkins asked. “This is what I’m trying to figure out for the sake of you guys. You don’t know who was in my car. Second of all, what I want to know and I don’t understand the Blue Line thing, is if you run my plate, it doesn’t come back to my address at all.”

Atkins said the truck’s registration goes back to the place he leased it from, and the lease company sends the ticket to the dealership, who pays it.

“They don’t give you any leeway; it goes right to them, and I call Ford and say ‘I’m contesting it’. They’ve already done it (pay the ticket), they roll it into your truck payment,” he said.

Atkins told officials that he came to say he put in a public records request for every camera ticket deleted from Blue Line and the camera for the past four months, as well as Russo’s radar and lidar certification.

“If he’s not radar and lidar certified, you guys are going to have a bigger problem,” Atkins said.

Trustee Phil Pegg said that as far as camera ticket reviews go, it’s a combination of two officers — Darbey and Sgt. Lee Padula — who was reinstated last June after being a casualty of the layoffs enacted in response to a missing $1.3 million in township funds.

“Sgt. Padula is working in the dark mostly; he has time to read those, but he’s doing a lot more of them,” Pegg said.

Atkins asked why the township was paying him to review tickets and not Blue Line, because there’s 1,100 to 1,200 of them and it takes time to verify them all.

“Every one that he’s doing, he’s not on the road; he’s in there. And he could be out looking for your drugs, your guns, whatever it might be,” Atkins said. “I’ve known Sgt. Padula for a long time; he’s a great cop, he’s a freaking road cop — he’s not an office guy. He belongs out there beatin’ up the streets just like everyone else.”

ROADS OVERTIME

While they’ve managed to reduce the fire department’s activity, Haddle acknowledged that they’ve “accrued” some overtime hours in the road department because only one person is active, with Road Superintendent Mike Penrose out.

Jacqueline Sage, a Vienna resident, questioned why they’d be paying overtime to another employee if the person they already had only has 18 hours.

“As far as a business standpoint, why are we going to choose somebody that’s making time-and-a-half or (over) somebody that’s making part-time wages?” resident Chad Stidham asked. “They’re doing the same job, driving around plowing snow.”

Trustee Phil Pegg explained that the person — who he did not name — is employed part-time and is not always available because they’re working another full-time job.

Haddle said the township only has one vehicle that they’ve been working on since December.

“We got the salt spreader on the truck, he ran it for a day, and then the auger blew on it. So then it had to go back down to the shop, and they fixed the auger first; they tried to say the electronics weren’t talking to the truck,” Haddle said. “On further investigation, they didn’t assemble it right when they put it on.”

The department only got its other truck back after borrowing Fowler’s back and forth, he added, and the overtime hours were only used over the weekend, which is when it snowed heavily.

“Don’t like it, don’t want to pay it (the overtime),” Haddle said. “Not happy about it, but those are the days it snowed, and that’s who is available to cover.”

Stidham questioned whether the road department’s overtime was something the residents needed to watch moving forward, so it didn’t end up in the same situation as the fire department.

“The time cards, we’re putting all this shop work down for time; why are we paying people to go do repairs, that’s inanimate. We can’t change the hydraulic line, but we can sit in the shop for eight hours,” Stidham said. “We need to look at that kind of stuff, because the community’s obviously not trustworthy of what’s happening.”

Stidham said officials could manage the hours, and that maybe workers could operate around the weather forecast.

Miner said the township is flexing their hours, which he said was “arguably” a benefit to the township.

“They came in an hour early to ensure the roads were clear so kids could obviously get to school; they left an hour early, it worked out fine,” Miner said. “Based on my conversations with Mike and the board, that’s a plan I believe they continue to do.”